Written by David S. Wills · December 16, 2024
In task 1 of the IELTS writing test, you might be given maps to describe. You will usually be given two of them because the examiners want to see whether you can describe spatial layouts as well as show changes over time.
I covered the language for spatial layout here and I have an overall guide to describing maps here. However, today I want to tell you about changes over time. This requires a good knowledge of verb tense.
Here’s a video version of the lesson below:
2 Past Maps
Firstly, you might be given two maps that both come from the past. In this case, you will need to describe them both and that will require the use of the past simple tense, but you also need to talk about the changes that occurred, which probably will require the past perfect tense.
Here is an example of such a task:
As you can see, the maps both come from the past. If we describe each one individually, we would use the past simple. For example:
- In 1930, there were some shops next to a post office.
- In 2010, there were no shops but there was a post office.
That is fine and you should definitely use this sort of language, but you must remember that you need to demonstrate change over time, and that requires the past perfect tense:
- By 2010, the shops had been removed.
Please note that this is the passive voice as well as the past perfect. This is very common wit