Tag
Grammar
28 posts tagged Grammar from Dr Mariam's OET writing team.
Since or For? Duration in OET Patient History
Since or for OET writing duration: the exact rule for choosing between them when a patient-history sentence reports how long a symptom, medication, or condition has lasted.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 9 November 2026
Ensure, Insure, or Assure? The OET Vocabulary Trap
Ensure, insure, and assure are three distinct words with fixed clinical uses in OET writing. Learn the rule for each so your letters say exactly what you mean.
OET WritingLanguageVocabularyGrammarUpdated 3 November 2026
Singular or Plural? Collective Medical Nouns That Trip Up OET Candidates
Collective nouns oet writing: why staff, team, and data take unexpected singular or plural verbs in OET letters, and how to pick the right one every time.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarCollective NounsUpdated 27 October 2026
Redundancy and Tautology in OET Writing: Saying It Once, Correctly
Redundancy in OET writing — doubled phrases like 'past history' and 'future plans' — costs Conciseness & Clarity marks even when every word is spelled correctly. See the full list and how to cut it.
OET WritingConciseness & ClarityVocabularyGrammarUpdated 17 October 2026
Numbers and Dates in OET Letters: Formatting Conventions Examiners Expect
Numbers and dates in OET writing follow fixed formatting rules: when to write digits vs words, the date format examiners expect, and how to write dosages and measurements without ambiguity.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 15 October 2026
Contractions in OET Writing: Why They Don't Belong in a Clinical Letter
Contractions in OET writing (don't, can't, won't) are grammatically fine but read as the wrong register for a clinical letter. See exactly why examiners notice them and how to remove every one before you submit.
OET WritingGenre & StyleRegisterGrammarUpdated 13 October 2026
Apostrophes and Possessives in OET Writing: The Patient's History, Not Patients History
Apostrophes and possessives in OET writing trip up patient names, plural charts, and its/it's. See the exact rules examiners expect under Language, with a quick-reference table.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarPunctuationUpdated 11 October 2026
Common Word Confusions in OET Writing: Affect vs Effect, Prescribe vs Proscribe
Word confusions in OET writing like affect vs effect and prescribe vs proscribe slip past spellcheck and cost Language marks. Learn the fixed rule for each pair.
OET WritingLanguageVocabularyGrammarUpdated 9 October 2026
Modal Verbs of Obligation in OET Writing: Must, Should, and Need To
Modal verbs of obligation in OET writing carry different instruction strength. Learn when must, have to, should, and need to are each the correct choice — and why the wrong one costs Genre & Style marks.
OET WritingGenre & StyleGrammarModalsUpdated 7 October 2026
Gerunds vs Infinitives After Clinical Verbs: Recommend Doing vs Recommend To Do
Recommend, advise, and suggest take different patterns after them in OET writing — gerund, infinitive, or object plus infinitive. Get the wrong one and the sentence reads as non-native even when the advice itself is correct.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarVerb PatternsUpdated 5 October 2026
Conditional Sentences in OET Writing: If Clauses for Recommendations and Advice
Conditional sentences in OET writing: when first conditional is the correct choice for real contingencies, when second conditional softens a request to a colleague, and the mixed-conditional error that costs Language marks.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarConditionalsUpdated 3 October 2026
The Oxford Comma and List Punctuation in OET Writing
The Oxford comma in OET writing prevents ambiguity when listing symptoms, medications, or observations. See the house rule for clear list punctuation examiners expect.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarPunctuationUpdated 27 September 2026
Capitalization Rules in OET Writing: Titles, Drug Names, and Conditions
Capitalization in OET writing trips up candidates on job titles, drug names, and medical conditions. See the exact rules examiners expect under Language, with a brand-vs-generic drug table.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarMechanicsUpdated 25 September 2026
Countable vs Uncountable Nouns in Clinical English: Advice, Information, Feedback
Countable vs uncountable nouns in OET writing: why 'informations', 'advices', and 'feedbacks' are Language errors, and how to quantify advice, evidence, and equipment correctly in a clinical letter.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 23 September 2026
Hedging Language for Uncertain Diagnoses in OET Letters
Hedging language for uncertain diagnoses in OET writing follows a certainty scale, not a single phrase. Learn when to write suspected, likely, or confirmed — and why the wrong choice can cost Content marks, not just Language.
OET WritingLanguageContentGrammarUpdated 21 September 2026
"Kindly Note" and Other Phrases That Cost You OET Writing Register Marks
OET writing "kindly note" and similar dated-formal phrases quietly lower your Genre & Style band. See exactly which phrases to avoid and the professional alternatives examiners expect.
OET WritingGenre & StyleRegisterGrammarUpdated 19 September 2026
Follow-Up or Follow Up? The Hyphen That Flags a Language Error
OET writing follow up hyphen rule: when 'follow-up' is a hyphenated noun or adjective, when 'follow up' is a two-word verb, and why examiners mark the mix-up under Language.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 17 September 2026
Due To vs Because Of: The OET Grammar Trap Almost Everyone Gets Wrong
Due to vs because of in OET writing follows a fixed grammar rule most candidates never learn. Here's the swap test that gets it right every time, worked through real clinical sentences.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 13 September 2026
Reported Speech in OET Writing: Say vs Tell, Direct vs Indirect
Reported speech in OET writing means converting what a patient said into indirect speech — the say/tell object rule, the tense backshift, and the pronoun and time changes that go with it.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 9 September 2026
Clauses of Contrast: Although, Despite, and However in OET Writing
Although, despite, and however in OET writing each need different punctuation and clause structure. Here's the exact rule for each and the Language-criterion errors they cause when swapped.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 6 September 2026
Parallel Structure: Writing Balanced Sentences in OET Letters
Parallel structure in OET writing: how to match grammatical form across listed symptoms, instructions, and history items so sentences read clean and score well under Language.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 1 September 2026
Relative Clauses in OET Writing: Who, Which, and That
Relative clauses in OET writing: the defining vs non-defining distinction, correct comma placement, and the who/which/that rule clinical letters require.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 1 September 2026
Past Simple vs Present Perfect in OET Letters: Getting Patient History Tenses Right
Past simple present perfect oet writing: the exact rule for choosing between them in patient history, and why the wrong tense misreports the clinical timeline.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 31 August 2026
Passive Voice in OET Writing: When It Helps and When It Hides the Subject
Passive voice oet writing: when the passive is the correct clinical register choice, and when it hides who did what and costs you Content and Clarity marks.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 29 August 2026
Articles in OET Letters: A, An, The (The #1 Language Error)
OET writing articles a, an, the: the sound-based rule for a/an, when 'the' is required, and the errors in clinical letters that cost Language marks.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 27 August 2026
Subject-Verb Agreement with Medical Nouns: The Dose ... Were Adjusted?
"The dose of the two medications were adjusted" — a Language error that catches candidates in every language group. Learn to find the real subject in long clinical noun phrases.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarUpdated 7 August 2026
Punctuation in OET Writing: What Examiners Mark and What They Miss
Punctuation in OET writing affects Language marks and clinical clarity. This guide covers commas, semicolons, colons, and apostrophes in professional OET letters — with before/after examples from common errors.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarPunctuationUpdated 27 June 2026
OET Writing Grammar: The 8 Errors That Most Often Cost Language Marks
The 8 grammar errors that most frequently drop OET writing Language bands — with before/after examples from real letter patterns and a checklist for your proofreading pass.
OET WritingLanguageGrammarWriting TipsUpdated 25 June 2026