Grammatical Range and Accuracy in Speaking: How Errors Are Counted

Many candidates try to avoid every grammar mistake in the Speaking test. They keep each sentence short and safe. That can protect accuracy, but it gives up the other half of the criterion, which is range.

At band 7, "a few basic errors persist". At band 8, "a few basic errors may persist". Even band 9 allows "'mistakes' characteristic of native speaker speech" source: ielts.org.

So a few errors do not keep you out of the top bands.

This guide is part of our series on the four Speaking criteria. The hub is How IELTS Speaking Is Marked, and the previous part covered lexical resource.

What range means

For range, the criterion looks at five things. One is the length of your spoken sentences. Another is the use of subordinate clauses. The verb phrase counts too: continuous and perfect forms, modal verbs and the passive. Words added before or after a noun count as well. The last is a range of sentence structures, "especially to move elements around for information focus" source: ielts.org.

A subordinate clause is part of a sentence that cannot stand alone, such as "because it was raining". A sentence that has one is a complex sentence. Words after a noun can be a whole clause, as in "the station I use".

Moving elements changes what a sentence puts first. "The council built the park in 2019" and "It was in 2019 that the council built the park" give the same facts. The second one puts the date in focus.

How accuracy is judged

Accuracy has two indicators. The first is "error density (the number of grammatical errors in a given amount of speech)". The second is "the communicative effect of error", which means its effect on how clear and precise you are source: ielts.org.

Error density depends on how much you say. Three errors in two minutes of long answers is a lower density than three errors in four short sentences. So short answers do not protect your accuracy.

The second indicator means that errors do not all weigh the same. A wrong preposition in a clear sentence does little harm. A wrong tense that leaves the listener unsure when something happened does more.

The ladder from band 5 to band 9

source: ielts.org

What changes from band 6 to band 7

At band 6, a speaker "produces a mix of short and complex sentence forms". Errors "frequently occur in complex structures", though "these rarely impede communication". At band 7, "error-free sentences are frequent", and simple and complex sentences are "used effectively despite some errors" source: ielts.org.

At band 7, many more sentences come out right. The grammar itself is not harder, because both bands use complex sentences.

At band 5, complex structures "may lead to the need for reformulation". In the fluency column, band 5 relies on "repetition and self-correction" to keep going source: ielts.org.

So a sentence you have to restart can cost you in two criteria. Practise the structures you can nearly control, not the ones you cannot.

Band 7 needs all of its positive features, and your rating is your average across all parts of the test source: ielts.org. One strong answer is not enough on its own.

Here is one answer given two ways, written for this page. The question was about something that has changed in the speaker's town.

They build a new station^{note 1} last year. It is big. It is near my house.^{note 2} Before, I go^{note 3} to work by bus.

Since they opened the new station last year^{note 4}, I've been taking the train to work. It's much faster than the bus I used to take^{note 5}.

1. Accuracy is judged partly by "error density (the number of grammatical errors in a given amount of speech)" source: ielts.org. "They build" should be "they built". In an answer this short, each error like it counts for more.
2. At band 4, "turns are short" and "structures are repetitive" source: ielts.org. These two sentences have the same shape and hold one small idea each.
3. The second accuracy indicator is the error's effect on "intelligibility and precision" source: ielts.org. "Before, I go" leaves the time unclear. It should be "I went" or "I used to go".
4. Range includes the "appropriate use of subordinate clauses" and the "complexity of the verb phrase" source: ielts.org. "Since they opened the new station" is a subordinate clause, and "I've been taking" is a perfect continuous form.
5. Range also includes "items before and after the head noun/adjective" source: ielts.org. "The bus I used to take" adds a clause after the noun "bus".

How to improve grammatical range and accuracy

Join two ideas in one sentence

At band 4, "subordinate clauses are rare and, overall, turns are short, structures are repetitive and errors are frequent" source: ielts.org.

If you are working near this level, practise joining two ideas with "because", "although", "which" or "when". One joined sentence does more for range than a list of short ones.

Find the errors you repeat

At band 8, "non-systematic errors occur" source: ielts.org.

A non-systematic error is a mistake you make once. A systematic error is one you make again and again, such as a missing past tense. Record yourself, write down the errors that repeat, and fix those first.

Practise changing the focus

Take a simple sentence and say it two ways. "I liked the food most" can become "What I liked most was the food". This practises the range of sentence structures the criterion describes.

How much it counts

The four Speaking criteria carry equal weight, and their average gives your Speaking score source: ielts.org.

So this criterion is a quarter of your Speaking score. The band score calculator shows what a change in one section does to your overall band.

Writing has a criterion with the same name, grammatical range and accuracy in Writing. In Writing, you can go back and fix a sentence. In Speaking, you cannot.

Next in the series: pronunciation, the criterion where three bands have no wording of their own. For a plan across all four criteria, see our Speaking improvement plan.

The criterion's indicators come from the Speaking key assessment criteria, and the band-level wording from the public Speaking band descriptors, both on ielts.org. Neither document carries a revision date. The equal weighting comes from IELTS scoring in detail. Last checked on 28 September 2026. The example answer was written for this page and is not from any test.