Grammar drilled · IELTS, PTE & OET · the Guide to IELTS Speaking, out now · one-to-one lessons

English grammar, taught properly.

Clear rules and the whole IELTS, PTE and OET suite, drilled and tied to the score they earn, by Adam J. Smith, a British tutor and the author of the new IELTS Speaking book.

Book a lesson →See the books

£20 for fifty minutes, one to one. The first lesson doubles as a full assessment.

2,224 lessons taught5.0★ across 48 reviewsTop 10% of Preply tutorsLevel 5 TEFL

Free, in your browser · click through the tools

Grammar The grammar game 1,048 grammar and vocabulary questions behind one adaptive round of ten. Answer well and they climb the band ladder; slip and they step back down. Play a round → Vocabulary Vocabulary drills Thirty-two topic sets that drill the right word, the natural collocation and the register the examiner rewards, each marked on the spot. Start drilling → Vocabulary The word upgrader Trade the commonest words for the ones that lift your band: 250 everyday words, each with stronger, more natural alternatives. Upgrade a word → Sentence craft The fronting tool Bring an adverbial, an object or a participle to the front, 72 worked examples across six patterns, or build a fronted sentence of your own. Reshape a sentence → Sentence craft Combining sentences Four moves that fuse two flat clauses into one controlled complex sentence, the same idea shown from Band 5 to Band 8, and twenty drills to practise them. Combine two clauses → Writing The writing scan Paste a Task 1 or Task 2 answer and get an instant structural read: paragraphing, linking and task coverage. Free, with no sign-up. Scan your writing → Reading Academic Reading Sit full Academic Reading passages in the browser and mark them instantly, with a plain explanation for every answer. Open the passages → Speaking Part 1 questions The topics that open almost every interview, each with the questions you can expect and the same answer written at Band 6 and at Band 8. Warm up on Part 1 → Speaking The Part 2 deck Every Part 2 cue card is one of only six kinds. Practise the type, with the same long turn modelled at Band 6 and at Band 8. Open the deck → Speaking Part 3 discussion Six kinds of question run the whole discussion. Learn to hear which one you have been asked, with Band 6 and Band 8 answers side by side. Take on Part 3 → Speaking Speaking topics Every common topic with its Part 1, 2 and 3 questions, and the same answer shown at Band 6, 7 and 8, so you hear the difference. Practise a topic → Speaking The speaking formulas Five answer shapes to complement PREP and OREO: SCALE for the Part 2 long turn, PRISM, THREAD and COMPASS for the discussion, each worked in full. See the shapes → Listening Listening practice tests Four full tests, 160 questions, every question type the real exam uses, including the plan you label and the choose-two. An indicative band the moment you mark. Sit a test → Scoring The band score calculator Enter your four skill scores and see the overall band the official rounding produces, with the borderline cases explained. Work out your band →
A Range of Structures, the free guide

Free · 79 pages · PDF

A range of structures for IELTS Speaking.

The grammar the speaking test actually rewards, from conditionals to cleft sentences: what each structure is worth, how it goes wrong, and what to say aloud until it stops feeling like grammar. Written from more than two thousand one-to-one lessons.

One email to confirm, then the guide. Nothing on this site is behind the sign-up, and one click removes you. What is in it →

The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking, the book

The book · 614 pages · paperback & Kindle

The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking.

The method this site drills for free, written down properly: five response frameworks, thirteen structures taken to automation, vocabulary by band, pronunciation with audio one scan away, and first-language guidance for eight language families. Built from more than two thousand documented one-to-one lessons.

Buying from outside the UK? Pick your Amazon store →

The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking, DRM-free ebook

Direct · DRM-free · epub

The ebook, straight from this site.

The same book as a DRM-free epub, sold directly and delivered the moment you pay. Read it in any reading app on any device, with no account to create and nothing locked to one store.

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·Find your way around

Everything here, one tap away.

Grammar drilled with feedback, the full IELTS suite, and a real teacher behind it. Know what you need? Start anywhere. Not sure? Take the diagnostic.

01Grammar

Fix the grammar that holds you back.

The errors that keep capable speakers from the next level are predictable, often from your first language. Drill them, with instant feedback, free. Each page is a short set of rules, then ten drills marked as you go.

i.

Articles: a, an, the

The ZONES system, and the specific article error your first language predicts. Five rules, then ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill your articles →
ii.

Grammar by band

The structures that mark you at Band 6, 7 and 8+, pick your target and see exactly what to aim for, with an example of each.

Available now

See the ladder →
iii.

Conditionals

The five forms, the error that decides the Band 6–7 boundary, the Part 3 deployment map, and ten drills with instant feedback, the structure that moves you from 6.5 to 7.

Available now

Drill conditionals →
iv.

Tenses

The seven forms that matter, the boundary that decides Band 7, and a map of which tense each part of the test is asking for, then ten drills.

Available now

Drill your tenses →
v.

Vocabulary & cohesion

Lexical resource is a quarter of your mark, and it's rarely about more words. See the same idea climb from Band 6 to 8+, the linker chart by function, and how to link ideas with the right clause.

Available now

Upgrade your vocabulary →
vi.

Sentence structure

A range of complex structures is the phrase the grammar band turns on. The four sentence types, the joins that build them, the comma-splice error that holds accuracy down, and ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill sentence structure →
vii.

Gerunds & infinitives

The verb-pattern error that quietly holds a band down. Which verbs take -ing, which take to, the gerund-after-preposition rule, the meaning-change pairs (stop doing vs stop to do), and ten drills.

Available now

Drill verb patterns →
viii.

Comparatives & superlatives

Vague comparison is a Band 6 habit; precise comparison is a Band 7 one, and it shows most in Task 1. The forms, the degree modifiers that quantify a gap, the errors that mark you down, and ten drills.

Available now

Drill comparison →
ix.

Modal verbs

How you grade certainty and soften a claim, exactly what Task 2 and Part 3 reward. The certainty ladder, obligation, hedging, the modal + have + past form, and ten drills.

Available now

Drill modals →
x.

Education vocabulary

The first topic-vocabulary bank. The collocations that lift one of the most common IELTS themes, the basic-to-Band-8 upgrades, and ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill education vocabulary →
xi.

Relative clauses

The main tool for combining two ideas into one Band 7 sentence. Defining vs non-defining, who/which/that/whose/where, when to drop the pronoun, the comma rule, and ten drills.

Available now

Drill relative clauses →
xii.

Combining sentences

The interactive tool that ties the grammar pages together: the four moves that fuse flat clauses into one controlled complex sentence, one idea climbing Band 5 to 8, the three traps, and ten to combine. The Band 6-to-7 lift.

Available now

Combine sentences →
xiii.

The passive voice

The register of Task 1 process writing and of academic prose. Be + past participle across the tenses, the three reasons to use it, the errors that cap accuracy, when the active is clearer, and ten drills.

Available now

Drill the passive →
xiv.

Reported speech

How you cite sources in Task 2 and relay speech in Part 1. Backshift and its shifts, reported questions and commands, the still-true exception, and the reporting verbs that beat said, with ten drills.

Available now

Drill reported speech →
xv.

Question formation

The auxiliary goes before the subject, except when it does not. Yes/no and wh-questions, subject questions, question tags, and the indirect-question word order that catches even strong speakers. Ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill question formation →
xvi.

Adverbial clauses

How one idea explains, qualifies or contrasts with another in a single complex sentence. The connectors for time, reason, concession, purpose and result, the comma rule, the comma-splice trap that holds accuracy down, and ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill adverbial clauses →
xvii.

Emphasis & inversion

The Band 8+ word-order moves that show real control: inversion after a negative adverb (Never have I seen), it-clefts and what-clefts, and fronting for effect, used sparingly and accurately. Ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill emphasis structures →
xviii.

Prepositions

Time and place (at, on, in), the dependent prepositions that quietly cap a band (depend on, interested in, responsible for), and the data prepositions that keep Task 1 figures clean (rose by vs to). Ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill prepositions →
xix.

Phrasal verbs

The natural, idiomatic English that lifts Speaking into Band 7+, and the formal equivalents that keep a Task 2 essay in register. What a phrasal verb is, separable vs inseparable word order, the most useful ones, and ten drills.

Available now

Drill phrasal verbs →
xx.

Linking words

Connecting ideas without overdoing it: the three kinds of linker, choosing one by function, punctuating however and therefore (the comma-splice trap), and the overuse that holds Coherence and Cohesion down. Ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill linking words →
xxi.

Referencing & substitution

Cohesion without repetition: this, these, the former, the latter, one, do so and ellipsis, the devices that point back to an idea without naming it again, plus the unclear-reference trap that costs Coherence and Cohesion marks. Ten drills with instant feedback.

Available now

Drill referencing →

Browse the whole Grammar section → · Every resource here is free. When you want a person to mark your work and tell you exactly what's holding you back, that's what the lessons are for.

02IELTS resources

Practice you can actually sit.

A full IELTS suite, free: full papers marked the moment you finish, a writing scan, and topic and essay banks. No download, no sign-up.

i.

Academic Reading

Seventeen complete Academic passages, each with fourteen questions across the four question types. Sit them online; mark instantly with an explanation for every answer.

17 tests · Available now

Open the Reading tests →
ii.

Academic Writing

Fourteen full Academic papers, a Task 2 essay-question bank sorted by type, and a free writing scan that reads your structure in seconds.

Available now

Open the Writing papers →
iii.

Speaking

The three-part structure with band-graded answers, plus a topic bank: Part 1/2/3 questions, a practise generator, and the same answer shown at Band 6, 7 and 8+.

Available now

Practise the topics →
iv.

Understand & Listening

How IELTS is scored, with a target-band tool, plus a free Listening exercise generator that builds marked practice from any video you choose.

Scoring live · Listening live

Listening practice → How you're scored →
v.

The grammar game

All 1,048 grammar and vocabulary drills behind one adaptive round of ten. Answer well and the questions climb the band ladder; struggle and they step back down. Every wrong answer explains itself.

1,048 questions · Available now

Play a round →

Which IELTS are you taking? The test comes in two versions, and this site treats them as two tracks with their own material. Academic is for university study and professional registration: dense Reading passages and a data-driven Task 1. General Training is for work and migration: everyday texts and a Task 1 letter. Speaking and Listening are identical in both. The Academic track → The General Training track →

Adam J. Smith

Who makes this

Everything here is built by Adam J. Smith, an IELTS tutor, London-born, in proper British English. He teaches one to one online: grammar and fluency, IELTS, professional English, and more.

2,224 lessons taught · 5.0★ across 48 Preply reviews · Top 10% of Preply English tutors · Level 5 TEFL Diploma · London-born, RP accent · co-author of Keto Dive

About Adam →
03Lessons

Work with a real teacher, not just a website.

The free resources will take you a long way on your own. When you want a person to hear your English, mark your writing and tell you exactly what to fix, that is a lesson. One to one, online, in proper British English.

1Diagnosethe errors actually costing you marks, on your own writing and speech
2Explainwhy you make them, usually through your first language
3Drillprecisely those structures, not everything
4Retestso we know they survived contact with a clock
5Repeateach lesson answers what happened in the last one

A correction you cannot explain is one you will make again. See a real post-lesson report → or browse the marking archive, real corrections with the reasoning written out.

i.

Grammar & fluency

General English for speaking and writing: the grammar that holds you back, and the confidence to use the language naturally.

ii.

IELTS & PTE preparation

IELTS or PTE Academic, marked against the real criteria and traits, with an honest read on the score you are sitting at and a plan to raise it.

iii.

Professional & exam English

Business and workplace English, interview preparation, and OET for healthcare professionals.

iv.

Conversation

Structured conversation practice to build fluency, range and confidence, at your level.

Book a lesson → · Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one. Your first lesson doubles as a full assessment.

·The books

Written down, properly.

Adam writes as well as teaches. The grammar here, the band-by-band structures and the first-language guidance, is drawn from his book, now in print, with more to come.

Paperback · Kindle · 614 pages

The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking

The full framework behind the Speaking resources on this site: the three parts, the response scaffolds, band-by-band model answers from 5.5 to 8.0, first-language guidance for eight language families, and audio demonstrations one scan away.

Everything the site drills for free is the method; the book is the method written down properly, in order, with nothing missing.

Most guides teach every candidate the same English; this one starts from what your first language makes you do.

The paperback on Amazon →  ·  Kindle →  ·  See all the books →

i.

The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking

The full framework behind the Speaking resources here: the three parts, the response scaffolds, band-by-band models, and first-language guidance.

Published · paperback & Kindle

Paperback on Amazon →Kindle edition →
ii.

Keto Dive

Co-authored with Krzysztof Miszczuk (2026). A different subject entirely, and proof that the writing is the work, not an afterthought.

Published 2026

ketodive.life →Buy on Amazon →
iii.

Articles in Revolve Magazine

Published feature writing, the same plain, properly British style the lessons are taught in.

Published

iv.

A Range of Structures for IELTS Speaking

The companion guide: eleven sections on the structures that decide a speaking band, each with its formula, its band value and prompts to drill aloud.

Free, now · also in paperback

Get the PDF →
·Reviews

What the lessons did for them.

Forty-eight reviews on Preply, every one of them five stars. A handful, in their own words.

★★★★★

He is excellent for IELTS Academic preparation and provides a lot of writing practice, which is extremely helpful for making real progress.

Eugenie · June 2026

★★★★★

We practice some writing tasks on a given topic and Adam provides a detailed review of my texts according to the IELTS scoring system and suggests possible improvements.

Roman · January 2026

★★★★★

Adam has a natural talent for explaining even the most complex grammar structures in a simple and accessible way. Concepts that used to confuse me now finally make sense.

Hanna · February 2026

★★★★★

Adam and I completed numerous mock tests, and his constructive feedback was invaluable. He assigned targeted homework that addressed my weakest points, which greatly enhanced my skills.

Alexandra · July 2024

★★★★★

He organizes the lessons according to what I need to improve, and he adapts the topics to things I am interested in. That makes the classes much more engaging and enjoyable.

Andrea Isabel · June 2026

Verbatim from Adam's Preply reviews. 5.0★ across 48 reviews, and Preply ranks Adam a Super Tutor, in the top 10% of English tutors.

04The marking

Watch a paragraph get marked.

This is a Band 6 paragraph from the worked example on this site, marked the way a report marks it. Every slip is named, corrected and explained, because a correction you cannot explain is one you will make again.

Task 2 · unpaid community service in schools

Firstly, community service gives young people important skills. For example, they help in a hospital or a old people home, and they learn to talk to different people. Some students say they are too busy studying. This is a reasonable point, however I think that with a good time management, students can do both things without problem. In my opinion the advantages are more than the disadvantages.

Grammar · article

a old people home

an old people’s home

An before a vowel sound, and the possessive for “a home for old people”.

Punctuation · comma splice

a reasonable point, however I think

a reasonable point. However, I think

Two full sentences joined by only a comma. However opens a new sentence and takes a comma after it.

Grammar · article

with a good time management

with good time management

Uncountable, so no article. The same slip twice in one paragraph is the one to drill.

Vocabulary · precision

the advantages are more than the disadvantages

the advantages outweigh the disadvantages

One precise verb replaces four vague words, which is Lexical Resource in a sentence.

Task Response 6 Coherence 6 Lexical Resource 6 Grammar 6
6.0 Indicative band. The structure is already at a 7 standard; development and two recurring slips hold it at 6.
Read the full report →
Also marked · 3 of 888 corrections, chosen by today’s date
Turkish · copula

Many women experience sickness; it usually a normal.

Many women experience sickness; it is usually normal.

Turkish lets an adjective stand alone – o normal. English cannot: every finite clause needs a verb, and where there is no action, be is the verb.

Turkish · articles

We recommend vaccine because it protects the baby.

We recommend the vaccine because it protects the baby.

A specific thing already in play takes the. First-mention countable takes a/an. An uncountable or a whole field takes nothing.

Turkish · subordinate clauses

The contractions are every five minutes, before the patient come to hospital.

When the contractions are every five minutes, come to hospital.

Two things at once: the connector names a condition, so when, not a tacked-on before; and the patient come → comes.

Every one is a real correction from marked homework, and the three change with the date, so this is never quite the same page twice.

This paragraph is a worked example, not a student’s work. Real reports are written for the person who wrote the essay and are never published. Individual corrections, anonymised, are gathered in the marking archive.

This is what you get after every £20 lesson →

·The report

The marking, unedited.

Every lesson ends with a written report and homework built from your own mistakes. It's part of the £20, not an extra. No marks out of ten and no good job. The grammar we covered gets one of four verdicts, every error you made is written down in your own words and corrected, and the reason it happened is traced back to your first language. Below are real pages from real reports. Only the names have been removed.

Every lesson's grammar gets one of these four

Absorbed
You produced it correctly. It's yours. The homework extends it rather than repeats it.
Partially absorbed
The structure is there; something inside it slipped. The homework drills exactly that.
Split
Half the target landed, half didn't. Both halves get named: no averaging.
Not tested
It never came up, so it isn't marked. I won't record a pass I haven't seen.
VerdictAll conditional forms

Absorbed

The headline is a strong one: all the conditional forms are absorbed: you run them fluently, in a real fintech register, right up to the past-hypothetical that trips most people. What's left isn't the conditionals at all; it's the little third-person -s that slips off inside them (if the engine flags). Fix the -s, one habit, and today's whole sheet largely clears.

C2 · Polish · fintech team lead · session 9
Priority correctionsCount II · dominant

“if engine flag a transaction” · “if scope creep happen” · “if he have another offer”

if the engine flags · if scope creep happens · if he has another offer

Every one is a third-person singular subject that needs -s on its verb. The pattern is consistent, so the fix is a single habit. A quick self-check when you speak: he/she/it → verb + s.

C2 · Polish · fintech team lead
VerdictPerfect & continuous passive

Not tested

The forms were taught, but they didn't surface in your speaking today, so there's nothing to mark yet. I've deliberately not recorded this as absorbed: this morning your past passive was only partially there, and the perfect forms stack more auxiliaries on top, so they need to be seen in production before we can say. The homework elicits them.

B2 · Arabic · IELTS · session 6
L1 interferenceSpanish · §9

Why it happened

“how much could earn a lawyer in Spain”

how much a lawyer could earn in Spain

Spanish places the subject after the verb very freely (¿cuánto podría ganar un abogado?) and keeps that order in indirect questions too. English inverts only in direct questions. The moment one is embedded, it snaps back to statement order: subject, then verb. Same words; different order.

C1 · Spanish · cross-border litigator · session 14
VerdictRelative & reduced clauses

Split

Purpose, result and, impressively, reduced relatives came through clean. Russian has no reduced relatives at all, so the dishes prepared this morning is a structure with no template in your first language. That's a real gain.

“people who wants to learn”

people who want to learn

The one thing to tidy: the verb agrees with the noun before who.

C1 · Russian · restaurant receptionist · session 7
Milestone reviewEvery 5th lesson
LessonGrammar facedVerdict
01ConditionalsAbsorbed
06Passive voiceAbsorbed
07Clause familyAbsorbed
08Relative clausesPartially
09Cohesion & modalsAbsorbed
10Inversion & cleftsAbsorbed

On the hard, advanced grammar the verdict is almost always absorbed. Where the small marks cluster is one finite place: two short lists of Swedish habits. Not gaps to fill: lists to automate.

C1 · Swedish · cyber security · session 10
Key mantrasDrill before next lesson
  • a good momentfirst-mention singular → a
  • on the contrarynot in contrary; no to after it
  • by choicenot by their choice
  • no WOULD in the if-clauseif they moved, not if they would move
  • I've been to (experience)life experience → present perfect
C2 · Polish · IT product owner · session 14
Crime scene reconstructionCase C-P14-0709

The motive

Pure structure, no carelessness. Polish forms the conditional with the clitic by, and the conjunction gdyby ('if') already contains it, literally if-would. So in Polish the conditional marker sits in the if-word itself; carried across, it re-surfaces as an English would right there in the if-clause.

Closed with a rule to bank: one would, result side only.

Every report closes with one of six of these · C2 · Polish
VerdictDeduction, clefts, inversion

Absorbed · clean sheet, no errors.

A milestone and a clean sheet on the same day. It's worth knowing why that's impressive: every one of these structures runs against the grain of Korean, which emphasises with particles and puts its verbs last. You switched systems cleanly. The homework doesn't need to repair anything: it just stretches these tools across registers, from a chat with a friend to a formal essay.

C1 · Korean · age 12 · session 10

A sneak preview: how the homework comes back

Worksheet · B2 · Arabic · IELTS

The homework isn't a photocopy. It's written for the lesson you just had, in a setting you actually work in, and it targets the errors you actually made. Six stages, from noticing to free writing, and every answer comes back marked with the reason, not just a tick. Here's a real key, from a worksheet on linking clauses:

Last year I went to a new school. Finished past → simple past. English never puts was in front of a base verb.

My parents are very supportive. Parents = plural → are. Arabic has no present 'to be', so this one is entirely on the English side.

I like to drink tea in the evening. After like / want / need → to + verb, or the -ing form. Never the bare verb.

They are tired because they studied all night. Both shapes in one sentence: the copula, then the finished past.

And every worksheet ends with your first language, in writing

The three verb shapes: your one priority. Past: I WENT, they STUDIED (never was go). Be: I am / you-we-they ARE / he-she-it IS (never they is). After like/want/need: TO + verb, or -ing, never the bare verb.

Why it happens. Arabic has no present 'to be': hum asihha' ('they healthy') is a complete sentence with no verb. So the English be is a word your first language never supplies. Add it on purpose.

The plan. Don't add new grammar. Make these three shapes automatic. That's the fastest lift to your band.

That's what lands in your inbox after every fifty minutes: a report that names what you did well, what you got wrong in your own words, and why your first language pulled you there, plus a worksheet built to fix it. It's included in the £20, and it's the part students keep. Book your first lesson →

·Lessons & packages

What lessons cost.

Just lessons, priced plainly, booked on this site's own calendar.

A lesson is £20 for fifty minutes, paid by card when you book. Your first lesson doubles as a full assessment, and packs of eight and sixteen lessons bring the price down to £18 and £17.

First lesson
50 minutes
£20
the assessment built in

A full assessment: speaking, grammar, a look at your writing, and an honest read on your band.

Lessons
50 minutes
£20
about $25 on Preply

One to one, with a written report and targeted homework after every lesson.

Packs
8 or 16 lessons
£18 / £17
a lesson, prepaid

Eight lessons for £144 or sixteen for £272, valid twelve months, booked at your own pace. The detail is here.

No games with the numbers: £20 a lesson, the first one doubling as a full assessment, and the written report after every lesson is part of the price, not an extra.

Book your first lesson →

·Book a lesson

Start with a first lesson.

Free resources get you a long way. A second pair of eyes gets you the band.

Lessons are booked on this site’s own calendar, which shows my genuinely free slots and takes payment by card. Your first lesson doubles as a full assessment. Lessons run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, on the hour, 12:00–19:50 Indochina Time (UTC+7).

01
A first lesson that maps you.A full fifty-minute assessment: a short speaking test, a look at your grammar, a glance at your writing, and an honest read on your current band.
02
A written report after every lesson.Every lesson ends with a written report and targeted homework, so you always know what was fixed and what comes next.
03
Then £20 for fifty minutes.One to one, in proper British English, booked and paid for on this site. Preply shows the same price in your own currency (about $25).
04
All of it in the £20.The lesson, the written report, the homework built from your own mistakes, and the record of what you have and haven’t absorbed. None of it is an extra.

Taught on Preply since 2023: 2,224 lessons at 5.0 stars. The same lessons are now booked here, on this site’s own calendar.