Using Verb Tenses in IELTS Writing Task 1/2 + Exercises
These exercises will help you to choose and understand which verb tense to use for both task 1 and 2.
Task 1 Exercises (Academic)
Exercise
Have a look at this bar graph:
The chart shows the average amount of water consumed per day in 7 countries in the year 2010.
The bar chart _______ the average amount of daily water consumption in 7 different nations in 2010. Units ____ measured in gallons, and the data __ provided by the University of California.
Which tense should you use when introducing data?
1. Present Perfect 2. Present Simple 3. Past simple 4. Present continuous
The bar chart depicts the average amount of daily water consumption in 7 different nations in 2010. Units are measured in gallons, and the data is provided by the University of California.
✅ Present simple
💡Notice that different words and sentence structures are used than the question. If the question says ‘The graph shows’, you could use:
- The chart depicts
- The graph illustrates
Exercise
What is the problem with the tense in this student’s sentence? ⬇️
Overall, Saudi Arabia uses more than twice as much water than any other country. Spain, France, and Italy have a similar level of consumption, whereas England, Wales, and Scotland have the least consumption on the chart.
✅ uses > used
✅have > had
Because there is a date in the past on the graph, we need to remember to use the past tense. However, if there is no date on the graph, then use the present simple.
Exercise
This exercise covers a time period which spans from the past to the future. Study the line graph, and then drag the words to their correct places.
💡For dates in the past, use the past simple tense. For dates in the future, use ‘will’ and passive forms:
- is/are expected to ___
- is/are predicted to ___
- is/are forecast to ___
Task 2 Exercises
