IELTS READING

Vocabulary is a dominant element in IELTS reading as it helps you to comprehend passages. It is a

known fact that in order to read IELTS passages more quickly and efficiently, you need to know at least
10,000 words.

When you read passages in the IELTS test, you should pay attention to the parts of speech / word
classes and emotional aspects to guess the meanings of unknown words.

Read the excerpt from Cambridge International Dictionary of English to see how the word adverse is
used in context:

1. Parts of speech / Word classes

Every English single word belongs to one or several of these nine parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb,
adjective, adverb, article, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. You should learn how to identify
the part(s) of speech of unknown words.

How to identify a noun

 1. It may directly follow an article (a, an, the) or a quantifier (some, a lot of, ten, etc.).
Example: a book, some apples, ten chairs.
2. It can be pluralized.
Example: two dogs, some water, any sugar.
3. It can be preceded by one or more adjectives.
Example: a beautiful day, an interesting story, some tall buildings.
4. It may follow a possessive adjective or a possessive noun.
Example: my car, her idea, John’s notebook.
5. It may follow a preposition.
Example: on the table, in the room, by the river.
6. It often has specific endings such as -tion, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ance, and so on.
Example: education, development, kindness, creativity, performance.
7. It can function as the subject or object of a sentence.
Example: The dog (subject) barked loudly. She likes music (object).
8. It may refer to a person, place, thing, or idea.
Example: teacher (person), park (place), computer (thing), freedom (idea).
How to Identify a Verb
1. It can show an action or state.
Example: run, think, exist.
2. It may follow a modal verb (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must).
Example: can run, might think, should exist.
3. It can be expressed in the third-person singular verb form by adding -s/-es.
Example: he runs, she watches, it rains.
4. It often directly follows a subject (noun or pronoun).
Example: The cat sleeps. They eat dinner.
5. It has a past form and can be formed with the -ing ending for continuous tenses.
Example: walked (past), walking (continuous).
6. It has specific endings like -ize, -ify, -ate, etc.
Example: organize, simplify, create.
7. It can be used in commands or imperatives without a subject.
Example: Run! Listen! Wait!

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Practice 1: Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words in the following sentences.

1. This involves dealing with emotions, like jealousy, resentment, anger, etc., that one may have
difficulty accepting by, perhaps, giving oneself comfort food or doing nice things when one is
feeling low.

2. To err is human; to forgive, divine.

3. It is also considered positive for a company to provide state-of-the-art support for working
parents with on-site day care, help for parents with sick children, and flexible hours whenever
possible.

4. Fossilized remains of plants and animals also support the idea that continents move.

5. The consensus of academic opinion was that Australia had been peopled for less than 10,000
years.

Practice 2: Identify all the nouns in the following sentences.

1. Each leg ends in a pair of ‘waling claws’ that grasp vegetation, among other functions, but a
third claw collaborates with associated spiny, elastic hairs to detach the leg from a sticky web
strand.

2. There are occasions when giving a gift surpasses spoken communication, since the message it
offers can cut through barriers of language and culture diversity.

3. The genetic inheritance a baby receives from its parents at the moment of conception fixes much
of its later development, determining characteristics as varied as whether it will have blue eyes or
suffer from a life-threatening illness such as cystic fibrosis.

4. An opposing view sees the three family divisions of labor styles as a reflection of the progressive
changes couples make in response to changing life situations, rather than being an aspect of
personality.

5. The conclusion of last summer of a 10-year building program has seen the historic zinc-alum
shacks and even older wooden sheds built at an early Antarctic base, on Heard Island in 1947,
supplanted by vast, bright-colored buildings with bay window views and ski lodge decor.

Practice 3: Identify the key words in the following items.

1. Causes of volcanic eruption

2. Efforts to predict volcanic eruption

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 3. Volcanoes and the features of our planet
4. Different types of volcanic eruption
5. International relief efforts
6. The unpredictability of volcanic eruption

Practice 4: Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the list below the summary.

NB: There are more words than spaces, so you will not use them all.

Trust is a 1. _______ thing. Once 2. _______, it affords us tremendous freedom; but once trust is lost, it
would be impossible to 3. _______. Of course, the truth is we never know who we can trust: those who
were closest can 4. _______ us; and total strangers can come to our 5. _______. In the end, most people
decide to trust only themselves – it really is the simplest way to keep from getting burned.

List of words:

precious, earned, difficult, rescue, ruined, fragile, betray, recover, side

2. Emotional Aspects of Words

When you look up a word in a dictionary, you will normally find its literal/denotative meaning(s).
However, in context, certain words may have connotative meanings. In other words, they have a
positive, negative, or neutral connotation, which is known as emotional aspects of words.

Practice 5: Identify the emotional aspect (favorable, unfavorable, or neutral) of the underlined
parts in the following sentences.

1. The convergence of these two growing trends – dropping out and logging on – exacerbates the
serious consequences of a drop in political involvement and a rise in social isolation.

2. Here, too, the threat of unemployment has been looming on the horizon.

3. Thirty years after the fire, he is still haunted by images of death and destruction.

4. There is grave concern over the use of such dams because of their adverse impact on health, their
displacement of successful farmers, and the severe limitations on their useful life due to siltation.

5. You have so many books.

6. Not ‘thin’ but ‘slim’ is the word to compliment a girl.

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 7. Leave him alone – such a drunkard.

8. She is, actually, not carefree but careless.

9. You have no right to call my students ‘stupid’ or ‘illiterate’; they are intellectually challenged.

10. The emphasis on individualism can cause discord in society, disagreements, and lack of
harmony.

11. Keep all negative thoughts away from the interview and do not say anything derogatory about
one’s previous employer.

12. The major problems facing the world today are overpopulation, pollution, and starvation. The
three blights are related.

3. Guessing the Meanings of Unknown Words

Actually, there are some strategies that you can apply when you get difficulty in understanding unknown
words.

You may make use of the context to guess their meanings. That is to say, you need to look particularly at
the words before and after those unfamiliar words.

Another way to know the meaning is by looking for some words which explain an unknown word. Some
typical examples of these are is, means, refers to, substitutes for, that is, namely, etc.

Besides, identifying the part of speech will also be beneficial for guessing the meaning. You should
analyze whether that unknown word is a noun, a verb, or an adjective. Words of different parts of speech
may have quite different meanings.

Additionally, you can look at a connector, which is usually located close to an unfamiliar word. It will
give you some general direction of the author’s argument.

Breaking an unknown word down into syllables will be another help in guessing its meaning. The
knowledge of common roots, affixes, and possible similarity of words can maximally be used for
solving your difficulty.

Last but not least, punctuation can be of great assistance in understanding unfamiliar words in IELTS
reading.

Expressions that explain or make clear A = B

A is B
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 A refers to / means / represents / stands for B

A is referred to as / is known as / is called B

A is (a) code for / a substitute for B

We can also use relative clauses or apposition.

Connectors that indicate A = B

A, in other words, B

A, namely, B

A, i.e. B

A, that is, B

A or B

Punctuation that indicates A = B

A, B, …

A–B–…

A (B)

A/B

Practice 6: Identify the meanings of the underlined parts in the following sentences by using A = B
pattern.

1. A court interpreter is anyone who interprets in a civil or criminal court proceeding (e.g.
arraignment, motion, pretrial conference, preliminary hearing, deposition, trial) for a witness or
defendant who speaks or understands little or no English.

2. Intellectual disability refers to a general slowness to learn and function within society, and the
identification of intellectual disability is usually based on an assessment of a person’s
performance in a variety of tests.

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3. The neglect syndrome refers to the failure of a patient to see objects or parts of the body on the
side opposite the brain damage. Patients may dress only one side of their body and deny that
opposite body parts are theirs.

4. The traditional telephone network consists of a pair of copper wires connecting the customer
premises to a local exchange. This is known as the customer access network.

5. For instance, ‘YIKLA’ was a code for ‘This is the life!’

6. British industry, in particular, has in recent decades often been criticized for its linguistic
insularity – for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and
that awareness of other languages is not therefore a priority.

7. Another giant leap is occurring through the use of the Internet, the electronic network that is
ultimately likely to be the most revolutionary of all behavior-modifying technologies.

8. That seems to be the message from research conducted by Europanel, an association of research
companies across 23 countries which monitor buying patterns using consumer panels.

9. As social beings, we need to be able to deal with other people which brings us to the next item
on Goleman’s list, namely, recognizing emotions in other people. This means, in effect, having
or developing ‘social radar’, i.e. learning to read the weather systems around individuals or
groups of people.

10. The thyreophorans, or ‘shield bearers’, also known as armored dinosaurs, were quadrupeds with
rows of protective bony spikes, studs, or plates along their backs and tails.

11. In all cases, someone has to act as a source of language data – an informant.

12. One of the most eminent of psychologists, Clark Hull, claimed that the essence of reasoning lies
in the putting together of two ‘behavior segments’ in some novel way, never actually performed
before, so as to reach a goal.

13. Though Aborigines might see themselves as indigenous (in the sense, as Josephine Flood
explains, that they have no race history not associated with this continent), there is no doubt that
they were in fact Australia’s first migrants.

14. Leonardo da Vinci belongs to the Renaissance – that period of rebirth, when after centuries of
dormancy, the souls of men awoke to the beauty and the wonder of the external world.

15. Palaeontologists believe that both dinosaurs and crocodiles evolved, in the later years of the
Triassic period (c.248–208 million years ago), from creatures called pseudosuchian thecodonts.
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 Lizards, snakes, and different types of thecodont are believed to have evolved earlier in the
Triassic period from reptiles known as eosuchians.

Practice 7: Identify the meanings of the underlined parts in the following sentences by using
the word root.

1. What is the task of a palaeoseismologist?

2. The theropods, or ‘beast feet’, were bipedal, predatory carnivores.

3. Posterior pituitary – the rear portion of the pituitary regulates water and salt balance.

4. There are occasions when giving a gift surpasses spoken communication, since the message it
offers can cut through barriers of language and culture diversity.

5. The classic example is the shy person, categorized by some people as arrogant and distant and by
others as lively and friendly and very personable. How can two different groups make a
definitive analysis of someone that is so strikingly contradictory?

6. Aphasia is partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written
language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease.

4. Paraphrased words

How to paraphrase the original

Forms Words in reading passages Words in questions
word

Same form subduction subduction Latin/Greek origin

profession professional Change of word class

Family words
original old Synonyms

women clothing silk, scarf, etc. General and specific

Different forms
Nine out of ten people are … … is common Different expressions

Practice 8: Read the passage below and choose FOUR letters, A–G.

The aims of psychological research include

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 A. treating ill patients with arthritis.

B. illustrating the reasons for violence.

C. helping people interact with natural environment.

D. telling us how people act when they are nervous.

E. making predictions about whether communicative teaching is better than audio-lingual

teaching in English education.

F. improving learning environment for students to learn better.

G. describing ways to cure depression.

Passage:

Scientific research in general has four major goals: description, explanation, prediction, and control. The
first goal of psychological research is thus to describe behavior. The second goal is to explain behavior,
which means to identify its causes. Successful explanation makes it possible to achieve the third goal –
to predict behavior: for example, whether a particular therapeutic approach will help in the treatment of
mentally ill patients. The fourth and final goal is control. If we understand certain behaviors and can
predict when they will occur, then we are in a position to control the circumstances that cause them. If
we can understand and predict depression, for example we may be able to control it. Likewise, if we
understand the process of learning sufficiently well, we can create conditions to improve the ability to
learn.

(Excerpted from Psychology, by Kelly G. Shaver & Roger W. Tarr)

Practice 8: Read the eight qualities (A–H) of good teachers and match five qualities with the five
statements of the same meaning.

Good teachers

1. can adjust teaching materials to different learning situations.

2. facilitate students’ understanding of the aims of the course.

3. are keen on developing the students as learners.

4. treat their students with dignity and concern.

5. continually improve their teaching by monitoring their skills.

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Good teachers

A. are themselves good learners – resulting in teaching that is dynamic, reflective, and constantly
evolving

as they learn more and more about teaching.

B. display enthusiasm for their subject and the desire to share it with their students.

C. recognize the importance of context and adjust their teaching accordingly.

D. encourage deep learning approaches and are concerned with developing their students’ critical
thinking

skills, problem-solving skills, and problem-approach behaviors.

E. demonstrate an ability to transform and extend knowledge, rather than merely transmit it.

F. recognize individual differences in their students and take advantage of these.

G. set clear goals, use valid assessment techniques, and provide high-quality feedback to their students.

H. show respect for and interest in their students and sustain high expectations of them.

Simplified words Corresponding words in a passage

approximately, around, or so, some

about
considering, in regard to, in terms of, respecting, on, with respect to

actually as a matter of fact, effectually, in effect, in fact, practically, really, virtually

adjust to adapt to, gear to, accommodate, go with, match, suit

against opposing, averse, contradictory

at the same time meanwhile, simultaneously, synchronously

attractive alluring, fascinating, interesting, tempting

be likely to be tempted to, tend to, incline to, prone to

classify assort, categorize, label

clue clew, hint, implication

control dominate, manage, monitor, supervise

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 Simplified words Corresponding words in a passage

destroy damage, devastate, ruin, wreak, catastrophe, destruction, havoc, tragedy

do be under way, carry out, commit, conduct, implement

enough adequate, ample, sufficient

evaluate appraise, assess, judge

expect anticipate, hope, long for, look forward to, wish

good fabulous, fantastic, marvellous, miraculous, terrific, wonderful

have belong to, hold, own, possess, possession

critical, crucial, essential, fundamental, foremost, significant, vital, make a

important
difference, matter, play a part

know appreciate, be aware of, be conscious of, recognize, understand

mainly basically, chiefly, essentially, primarily, principally

abundant, considerable, innumerous, numerous, substantial, a flood of, a good

many
many, a great number/deal of, many a, a raft of, a wealth of

now at present, presently, currently

obvious apparent, clear, distinct, evident, manifest, overt

only exclusively, merely, solely, no more than

plan program, project, scheme, devise, plot

possible potential, promising

relate to associate with, connect to, correlate with, link with

send convey, transmit

show demonstrate, manifest, prove, reveal, unravel

take part in be involved in, participate in

awfully, badly, considerably, disproportionately, excessively, extraordinarily,

very
extremely, greatly, highly, radically, significantly

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5. Confusing words

 Confusable words

1. The private car is assumed to have widened our horizons and increased our mobility.

2. They purport to represent the wishes of the majority of parents at the school.

3. It was one of his so-called friends who supplied him with the drug that killed him.

4. Electronic technologies were to have heralded a paperless office.

5. You should have told me earlier you have got a new girlfriend in New Zealand.

6. I had thought you were a dandy.

 Words showing degree of certainty

always invariably never only
all none every assuredly
completely definitely irrefutably without question
undeniably certainly indisputably

 Words showing alternatives

A instead of / rather than B A takes the place of B

A in place of B A in preference to B
A supplants B substitute A for B
replace A with B a move from A to B
A Instead, B

 Words expressing

Future: will, be going to, be to

Hypotheses: could, would, might

Place/Time: on the horizon is… / There are many years away before…

Possibilities: possible, potential, imminent, except

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  Verbs/Verb phrases showing cause/effect

A: Cause → B: Effect

o account for / be responsible for

o bring about / cause / engender / give rise to / induce / mean / trigger

o contribute to / lead to / result in

o lie in

o be ascribed to / be attributed to

o be based on / be guided by

o depend on / rely on

o evolve from / come from

Practice 9: Decide whether the statement below each sentence is TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN.

1. Working hours are not expected to decrease, partly because the 24-hour society will need to be
served, and secondly, because more people will be needed to keep the service/leisure industries
running.
The 24-hour society will have a negative effect on people’s attitude to work.

2. The past 5 years alone has seen the leisure business expand by 25% with a change in emphasis to
short domestic weekend breaks and long-haul short breaks to exotic destinations in place of long
holidays.
Long holidays have taken the place of long-haul short breaks.

Practice 10: Analyze the logic in the following sentences.

Example 1: As our roads become more dangerous, more parents drive their children to more places,
thus contributing to increased levels of danger for the remaining pedestrians.

more dangerous roads

more danger for pedestrians

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more driving parents

Example 2: As people work more, the appetite for leisure activities has grown to compensate for the
greater stress in life.

More work → greater stress → growing appetite for leisure activities

1. Working hours are not expected to decrease, partly because the 24-hour society will need to be
served, and secondly, because more people will be needed to keep the service/leisure industries
running.
…A…

the same long working hours

…B…

2. Dinosaur skulls are found in a great range of shapes and sizes, reflecting the different eating
habits and lifestyles of a large and varied group of animals that dominated life on Earth for
extraordinary 165 million years.

…A…

different shapes and sizes of dinosaur skulls

…B…

3. The reduction in children’s freedom may also contribute to a weakening sense of local community. As
fewer children and adults use the streets as pedestrians, these streets become less sociable places. There
is less opportunity for children and adults to have the spontaneous exchanges that help to engender a
feeling of community. This in itself may exacerbate fears associated with assault and molestation of
children because there are fewer adults available who know their neighbors’ children and who can look
out for their safety.

Fewer pedestrians → B → C → D → a weakening sense of community

4. When two different masses of water meet, one will move beneath the other, depending on their
relative densities in the subduction process. The densities are determined by temperature and salinity.

…A…

C → subduction process

…B…

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5. Foods and medicine, also classified according to their reputed intrinsic nature as yin (cold) and yang
(hot), may be taken therapeutically to correct the imbalance resulting from ill health or to correct
imbalance due to the overindulgence in a food manifestly excessively ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ or due to age or
changed physiological status, for example pregnancy.

A + B + C + D → imbalance → corrected by foods and medicine

6. When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal changes in their
bodies; all these things can have an adverse effect on the blood system and increase the risk of a clot in
the arteries which will cause a heart attack.

Getting up → A + B go up + C → D on the blood system → E increases → may cause a heart attack

7. Even the most remote reefs are at risk of pollution from tourist resorts releasing sewage and ships
dumping their rubbish. Tourists are so numerous that at one popular reef, urine from swimmers and
dropping from fish they feed have increased the nutrient level in the water so much that algal blooms
flourish and threaten the very existence of the colorful corals.

A + B → pollution

C + D → nutrient level in the water increased → E → dying corals

8. When world grain prices are bad, farmers in Asia’s uplands turn from rice to cash crops to supplement
falling incomes or clear large areas of rainforest with catastrophic environmental consequences within
just a few years. Cleared rainforest soils are highly erosive; even when they are not, they rapidly become
acidic and toxic under intensive cultivation and plants die, forcing the clearing of ever-larger areas.

Bad grain price → A

or B → highly erosive soils

or C → D → plants die → E

9. At the same time, agricultural research worldwide has been contracting as governments,
non-government bodies, and private donors reduce funding because of domestic economic pressures.
This means that at risk is the capacity to solve such problems as rice yield decline and research.
A → reduce funding → B → C

10. You are unaware of what regulates your breathing, heart rate, hormone secretions, or body
temperature. You’re not concerned about these vital functions because they are usually controlled by a
separate nerve system called the autonomic nerve system, which, in turn, is regulated by a master

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control centre, the hypothalamus.
A → B → C such as D, B, F, and G

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