5 baby words in IELTS writing

Mr. Tân

IRON OUT 5 “BABY” WORDS IN WRITING
INSTEAD OF USING
GOOD [A1]

USE
Wonderful [A2]
Marvellous [B1]
Advantageous [B1]
Fruitful [C1]
Or words depended on contexts

*Baby words are vague, which do not show the clear degree of our
statements.

E.g. Listening to music brings back lots of (informal) good benefits to our
mental health.
 Listening to music brings back numerous fruitful benefits to our mental
health.
INSTEAD OF USING
BAD [A1]

USE
Awful [A2]
Disadvantageous [B1]
Fruitless [C1]
Desperate [C2]
Or words depended on contexts

E.g. Children may feel blue (idiomatic expression) when their parents behave

badly.
 Children may be depressed when their parents behave desperately.
INSTEAD OF USING
SMALL (A1)

Size or Amount
Minimal [C1]
Minute [C2]
Miniature [C2]

USE
Value or Importance
Trivial [B2]
Negligible [C2]
Trifling [formal]

E.g. On the other hand, small companies usually treat their staffs (informal)
with small offers.


Mr. Tân

 On the other hand, miniature companies usually treat their employees
with trifling offers.
INSTEAD OF USING
BIG (A1)

Size or Amount
Vast [B2]
Immense [C1]

Prodigious [formal]

USE
Value or Importance
Considerable [B2]
Drastic [C1]
Forceful [C2]

E.g. On the East side of the map, there was a big river, which had the big
meaning to the villagers.
 On the East side of the map, there was a vast river, which signified
(recommended to replace “had”) the drastic meaning to the villagers.
THING(S) [A1]: words are variable because of distinct contexts like events,
chances, decisions, signals, etc.

E.g. It makes sense (idiomatic expression) that nowadays governments have
been doing many things to protect the environment.
 It is meaningful that nowadays governments have been trying several
efforts to protect the environment.

Re-make these sentences:
Learning languages has helped people with many good things.
___________________________________________________________.

Coping with strict customers is one of the things that a salesperson
would face.
___________________________________________________________.
It is a good thing to save our nature by jacking in using plastic stuff.
___________________________________________________________.

Mr. Tân

While a lot of people count on first impression, some people don’t
think it will make a big change to improve things.
___________________________________________________________.