"It" in IELTS Writing Task 1: three most common mistakes

This tiny little word can be a huge source of confusion, especially in Writing Task 1. See if you can spot the problems.

1️⃣ "France showed an initial decline to 10 euros – a figure that was the lowest throughout the period. It was, however, followed by a significant rise."

There are two many singular nouns before "it" (period, figure, decline, France), so the reader will be confused as to which noun to look at. Most likely, the reader will look at either the subject or the last noun. In this case, the noun we want to refer to — the decline — is neither.

2️⃣ "This country had the most expensive bread. After it decreased slightly at the beginning, the price went up again, reaching an all-time high."

Cataphoric reference is a very bad idea in IELTS Writing Task 1. Rather than waiting to see if "it" might refer to "the price" in the next clause, the reader will connect it to "bread" or "country," which will rub them the wrong way.

3️⃣ "When it comes to France and the level of absenteeism it showed, it increased over the decade."

In this sentence, each "it" has a different meaning: it as a placeholder subject, it = France, and it = level. This is confusing. All "it"s in one sentence must refer to the same thing.

You can avoid most if these mistakes by careful proofreading.

I am not providing the fixes as these are galore. But feel free to try your hand in the comments. 📝

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