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P re se nt co n tin u o u s tense I Past co n tin u o u s tense I P re se nt p e rfe c t co n tin u o u s tense

Continuous tenses

The continuous tenses highlight the duration of the activity so that there is a focus on the activity
in progress.

Present continuous: The present continuous is used to talk about:

1 Something that is happening / in progress now

Some people are sitting on the grass and having a picnic.

2 Changes and developments

The num ber of Web users who shop online is increasing,

3 Temporary situations

My friend is staying in a holiday camp.

Past continuous: The past continuous is used to talk about:

1 Continuing past actions happening at the same time as another event.

I was sw im m ing in the sea when the rain started.

2 Describing situations in the past

Some people were relaxing by the pool and others were playing tennis.

3 Temporary situations in the past

For the firs t two days of my holiday I was staving w ith friends.

Present perfect continuous: The present perfect continuous is used to talk about:
1 Actions that started in the past and are continuing now

My best friend has been learning French since January.

Grammar for IELTS

 Unit 2

2 When you mention the results of a recent activity

I'm so tired. I’ve been w aiting for the train fo r hours.

3 When we want to emphasize the repetition or duration of an action

They’ve been thinking about where to go this weekend.

See page 115 in the G ram m ar reference fo r more inform ation.

Practice exercises

Decide on the correct tense (present continuous, past continuous or present perfect
continuous) and complete the sentences 1-6 using the verbs in the brackets. Decide
which rule matches the meaning of each sentence.

1 'W h a t________ (cfo)?’ You look exhausted!’

Tense:_______________________________________________ Rule nu m ber:__

2 'Can you help me w ith my hom ew ork?’ ‘No, I ________ TV.’ [watch]
Tense:_______________________________________________Rule n u m be r:__

3 The num ber of people taking up extreme s p o rts ___(increase) since the early 1990s.
Tense:_______________________________________________ Rule num ber:__

U Last m onth I ________ (have) acting lessons but I had to stop when I lost my voice.
Tense:_______________________________________________ Rule num ber:__

5 T h e y________ [walk] in the countryside when suddenly it started to rain.

Tense:_______________________________________________ Rule num ber:__

6 I don’t like the book that I ________ (read) at the m om ent.

Tense:_______________________________________________ Rule num ber:__

Grammar tip: Continuous verbs are usually active verbs (verbs such as to run), that refer to
an action). Stative verbs (such as to know], refer to a state, and are usually used in simple
tenses, e.g. I want a new bike not I am wanting a new bike as to want is a state, not an action.
Some verbs such as to see have both an active and a stative meaning.

Look at the fo llo w ing sentences 1-5 and decide if the m ain verbs should be in the present
continuous o r the present sim ple.
1 I am not agreeing / 1don't agree that going to the cinema is better than watching film s on TV.
2 I have / 1am having a great tim e in Paris at the m om ent, (meaning = to enjoy)
3 I like / 1am liking studying Spanish in my free tim e.
A Do you mind / Are you minding if I sit here?
5 I th in k /I'm thinking about learning to sail next year, (meaning = to plan to do)

Free time
 Underline the examples of continuous tenses in the following passage from a Reading
text, then complete the summary below using continuous verbs from the text.
The am ount of leisure tim e available to people has been increasing since the early
tw entieth century when machines started to be invented to do many labour intensive
tasks both at w ork and in the home. Previously, people were spending many more hours
doing basic m enial tasks and as a result had less tim e available fo r hobbies and activities.
Although recently many people have been com plaining about th e ir w ork life balance,
studies show that the am ount of free tim e we have has been rising continuously fo r over
50 years. More people are playing sport on a regular basis nowadays and young people
are taking up tra d ition a l style hobbies such as knitting and w alking in the countryside.
There has also been a large am ount of governm ent investm ent in leisure facilities in local
com m unities, which has assisted the uptake of hobbies fo r a range of people including
children and the elderly. A few years ago, visitors to a local park would see people who
were playing football or w alking th e ir dog. However, nowadays people are using the gym or
a clim bing w a ll as th e ir way of sporting recreation.

Summary
Over the last half century the am ount of personal free tim e that people have
(1 ) __________Despite the fact that the general opinion of the public is that they have
less leisure tim e than in the past the reality is the opposite. Nowadays more of us
(2 ) _________ sport regularly and the younger generation (3 )___________traditional
leisure pursuits such as crafts and outdoor activities.

Look at the graphs below from an IELTS Writing Task 1 and complete the sentences with
the correct tense to describe the visual information.

JO ^B B C 1
c 8 ....New York Times
° 6 — International Herald Tribune □ BBC2
E2 ■- - Washington Post □ ITV1
0 HITV2
1950 1970 1990 2012

a Number of people buying newspapers daily in the USA

Overall, the num ber of people who buy one of the three m ajor daily newspapers in the USA
(1 )----------------- (rising) since the 1950s. The largest increase in readership has been fo r the
New York Times. However, most people (2 )___________ [still buy} the Washington Post more
than any other daily newspaper.

b Viewers of UK TV channels at 8 p.m. on 30 June 2011

The graph shows the num ber of people who (1 )__________ [view] fo u r different television
channels on 30 June 2011 at 8.00 in the evening. A lm ost half the viewers (2 )__________
[watch] BBC1 and the rem aining 50 per cent were divided more or less equally between the
other three channels.

Grammar for IELTS

 Unit 2

Exam practice: W riting Task 1

You should spend about 20 m inutes on this task.

The graph below shows how elderly people in Europe spent th e ir free time between 1980 and 2010.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons
where relevant.

W rite at least 150 words.

Writing exam tip: When describing visual inform ation in Task 1, it is im portant to
th in k about w hat tenses you w ill need. If the diagram includes tim e references (dates,
years) you w ill need a range of past and present tenses. If the graph has no past tim e
reference, you w ill need to use the present sim ple tense only.

Free tim e activities of the elderly in Europe from 1980 to the present

-♦— Reading
■•— Hiking
- • — Theatre
-* — Playing sport
-#— Surfing the Internet

Now compare your answ er w ith the m odel answ er and th in k about how you could improve yours.

Free time 13
2 Health
N am ing health p ro b le m s and tre a tm e n ts I Recognizing synonym s | Recognizing co llo ca tion s
Vocabulary
Health problems:
• addiction (addictions)
NOUN Addiction is the condition of taking
h a rm fu l drugs and being unable to stop
taking them . ■ long-term addiction to
nicotine
• allergy (allergies)
NOUN If you have a p a rticular allergy, you
become ill or get a rash when you eat, sm ell,
or touch som ething that does not norm ally
make people ill. ■ Food allergies can result in
an enormous variety of different symptoms.
• cancer (cancers)
NOUN Cancer is a serious disease in which
cells in a person’s body increase rapidly in
an uncontrolled way, producing abnorm al
growths. ■ a cancer research charity
• dehydration
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN You are suffering
from dehydration if you lose too much w ate r
from your body. ■ Cholera causes severe
dehydration.
• disease (diseases)
NOUN A disease is an illness that affects
people, anim als or plants, fo r example one
w hich is caused by bacteria or infection.
■ the rapid spread of disease in the area
• infection (infections)
NOUN An infection is a disease caused
by germ s or bacteria. ■ Ear infections are
common in pre-school children.
• obesity
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN Someone suffering
from obesity is extrem ely fat. ■ The excessive
consumption of sugar leads to obesity
Vocabulary for IELTS
• stroke (strokes)
NOUN If someone has a stroke, a blood
vessel in th e ir brain bursts or becomes
blocked, which may k ill them or make them
unable to move one side of th e ir body. ■ He
had a m inor stroke in 1987, which left him
partly paralyzed.
Verbs associated with treatment:
• adm inister (administers, administering,
administered)
VERB If a doctor or nurse administers
a drug, they give it to a patient. ■ Paramedics
are trained to adm inister certain drugs.
• admit (admits, admitting, admitted)
VERB If someone is admitted to hospital
they are taken into hospital fo r tre a tm e n t
and kept there un til they are w e ll enough to
go home. ■ She was admitted to hospital with
a soaring temperature.
• diagnose (diagnoses, diagnosing,
diagnosed)
VERB If someone or som ething is diagnosed
as having a p a rticu la r illness or problem ,
th e ir illness o r problem is identified.
■ Alm ost a m illion people are diagnosed with
colon cancer each year.
• discharge (discharges, discharging,
discharged)
VERB When someone is discharged from
hospital, they are o fficially allowed to leave,
or told they m ust leave. ■ He has a broken
nose but may be discharged today.
• examine (examines, examining, examined)
VERB If a doctor examines you, he or she
looks at your body, feels it, or does sim ple

tests in order to check how healthy you are.
■ Another doctor examined her and could s till
find nothing wrong.
• screen (screens, screening, screened)
VERB To screen for a disease means
to examine people to make sure that they
do not have it. ■ Men over 50 are routinely
screened for prostate abnormalities.
Unit 2
• vaccinate (vaccinates, vaccinating,
vaccinated)
VERB A vaccine is a harm less form of
the germ s that cause a p a rticula r disease.
If a person or anim al is vaccinated, they
are given a vaccine, usually by injection, to
prevent them getting that disease. ■ Dogs
must be vaccinated against distemper.

Practice exercises

The w ords below describe d iffe re n t disorders. C ircle the w ords that you associate w ith
rich countries. U nderline the w ords you associate w ith poor countries.

a infection e stroke
b heart disease f dehydration
c allergies g addiction
d obesity

Read the passage below and com pare yo u r answers to Exercise 1 w ith the inform ation in
the passage.

Diseases of Affluence - Diseases of Poverty

Health conditions associated w ith wealth are som etim es referred to as diseases of
affluence. These include diseases which are not com m unicable, such as Type 2 diabetes,
cancer, and stroke as w e ll as alcohol and drug addiction, obesity and some allergies.
Risk factors fo r these conditions are associated w ith the lifestyle of the econom ically
prosperous, in particular: physical inactivity, easy availability of meat, sugar, salt and
processed foods, excessive consum ption of alcohol and tobacco, and low er exposure to
infectious agents.
The diseases of poverty, in contrast, are predom inantly infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, m alaria and diarrhoeal diseases. Risk factors fo r these conditions
include: overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, m alnutrition, and inadequate access to
health care. M illions of lives could be saved every year by addressing these underlying
problem s and by sim ple preventive measures such as im m unizing the population against
common infectious agents.

Exam tip: In the IELTS Reading exam you may have to indicate w hether statem ents
about a passage are True, False or Not given (i.e. not mentioned).
You can often recognize a True statem ent if you can match it to a part of the passage
that expresses the same idea in different words.
Recognizing synonyms (words with approximately the same meaning) can help you do this.
Example: Allergies are common in w ealthy countries. Allergies are common in a fflu e n t
countries.

Health 11
3 U nderline w ords in the passage fo r Exercise 2 w hich could be replaced by the w ords in
bold below.

1 M inor skin diso rd e rs do not n o rm a lly require hospital treatm ent.

2 Misuse of prescription drugs is a growing problem .
3 Germs can cause stom ach upsets.
4 Vaccinating children against m easles has reduced the prevalence of this disease.

4 The w ords below describe actions th a t m edical s ta ff may take when a person enters
hospital. N um ber the verbs fro m 1 to 5 to show the o rd e r in w hich they typ ica lly occur.

diagnose___ d isch a rg e ___ a d m it___ tr e a t____ examine

Exam tip: In the IELTS Reading exam you may have to com plete gaps in sentences w ith
w ords from a reading passage. Recognizing collocations (i.e. words that com m only go
together) can help you do this.
If you look carefully at the w ords on eith er side of the gap you may be able to use your
knowledge of collocations to choose the right word(s).
Example: The patient w as_______fo r cancer. The patient was treated fo r cancer.

Com plete the sentences below w ith w ords a -e . Look c a re fu lly at the prepositions a fte r
the gaps to help you choose the rig h t w ord.

a vaccinated b diagnosed c screened d adm inistered e discharged

1 In poor countries patients are s o m e tim e s ___________________fro m hospital before

they are fu lly cured.
2 If a ll women over the age of 50 a r e __________________ fo r breast cancer, many lives
can be saved.
3 The patient w a s ___________________w ith heart disease.
U A ll children should b e ___________________against infectious diseases such as
measles.
5 The d o c to r_a drug to the patient to help him sleep.

Vocabulary for IELTS

 Unit 2

Exam practice: Reading - answering True/False/

Not given questions - completing sentences

QUESTIONS 1-4
Do the statements 7-4 below agree with the information given in the following text? Write:

TRUE if the text confirms the statement

FALSE if the text confirms the opposite of the statement
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to know from the text

Tip: Look fo r synonyms fo r key term s.

Scientists from the UK and USA have recently reported that over the last 30 years the incidence
of Type 2 diabetes has m ore than doubled. They estim ate that nearly 350 m illion adults
w orldw ide now have the disease. In every country studied, rates of diabetes had either remained
the same or increased. The rise has been p a rticula rly acute in the Pacific Islands w ith up to
th irty per cent of women in some areas suffering fro m the condition.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic progressive condition which occurs when there is too much glucose
in the blood, either because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or because cells have
become resistant to insulin. Com plications resulting from diabetes include damage to kidneys,
blindness, heart disease and strokes.
The condition is associated w ith obesity; however, nearly th re e -q u a rte rs of the rise has been
attributed to longer lifespans and better diagnosis. Having a close relative w ith the disease is
also a risk factor.
Type 2 diabetes has also become a m ajor burden on health care systems around the w orld.
Expenditure on treating the condition is projected to rise to over £30 billion annually w ithin the
next three years. However, a recent study has shown that if the condition is diagnosed w ithin
four years of onset, it can be reversed by follow ing a low -calorie diet. Lim iting food intake to
600 calories per day fo r eight weeks was shown to have a lasting effect on the m ajority of subjects
who took part in the tria l. For many, Type 2 diabetes can be cured - and it need not cost the earth.

1 More than twice as many adults have Type 2 diabetes as did th irty years ago.

2 Nearly a th ird of people in the Pacific Islands have diabetes.

3 Type 2 diabetes is a long-term illness which can be caused by insufficient insulin production.

4 The increase in Type 2 diabetes is partly due to greater life expectancy.

QUESTIONS 5 -7
Complete the sentences 5 -7 using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage above.

5 Treating diabetes places a significant on health care budgets.

6 If a person _ w ith diabetes early, he or she can be cured.

7 Most people _ in the low -calorie diet study made a good recovery.

Health 13