Complex Sentences for IELTS Speaking

Complex grammar structures are really important

if you want to get a Band 7 or above in IELTS Speaking.

But what are they exactly, and how do we use them?

Let's find out.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and the YouTube channel English Speaking Success.

Here to help you, well, speak better English,

give better answers and get a higher score

on IELTS Speaking.

So the band descriptors, for grammar in IELTS Speaking,

talk about simple and complex grammar, right?

It says over here for a band 7,

uses a range of complex structures with some flexibility.

So in today's video,

I'm gonna give you an overview

of both simple and complex grammar,

so that you can start to slowly build up your ability

to make complex sentences.

I say slowly, right?

Those of you who know me

know I don't believe in magic overnight solutions, right?

I believe learning English is about taking your time,

having fun, learning deeply,

and enjoying English for the rest of your life.

So this video is a short overview, but I hope it helps.

Now, all of that said,

at the same time there is one very simple "secret."

It's not a secret, right?

It's not hidden!

It's just that it's so simple that most people miss it.

And it's the secret if you like,

to building complex structures,

it's really simple.

I'm gonna tell you about that very shortly,

so keep watching.

Finally notice that the important thing, right?

Is not just knowing about the grammar,

it's being able to use it.

And to have this balance between using it fluently

and using it accurately,

that's the skill you need to build up.

And so what's really important is practice,

practice, practice.

And today later, I'm gonna tell you about

one of my favorite platforms where you can practice,

and it's Cambly.

Cambly is an online teaching and learning platform,

and they've got native English speakers,

qualified, high quality,

who can help guide you with your learning,

and help you practice and also correct your mistakes.

More about that later, but right now,

did I say later or later?

More about that later,

but right now let's get into some complex grammar.

Now, complex grammar can include many things,

but here I'm gonna look at two main areas

to give you a flavor of what it can include.

If you want to know more,

I recommend that you follow my complete preparation course

for IELTS Speaking.

IELTS Speaking Success, Get a Band 7+.

Okay. Go and check it out.

But not yet.

First of all, let's look at tenses.

So let me look first at simple tenses

and then complex tenses.

The following are generally seen as simple tenses.

The present simple, used for facts, regular activities.

For example, I work from home.

It's true, right?

I play football every Thursday.

Well actually I don't, but just for practice.

I don't play football every Thursday.

Present continuous used for an activity now.

I'm drinking tea now.

Past simple for an activity finished in the past.

I went to the park yesterday.

Past continuous for a continuous activity in the past.

I was reading a book when the phone rang.

It's often used with the simple past together

in the same sentence.

And finally, the future simple

using 'will' for maybe decisions, predictions or promises.

I will call you tomorrow.

I will call you tomorrow. I've just decided.

Tom won't come, he hates parties. Right?

That's a prediction.

So all of these are seen as simple tenses

as the name often gives away

present simple, past simple, right?

Now then what about complex sentences?

Now the following are generally seen

as being more complex tenses. Okay?

So we've got, first of all, the present perfect,

which is usually for an unfinished past activity

or for experiences, right?

For example, I have lived here for 10 years,

or I have never seen the Queen.

And let's just make sure

you get the right intonation and pronunciation.

So we'd normally do contractions, right?

I've lived here for 10 years. Try it.

I've lived here for 10 years.

I've never seen the Queen.

Brilliant. Okay.

The next one present perfect continuous,

which we use for unfinished past activities.

Again, in this context,

it can be used the same as the present perfect, okay?

I've been living here for 10 years.

You could say I've lived here for 10 years,

but you could just make it more complex, right?

I've been living here for 10 years.

Notice the pause.

I've been living here, for 10 years.

And remember practice sentences that are true for you.

I've been living here in Santander for three years,

what about you?

Nice. Next, the past perfect.

And we use this often to clarify an event

before a moment in the past.

I had already booked the tickets

before I arrived at the station,

or emphasizing the 'already',

I had already booked the tickets

before I arrived at the station.

Past perfect continuous,

here it's used for a continuous activity

before moments in the past.

I went to see the doctor

because I had been having knee pains.

It's true. I had been having knee pains.

Notice the contraction I had, I'd been, I'd been having,

I'd been having knee pains.

Yeah. Nice.

Next the conditionals.

Now there are many conditionals,

and we often mix them up in real spoken English.

But it is useful to be aware

of the second and the third conditional,

which are generally seen as being more complex.

For example, for unreal situations.

Well, if I had more money,

I would buy a bigger house.

And that would will normally contract, right?

So listen to the intonation.

If I had more money,

I'd buy a bigger house.

Right. Good.

What about you? What would you do if you had more money?

If I had more money...

Really? Great.

Third conditional,

and this is often for an unreal past situation.

So something that didn't happen in the past,

which sounds a bit strange and mystical.

But if I had known, I didn't know,

but let's imagine, if I had known I would have gone, right?

If I had known I would have gone.

Notice the contraction.

If I had known, if I'd known,

if I'd known, I would have gone,

I would've gone, or even I'd have gone.

I'd've gone.

Right. Very good. Great.

Now, notice another example of complex grammar

is when we use a lot of these tenses

that we've just looked at,

but we use them in reported speech,

sometimes called indirect speech. Right?

When somebody says something,

and then we tell somebody what they said, right?

So your friend says,

for example, your friend says,

"I enjoyed the food,

but I won't go back to that restaurant."

And you tell somebody else, you say

"Yeah, my friend, he said he had enjoyed the food,

but that he wouldn't go back to the restaurant again."

Right? You see the different complex tenses

that we're using here,

So, reported speech.

And that is something actually you can use in part two

when you're telling the story of something that happened.

And he said that he would have done that,

and... you can use reported speech quite well in part two

of IELTS Speaking.

In fact, it's just occurred to me

that if you want to see how you can use

these different tenses in different parts

of IELTS Speaking,

you should check out my course,

Fluency for IELTS Speaking.

This is blatant self-promotion but, the course here,

it looks at lots of different grammar points

and how you can best use them in different parts

of the IELTS Speaking tests.

Lots of ideas and possibilities, right?

Go and check it out.

Blatant self-promotion.

Right. Good. Let's move on.

Now, an important thing to add is that complexity of grammar

doesn't lie in just one sentence, right?

It lies across whole sentences and whole answers.

And to see how this works really well,

I wanna tell you, do you remember the secret,

the simple secret, right?

To building complex sentences?

Let me tell you that right now.

Now you've probably heard of 'sentences', right?

Sentences are the basic building blocks of writing,

but we don't always speak in sentences.

And you're like, "What?

"What are you talking about?"

It's true, right?

The way that we write and the way that we speak,

are very different.

Here's an example, right?

I found this sentence over here on a website.

It's about the city where I live.

And it says, I visited Santander,

which is not a very pretty city

due to a fire that destroyed it in 1941.

Now that's great for writing, but we don't speak like that.

We would never speak like that.

When we speak, we break our language into smaller units,

so that it's easier to use and easier to remember.

If you try to memorize this and speak like this,

it'd be, you know,

I visited Santander, which is not a very pretty city

due to a fire that happened in,

I can't even remember what I'm talking about.

And not only you can't remember,

but the listener has fallen asleep at the same time. Right?

So actually when we speak,

we break this down into manageable units

or phrases or chunks or clauses, something like this.

I visited Santander,

it's not a very pretty city

because there was a fire,

a fire that destroyed it in 1941.

Right?

These are simple blocks that are easier to remember,

and easier to control your intonation.

So a clause is the basic building block of speaking.

"That's the secret." Right?

It's so simple.

All you have to do is put together the clauses.

So what is a clause exactly?

Well, in simple terms, a clause,

will have two things.

It will have a subject, and a verb phrase.

The subject like I, you, he, she,

can also be a noun phrase like the car or the black cat.

And then you've got the verb phrase

sometimes called a predicate, if you like fancy words.

And the verb phrase tells us something about the subject.

Very simple example, I live in Spain.

I is the subject, 'live in Spain' is the verb phrase, right?

And we can build complex structures

by building two or three or more clauses together.

Don't focus on perfect writing and punctuation,

focus on perfect pauses and intonation.

That's how you sound natural.

That's how you build complex grammar.

That's the way to do it.

I'm gonna show you some very specific examples

so that this is crystal clear.

But before we do that, I need some more tea.

What about you?

Great. Last more tea, but listen, what would you like?

(laughs) Okay, great.

Listen, I hope you're enjoying the video so far.

If you are, please do remember to subscribe

and turn on the notifications.

Now complex grammar, right?

I think the really, really important thing

is practice, practice, practice.

And as I mentioned earlier,

I think one of the best places to do that

is to sign up for Cambly.

Cambly is an online platform with native English speakers.

What's great about it is that you can choose your own tutor.

You can study when it suits you, right?

And you decide what to do,

and your teacher can also guide you.

The classes are recorded,

so you can actually go back and watch them again.

And there's a variety of different study plans

to meet your different needs.

And do remember, Cambly also have a selection

of different pre-prepared courses,

including IELTS courses that you get for free

once you've signed up.

As Cambly are sponsoring this video,

then they have some discounts for you my lovely students.

So basically this is the deal.

With the code in the description

you can have a free 10 minute lesson on Cambly,

and then if you like it,

you can buy a 12 month plan with a discount of 40%.

That's it, 4-0, 40% of the 12 month plan.

You can't go wrong. Absolutely brilliant.

You can practice lots and get ready

for your IELTS Speaking test.

Thank you very much to Cambly for sponsoring this,

and guys go and check them out,

you will absolutely love it.

The code to use for the discounts is keith-yt.

That's keith-yt.

Get on Cambly, stop practicing, enjoy your English.

Right now let's get back

to getting you a band 7 or above,

with some complex grammar on your IELTS Speaking test.

Okay, so coming back to those clauses, right?

The basic building blocks of speaking.

First of all, let's look at clauses and conjunctions, right?

So we can join two clauses with words like,

and, but, for, nor, or, so,

simple conjunctions, right?

For example, I live in Spain and I like it very much,

but the weather is a bit too hot. Right?

You can see three clauses connected with these conjunctions.

We're already starting to build a more complex sentence,

and notice how I've written it out,

in clauses and chunks.

So you can better control the pausing

and the phrasing and intonation

of your natural spoken English. Great.

Just listen to the intonation

and see if you can follow me, right?

I live in Spain and I like it very much,

but the weather is a bit too hot.

You see that control is really what you need

to sound natural.

Great. Let's move on.

Next, let's look at relative clauses.

Now you've probably heard of these before,

but basically this is where you describe your first clause

with a second clause,

which can be an adjective or a relative clause, right?

We can be using words like who, which,

that, where, when, whose.

For example, I live in Spain,

which is a beautiful country.

I live in a city where there is not too much traffic.

I work for a woman who is very friendly. Right?

Now let's see how we can start building blocks

and putting clauses together. Okay?

I live in Spain, which is a pretty big country,

and I like it very much.

Right? We're mixing relative clause and the conjunction.

Or, I live in Spain, which is a pretty big country,

and I like it very much

although the weather is a bit too hot.

Can you see what's happening?

How we're mixing and we're building these clauses,

and we're creating quite complex grammar,

and there's more let's carry on.

Now let's look at adverbial clauses.

So this is where we describe how something happens,

or when it happens or why it happens, right?

With an adverbial clause.

And we'll be using words like before, after,

because, although. when, if, until, as if,

there's many, right?

For example, I decided to buy a PlayStation

after seeing an advert on TV.

Two clauses joined with after.

I lived in Malaysia before moving to Spain. Right?

I live in Spain because the food is great.

Now, let's see as we start to build up these blocks,

making more complex sentences.

We could say, I live in Spain because the food is great,

although I think they eat too much fish. Right?

You could switch it around, right?

Take the same structure.

I work as a teacher

because I enjoy showing people how to learn

although the hours are quite long. Right?

What about you?

I work as a, bum, because da, da, da,

although da, da, da,

what would you say?

Interesting.

Another example, I live in Spain,

which is a pretty big country, because the food is great.

And notice how we're using intonation

to show that the relative clause

is a non defining relative clause, right?

It's that extra information.

I live in Spain, which is a pretty big country,

because the food is great.

So we're using pausing an intonation

to build complex grammar.

Let's chop it up, mix things around a bit, right?

I live in Spain,

which is a pretty big country,

because the food is great,

although I think they eat too much fish.

Can you see how we're building complex grammar?

And we can even start throwing in

some of those complex tenses, right?

Mixing it all together.

Something like this.

I've been living in Spain for three years,

which is quite a long time actually

partly because the food is great,

although I think they eat too much fish.

You can see what's happening, right?

I don't think they eat too much fish actually,

it's very, very healthy.

It's just that I'm not a big fish man.

A fish man?

Yeah, I'm not really into fish that much.

But complex grammar, right?

What we're doing is we're taking clauses,

we're taking different tenses,

and we're basically, like you're building a house,

you're constructing your complex grammar,

but don't do it from a writing point of view.

Do it from a speaking point of view,

focus on pauses, clauses and intonation.

Bob's your uncle.

Great. Moving on.

Wow. So there's a lot of information, right?

But I hope you can see how you can start

to build complex grammar structures for your IELTS Speaking.

Now I suggest you go back and watch some of the video again

and practice making your own complex phrases

to talk about you, your job, your family, your studies,

or your home, these common topics, right?

Think about tenses,

think about clauses.

And then share one of your phrases in the comments below,

and let's see how you get better and better.

Remember, it's all about the practice.

Practice, practice, practice.

Get onto Cambly, right?

Find yourself a teacher of your choice and start practicing.

Thank you very much to Cambly for sponsoring this video.

Do remember you can get a discount on the 12 month plan,

you'll get a 40% discount if you sign up for 12 months,

and if you just want to try it out,

you can do a 10 minute free lesson

to see if it fits for you.

Brilliant. I'm very grateful

that you've watched the video this far.

Thank you so much.

I can't wait to see you very shortly in the next video.

Take care my friend.

Bye. Bye.

(upbeat music)