OET Writing Grammar: Keep Cause, Certainty and Negatives Accurate

A sentence can be grammatically correct and still misrepresent the notes. “She missed the appointment because the letter arrived late” is clear English. But if the notes list those two events without connecting them, the word “because” adds an explanation that was never supplied.

The Jobins Training Writing Grammar and editing workbook uses 48 drills and four paragraph challenges to examine this relationship between language and facts. Its exercises go beyond correcting verb endings: they ask whether your rewrite preserves time, status, responsibility and certainty.

A connector can add a claim

Words such as “because” and “therefore” do more than join sentences. They tell the reader that one fact explains or results from another. Before using them, check whether the source establishes that connection.

If the notes only record that someone missed a visit and reported tiredness, you can state both facts without asserting that tiredness caused the absence. Do not replace missing evidence with a plausible story. Your professional knowledge may make the story sound convincing, but it does not make it part of the supplied case.

Keep a possibility as a possibility

“May contribute” and “caused” are not interchangeable. The first leaves the explanation open. The second presents it as established. When summarising, preserve the strength of the claim even if you change its grammatical form.

Likewise, a recommended assessment is not an assessment already completed. A willing relative is not necessarily a trained or available carer. Find the exact point at which your sentence becomes more certain than the notes, then revise that point.

A useful editing habit is to circle words such as “confirmed”, “resolved”, “completed” and “will”. Check the source support for each. The words are not inherently wrong; they are wrong when they describe a status the task has not established.

Do not broaden a negative

“The assistant did not check the list” names one person who did not perform an action. “The list was not checked” may suggest that nobody checked it. Removing the actor can broaden the claim unless the wider meaning is supported.

Time also limits a negative. “No difficulty was reported today” does not establish that there has never been a difficulty. Preserve the relevant reporting period and source instead of turning a limited observation into a general history.

Check quantities and categories too

A change affecting one item does not automatically apply to the whole group. If one appointment was cancelled and another remains booked, “all appointments were cancelled” is inaccurate. Clear grammar cannot repair the overgeneralisation.

Prefer precise expressions when a word may be ambiguous. The workbook uses “twice weekly” to make a frequency explicit. Keep a supplied duration as well: frequency alone does not say how long an arrangement is intended to continue.

Carry the check into a new paragraph

Choose one recurring error and write a short reminder: “Do not add cause without evidence” or “Check who and when a negative covers”. Use it while reviewing a fresh task. Correcting the same sentence repeatedly can become a memory exercise; a new context tests the decision.

Explore OET Writing for Nurses — Course 4 for the course associated with this workbook. For individual feedback, request one-to-one OET lessons at your preferred dates and times, arranged around your shifts and subject to tutor availability.

Source: OET Writing Grammar Workbook.pdf, Jobins Training. Examples labelled original or illustrative were written for this article. Independent exam preparation; no affiliation with or endorsement by the examining body. Practice does not predict an official score.