6 Never use
idioms, clichés, proverbs, slang or
text abbreviations in any type of letter.
Idioms It’s possible that your English teacher has taught you about traditional idioms such as ‘raining
cats and dogs’ or ‘as cool as a cucumber.’ In reality, most English-speaking people almost never use
these phrases today. They are never used in formal letters, and only by older people (for example,
aged 50 +) in personal letters. So don’t use idioms, because the IELTS examiner may think you are
‘padding’ or using memorised phrases.
Clichés A clichés is a phrase which is annoying or meaningless because it is used too often. In IELTS
GT, using a cliché runs the risk of reducing your score. Typical clichés to avoid are:
At the end of the day Last but not least Second of all To cut a long story short I look forward to hearing from you Proverbs These are advice phrases such as ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss’ or ‘Too many cooks
spoil the broth.’
As with the idioms, some English teachers love to teach these things, but in reality these phrases are
not used much in modern English. Try to explain yourself clearly without using such proverbs.
For example:
Too many cooks spoil the broth In a formal letter you could say ‘I am worried that the team is too large and so the decision-making is
slow.’
In a personal letter you could say ‘There are too many people involved these days, and so not much is
really getting done.’
Slang These words are too informal or too confusing to be acceptable to an IELTS examiner, even in
a GT personal letter. Examples are ‘my friend is a nerd/a geek/a creep’ or ‘the party was
cool/wicked/sick.’ Don’t risk losing marks by using these words in the IELTS exam, either in writing
or speaking.
