🦩 Simple or complex? 🦩

If sometimes you think it might be cool to be Irina Lutsenko, consider the dilemmas that keep me awake at night. Like this one.

Is this sentence simple or complex?❓

"North America, in the meantime, ranked third, albeit with a considerably lower quantity of 24.7 million tons."

My colleagues, whose level is C3 or higher, disagree. ChatGPT first gave one answer, but then took it back after a clarifying question and said the opposite thing.

Here is the deal.

The answer hinges on whether "albeit with a considerably lower quantity of 24.7 million tons" is a clause. I don't think it is because it doesn't have a subject and a verb.

Those who say it is a clause argue that it is a reduced one because the subject and the verb are implied, e.g. "it ranked / it did so." But I don't think this holds up as "albeit" doesn't take a subject and a verb in that "albeit it did so with a considerably lower quantity" is impossible. Therefore, it cannot be a reduced clause or a clause at all.

This makes the sentence above a simple one. A beautiful, sophisticated, high-level one, but still a simple one.

Of course, none of this has any practical applications (probably). It's just my idea of fun.

So, where do you stand on this - is the sentence simple or complex? Why?

IELTS Writing Task 1 - Grammar 9?

I think getting 9 for grammar is harder for Task 1 than for Task 2 because it's harder to show a wide range. Do you think this answer (body paragraphs only) deserves 9 for grammar?

Written by a student - the wonderful Alisher Soliev.

"When it comes to consumption, Europe led the way with 96.1kg per person, followed distantly by North America, where 57.9kg was consumed. The figures for the next two places in the table, by comparison, were nowhere near as high: Asia as well as South and Central America consumed similar amounts, at 25.8 and 23.6 kilograms per person respectively. In Africa, the consumption rate was the lowest, standing at a mere 14.1kg - a figure that was just over a tenth of the leader's figure.

As far as the production of this vegetable is concerned, Europe harvested 126.3 million tons and was placed after Asia, which produced about 5 million tonnes more compared to Europe. North America, in the meantime, ranked third, albeit with a considerably lower quantity of 24.7 million tonnes. Of particular note is the fact that Africa didn't rank last, as it did in the former table, with the production quantity of 16.4 million tonnes; it was, in fact, South and Central America that grew only 15.6 million tonnes of potatoes."

Here is the Band 9 denoscription for grammar:
- A wide range of structures within the scope of the task is used with full flexibility and control.
- Punctuation and grammar are used appropriately throughout.
- Minor errors are extremely rare and have minimal impact on communication.

Share in the comments. 🦋

📊 Avoid repetitions with ellipsis in IELTS Writing Task 1 📊

Ellipsis is the omission of a word that can be understood from the structure of the sentence.

For example: Instead of "... this early application cycle has proven to be one of the most competitive cycles in history... ," we can write "... has proven to be one of the most competitive in history." No need to repeat "cycle."

Ellipsis is a far superior way of avoiding repetitions than synonyms. And it comes in especially handy with words that don't have a lot of synonyms, which is often the case in IELTS Writing Task 1.

Take a look at this paragraph from an article on Forbes, find three more examples of ellipsis, and share in the comments.

📝 "For other elite universities, this early application cycle has proven to be one of the most competitive in history, following a trend of record-breaking years. Yale announced that they have accepted 709 of their 7,856 applicants, amounting to a 9.02% acceptance rate — the lowest in over 20 years, topping the precedent set last cycle. While Columbia did not announce its official acceptance rates, the university noted that their applicant pool increased by 5% over last year’s, an increase which will likely result in a smaller percentage of admitted students. Likewise, the University of Pennsylvania received over 8,500 applications, up from 8,000 in the last cycle. Neither Penn nor Yale have shared demographic data."

PS: There are all sorts of IELTS Writing Task 1 beauty in this paragraph. What else did you spot?

Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2023/12/15/harvard-announces-increases-in-early-admissions-acceptance-rates-while-yales-hit-historic-lows/?sh=3dff46333f75

🦩 Paraphrasing the IELTS essay topic 🦩

📝 Topic: "The most important aim of science should be to improve people's lives. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?"

📝 Here are two sentences written by a student:

1. It has been posited that the paramount objective of science should be the enhancement of human lives. (Introduction)
2. I staunchly contend that the unequivocal aspiration of science is the enhancement of human life. (Conclusion)

Even though the topic is technically paraphrased, the paraphrase is entirely lexical and looks like a translation from "simple" to "fancy" rather than skillful use of language.

It's a good idea to add some more paraphrasing techniques:

1️⃣ Change the subject of the sentence. Make "science" the subject of the sentence. If you do, you will get a different sentence structure, which is a plus.

2️⃣ Change the part of speech. E.g. science - scientific, important - importance, aim - be aimed. This will also entail changes in the sentence structure and, hopefully, allow you to use even more good language.

3️⃣ Put some ideas into separate clauses or even sentences. E.g. "There is some debate as to what the most important aim of science should be, with some people arguing it is the improvement of people's lives ... ."

Now combine one or all of these techniques with lexical paraphrasing and offer your version in the comments. 📝

One lesser known fact about me is I have a tradition - I run on 1 January. 🏃‍♀

Inspired by a student, I started in 2017 and have kept it ever since.

Join me tomorrow. Do any activity - run, ski, swim - wherever you are. Share your distance and your location in the comments!

Let's start the year strong! 💪

A wonderful New Year image by the wonderful Anna Skopina, who created a lot of wonderful images for me in 2023! 💜

❄ My 2023 ❄

I have a friend who keeps telling me, "Irina, you share your amazing achievements on social media all the time. Aren't you afraid people will hate you?"

I am not afraid, but I do realize some people will indeed hate me for that. I also know there are those who are inspired by that. If you are too, keep reading. If I can do this, so too can you - there is nothing fundamentally unique or out of reach about any of the amazing things I do.

The highlights of my 2023:

❄ I won yet another grant - ELEX - and attended TESOL 2023 in Portland, Oregon. I hadn't been to the US since my 💎 year, so I missed it and just had to go again. 🇺🇲

❄ Inspired by the experience, I submitted three proposals to speak at TESOL 2024 - and one got accepted! I'll present at the biggest conference in the ELT industry in March in Florida! 🇺🇲

❄ Inspired by the success, I submitted another proposal and won yet another grant - this time for others. I got a Creative Writing course from RELO with an American teacher for 20 wonderful people in my community!

❄ Inspired by Alisher Soliev, I got my second IELTS 9 and third 8.5 for writing. 💜

❄ Started writing IELTS answers weekly and continued teaching IELTS writing relying almost exclusively on my own model answers. And Anna Skopina draws beautiful visuals for the tasks. So our writing courses have a uniquely distinct style - in terms of both the texts and the images.

❄ Spoke at three major ELT conferences in Russia: Trendy St Pete in St Pete, Trendy Evolution in Moscow, and YarConf23 in Yaroslavl. Continued to spread my passion for writing.

❄ Met Jordan Peterson the second time!

❄ Took my own Creative Writing project to the next level - launched a book discussion club based on our stories "Small Stories Big Ideas." Superbly hosted by the wonderful Vera Averyanova. To be repeated in 2024 - stay tuned.

❄ ... and then Evgenia Karabatova took my project to the absolutely unimaginable (until now) but highly inspiring level - she wrote a real novel, 30,000 words long!!! The novel will be featured in the new season of "Small Stories Big Ideas."

❄ ... and Veronika Shirobokova made a huge contribution to my creative writing community too by running an awesome poetry writing mini-course.

❄ Increased my running distances significantly: I now run three times a week, a total of 25 km, on average. 🏃‍♀

Of course, I couldn't have done so much without the people mentioned and many others helping behind the scenes. My unending gratitude to every single person who contributed to the activities above. 💜

And also huge thanks to those of you who, rather than hating me, are inspired by me. 💜

🦋 "Irina, what is your writing routine?" A student asked. 🦋

In short: between 9 and 9:30 am on work days and any time in the morning on Sunday.

I prefer to write in the morning because my mind is fresh. But I do not write exclusively in the morning. I can write any time if I have a deadline or if I have a thought that I absolutely have to put down on paper.

How did I come up with this routine? It's easy. I am a creature of schedule. So I looked at my weekly schedule and identified the time that is reliably free. I start teaching at 10 am. I can't start writing immediately after I wake up. And I need some time before my first class. This makes the slot from 9 to 9:30 my window of opportunity.

If you need a writing routine, the trick is not to follow mine, but to come up with your own. Do you think better in the morning or in the evening? When is the time you can be reliably free? Do you need to be alone to write? If so, when is that time in your life?

Sometimes breaking a routine helps too. In summer, I would take my "typewriter" (that's what I call my tablet with a detachable keyboard) and go to write in a cafe in the evening. These times were productive for me too because of the break from the routine.

Do you have a writing routine? How did you find or create it? 🦋

❄️ Winter 2024: new groups and good old ones you can join ❄️

❄️ Writing

1. IELTS writing
Several groups, different levels - tons of writing, tons of feedback.
https://vk.com/market-47977221?screen=group&w=product-47977221_3696544%2Fquery

2. Writing with New Scientist
A writing course based on articles from the "New Scientist" magazine and geared towards IELTS prep. A perfect pre- or post-IELTS course.
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5061302%2Fquery

3. Writing Essentials
A great introductory writing course. You will try different tasks, both from exams and real life, and gain the confidence you need to write.
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5043592%2Fquery

4. Writing with ScienceNews
A writing course based on academic articles from the "ScienceNews" magazine. Geared towards essay writing in general, it's a perfect introductory pre-exam writing course (IELTS and CAE).
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_7531320%2Fquery

❄️ Speaking

1. Speaking with New Scientist (C1+, C2)
A speaking course based on articles from the "New Scientist" magazine and geared towards IELTS and C2 Proficiency Speaking tasks, but also good for those who have a penchant for deep, meaningful discussions. Very rich in lexis.
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5911089%2Fquery

2. Speaking with TED (B2, C1, C1+)
A speaking course for those who want to make sure their speaking skills are always at the ready, be it for a business meeting or an international exam (IELTS and CAE).
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5538677%2Fquery

❄️ General English

1. General English C1: Outcomes Advanced
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_6185850%2Fquery

2. C2 Proficiency
This is more of a general English course with some exam preparation rather than an exam format based course. Flipped classroom. Lots of additional materials. Now doing "Expert Proficiency" Unit 8.
Schedule: Friday 16:00-17:30 MSK.

❄️ Creative projects

1. My legendary Creative Writing Club
Unleash your creativity and get more practice writing in English!
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_1461432%2Fquery

2. Small Stories Big Ideas
A short story discussion club - a club based on stories we wrote in my Creative Writing Bootcamp. The writers will be joining the sessions. So you'll be able to ask them not only about their stories and stylistic devices, but also about their writing process. How cool is that? (Very!)
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_6876490%2Fquery

❄️ All enrollments are now open. ❄️

The enrollment process looks like this (except for creative projects):
1. I'll ask you to tell me a bit about yourself in a private message. Questions might include: What is your experience of learning English? What is your experience of writing? Have you taken IELTS? What are your course expectations?
2. If you want to enroll in a writing group, I'll give you a placement task. For most groups, it's an IELTS or IELTS-like essay.
3. We'll schedule an interview.

💌 Message me @iraluts

"Irina, tell me about your American experience." 🇺🇸

A potential student asked today. My answer was, "Which one?"

I've been to the US three times so far:

1️⃣ January - May 2003
- student at Ferrum College

2️⃣ August 2015 - May 2016
My 💎 year with University of New Haven
- teacher of Russian as a foreign language
- non-degree student

3️⃣ March 2023
- ELEX exchange program, attended TESOL 2023

Sometimes I think my life is an open book because I talk about myself all the time. But apparently it isn't.

So which experience would you like to know more about? Oh, and are there any 💎 alumni among my subscribers, by any chance? 🇺🇸

Two creative projects coming up:

1️⃣ Creative Writing Club

A project for those who want to unleash their creativity and have fun writing in English.

Says Timur, one of the former participants: "My takeaway is this: it doesn’t really matter where you start with your writing: prompt or no prompt, you end up writing about yourself in some form or other.

If that was the main revelation from the course, its main value was the inspiration that other participants have proven to be! Creative writing is not something you see people do every day, and one may think it’s the prerogative of professional writers to do it and do it well. But when you see your peers produce stories that grip you and keep you awake and reading till 3 am, you start believing that everything is possible for you!"

📅 Sunday, 11:00 am Moscow time

Find out more at: https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_12067

To join, message me @iraluts with a creative ending to this sentence: "The night sighed as if / like ... ."

2️⃣ Short story discussion club "Small Stories Big Ideas"

A project for readers.

It's plain and simple - the stories written in my Creative Writing Bootcamp deserve a discussion club, and the authors will be there to discuss them with you!

📅 Saturday, 18:00 am Moscow time

Find out more: https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_12066

To join, message me @iraluts with a creative ending to this sentence: "Reading a short story is like ... ."

The things I write to my students...

... to foreshadow what we are going to cover in class.

To wit, this is a message I wrote to my evening group making sure to include some tools and techniques used in writing for stylistic purposes:
- direct speech
- hyphenation
- capitalization
- punctuation
- abbreviation
- italics.

You see, I think good writing is nothing but a bunch of tools and techniques. But you need to know what to look for.

So, take a look at this paragraph from the article from "The Guardian" about new year resolutions. What other writing tools and techniques can you spot? ❓

"Consider the situation. For one thing, you’re too busy (who isn’t?), so it’s not as though making time for several new daily habits is likely to prove straightforward. For another thing, you’re a good person, who generally seeks to do their best – so the fact that you’re not already working out thrice weekly, or meditating daily, or doing more to reduce your carbon footprint or organise your personal finances, isn’t for want of trying. There are reasons these behaviours haven’t proved easier for you. And now a resolution is somehow going to change things? Good luck with that."

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/30/the-key-to-keeping-new-year-resolutions-dont-make-them-in-the-first-place

"Irina, how long did it take you to write that story?"

A participant of my "Small Stories Big Ideas" my reading club asked.

My story, which is called "A Worthless Life" and which I wrote in my Creative Writing Bootcamp, is 3,300 words long. It took one month to write and three months to edit.

It's not as long as it sounds though.

One month means writing just 750-800 words a week, which is about 100 words a day. Instead of that, though, I wrote 400 words on two different days. Four weeks later I had my first complete draft.

That's writing. Then there is editing.

Three months of editing is, in essence, just several hours, but the hours were days or weeks apart so that I could see the story with fresh eyes. One indispensable part of editing was my Creative Writing Bootcamp team. Reading my own story is one thing, but having feedback from fellow writers is absolutely priceless.

Then you also need ideas to write. My ideas came when I was doing completely different things, like walking or cooking.

So, four months of very relaxed work with my creative team's support and I have a story I am happy with -- one I can share, discuss, or submit to a publication. 💜

🇺🇸 A creative writing course with an American educator 🇺🇸

To make this happen, I first won a grant and now I won a grant extension, so you have one more chance to join an awesome creative writing course! 🎉

Tentative syllabus (subject to minor changes):
- Introduction to Course & Creative Nonfiction
- Flash Creative Nonfiction Form & Detail
- Flash Nonfiction: Using Sound and Language
- Flash Nonfiction: Point of View
- Flash Nonfiction: Structure
- Critical Response Process

📅
Schedule: Monday 16:30-18:00 Moscow time
Course duration: 8 weeks
Starting date: 22 January

❗️❗️❗️
- The course is free of charge
- Limited number of places, admissions on a competitive basis
- Compulsory attendance
- Certificate upon successful completion (over 75% of classes).
- Only for Russian teachers working in Russia
- Brought to you by the RELO office
- Commitment to participate is a must!!!

Message me @iraluts. In your first message, tell me briefly about your motivation to join the course. 💌

📝 The difference between coherence and cohesion in short 📝

1️⃣ Coherence present, cohesion absent
"I lost my key. I couldn't get home."

2️⃣ Coherence absent, cohesion present
"I lost my key. As a result, hedgehogs are cute."

3️⃣ Both are present
"I lost my key. As a result, I couldn't get home."

4️⃣ Neither is present
"I lost my key. Hedgehogs are cute."

Coherence is the logic -- it's not seen, but it's understood. Cohesion is the linguistic means to support the logic -- it's seen.

Pop quiz: what is one cohesive device that you don't see, but you understand it's there?❓