Alright, so, let's start by looking at some typical questions and answers related to home, family and work, alright?

Let's go.

So a weaker answer would be...when asked where do you live?

A weaker answer would be "I live in house".

What's wrong with that?

You tell me.

It should be incorrect english with correct grammar.

I live in a..a house, right?

So you need that article here.

Whenever we're talking about one thing in english, we need to say 'a' or 'a', alright?

Now, suppose you're asked to describe the house a little bit.

And you say 'It's three bedrooms apartment'.

So that's a mistake.

We cannot say 'It's three bedrooms apartment.'

We would need to say 'It's a...It's a three bedroom apartment'.

Why?

You're saying to me that doesn't make sense.

They're three, it's more than one, it's plural. Right.

So, if you said, 'My apartment has three bedrooms', Okay?

Then, it's enough to say, 'three bedrooms' period. Like end. Right?

But here, 'three bedroom' became like an adjective for the word 'apartment'.

And in that case you need to drop the 's'.

Now, it's very good for you to actually use this kind of expression if you have a chance, if there's the right kind of question.

Don't just put it somewhere if it's not doesn't make sense.

But if they're asked about your apartment, you can say 'I live in a two-bedroom apartment'.

'I live in a three-bedroom house'.

And that little difference with no 's' and with an 's' and no 's' actually shows that you speak a much more advanced level english, okay?

These little mistakes, these little corrections can make all the difference.

That's what I'm pointing out to you here.

Okay, let's go on.

Suppose you're asked to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of living somewhere.

So you start to explain.

Now, there is a difference in good english between the word 'the' and 'the', okay?

Same word, spelled the same, but sometimes we say 'the' and sometimes we say 'the',

But how do you know?

It's very easy.

You look at the word that comes after that.

If the word that comes after 'the' or 'the' starts with a vowel, then we usually say 'the', like 'thee', okay?

"The advantages", "the advantages of living in an apartment are..."

Or 'The disadvantages of living in an apartment are...'

Okay?

The advantages, the disadvantages.

Because 'advantages' starts with a vowel.

So try to remember that.

These little sophisticated changes show that you are more comfortable (with) english.

You're more familiar with english, you're more fluent in english.

And you deserve higher marks in english, okay.

Alright. Now, you might be asked, you know, do you enjoy living in an apartment?

So a weaker answer, and actually in this case not just weaker but incorrect, would be to say 'I enjoy to live in an apartment because whatever'.

But what's wrong with saying 'I enjoy to live'?

We can't say incorrect english 'I enjoy to live...'

Some verbs in english are followed by an infinitive, like to live...

And others are followed by a gerund, like 'living', the verb with 'ing',

And 'enjoy' is one of those very common words which are quite likely to need to use in your ielts exam,

which needs to be followed by a gerund and not by this infinitive.

So 'I enjoy living', 'I enjoy reading', 'I enjoy watching movies', not 'I enjoy to watch, that's actually incorrect.

Now, how do you know which verbs require a gerund and which words don't?

Well, you have to listen, you have to read, you have to pay attention.

And that's how you learn.

There are no hard and fast rules.

For example, if you just use the verb 'I like', then you could say either way.

You could say 'I enjoy to live', sorry, 'I like to live', 'I like living', either way would be okay with the verb 'like'.

But not with 'enjoy'.

And 'enjoy’ is actually a higher level verb than 'like'.

So it's better if you use this one, okay?

'I enjoy living...'

Remember that.

Next, suppose you're asked about family.

"Tell me about your family."

And you start to talk about, you know, I come from a large family, or I come from a small family, I live with my brother…

But instead of saying 'broder', you pronounce it 'brother'.

So now it's a pronunciation issue.

These are some of the points you're, you're graded on, right?

Pronunciation, grammar, expressions and overall fluency.

So pronunciation matters if you say broder, fader, moder, that's not good.

You should be saying the 'th' properly like a 'th'.

'My brother', 'my father', 'my mother', okay?

When we say that 'th' sound, the tongue comes out a little bit between the teeth and goes back.

And if you have this kind of mistake, then work on that pronunciation, okay?

It will sound much more refined.

Next, this person said 'My brother economist'.

Okay, lots of grammar mistakes there, right?

Many mistakes.

It should be 'My brother is an economist', or 'My brother's an economist', right.

You can contract it also.

But you need to have the verb 'to be', you need to have the article.

And if it's 'economist', you need to say 'an economist' right.

'An engineer', 'an accountant', not 'a economist' because that would also be incorrect.

Because we use 'an' when before a word that sounds like a vowel, okay?

Not just that starts with a vowel, but that sounds like a vowel.

Next, the weak answer would be 'He working bank', alright?

Grammar mistakes again.

No.

Should be 'He works...', alright?

Third person, present simple, 'He works in a bank', alright?

Again, the article, the third person, the 's',

And make sure even if you know this, that 'He works', that it should be 'He works',

make sure you are pronouncing it in a way that I can hear the 's'.

Don't say it's so fast that the examiner can't hear the 's', okay?

Make sure you do say the 's', 'He works in a bank', 'He lives...here,

Alright. Get used to that.