English grammar skills required for Chevening

Our guide to the key English grammar skills required for Chevening.

Chevening does not ask you to provide evidence of how well you speak English.

However, you must be very good at speaking and writing English to ace your Chevening application and conduct a Chevening interview in English. Many UK universities also ask for proof of your English language level when applying for a master’s programme. We’ve summarised the important grammar rules you should know before applying.

Click on the expanding arrows to see examples of each grammar rule.

Complex Sentences

A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. In simple terms, this means complex sentences have multiple pieces of information, whereas simple sentences only contain one piece of information.

You can create a complex sentence by adding extra relevant details or joining two sentences together. This enriches your writing by providing more context and information. You should use a mixture of simple and complex sentences in your Chevening application essays, your university assignments in the UK, and in any English language tests you might have to submit.

Simple Sentence: “These days everyone has a mobile phone.”

Complex Sentence: “These days people of all ages have mobile phones, especially smartphones, because you can do so many things with them.”

Conditionals

Using conditionals enhances your ability to discuss hypothetical situations, plans, and outcomes, which is crucial for advanced English writing. When preparing for Chevening, you should use conditionals to speculate on outcomes and demonstrate your analytical skills.

This is an example of a basic conditional sentence:

If no action is taken to respond to global warming, then it will inevitably lead to catastrophe.

To make this sentence more complex, you can use alternatives to ‘if’, such as ‘provided’, ‘unless’, ‘so long as’, and others.

For example the sentence above could also be written as:

Unless some action is taken to respond to global warming, it will inevitably lead to catastrophe.

You can also create more formal conditional sentences by omitting ‘if’ and inverting the subject and auxiliary, like in this example:

If the government had taken action sooner, the banking crisis could have been averted.

Had the government taken action sooner, the banking crisis could have been averted.

In this example, ‘the government’ is the subject, and ‘had’ is the auxiliary.

Modal verbs

Modal verbs express possibility, probability, obligation, deduction, speculation, and more. They are essential in academic writing for showing different degrees of certainty and necessity.

You should use modal verbs to articulate your thoughts clearly, showing your ability to evaluate and propose actions or solutions.

Examples:

  • “This may result in serious economic difficulties.”
  • “A solution must be found.”
  • “It is widely agreed that we should be doing more for the environment.”

Different ways of talking about the future

Beyond simple forms like “will” and “going to,” use future continuous and future perfect tenses to express future actions.

Using varied forms of future tense and expressions allows you to discuss future events and their implications more precisely. This is particularly important when talking about your future career plans in your Chevening application!

Examples:

  • Future continuous: “In perhaps as little as twenty years, humans will be living on Mars.”
  • Future perfect: “A crisis will have been averted.”

Expressions for  the immediate future:

  • “set to”: “The new policy is set to improve education standards.”
  • “poised to”: “The company is poised to expand its operations.”
  • “on the verge of/on the brink of”: “The country is on the verge of a technological breakthrough.”

Passive voice

The passive voice shifts the focus from the subject to the action itself, and is often used in academic and formal writing. It’s useful for emphasising the action or situation rather than the subject performing the action.

You should use the passive voice to discuss processes, general statements, or when the actor is unknown or irrelevant, which is often useful in formal writing and presentations.

Examples:

  • “It is often said that…”
  • “Policies are often made without consulting the people affected.”

You can find more helpful resources to practice advanced English grammar on the British Council LearnEnglish grammar page. You can also download the British Council free English grammar app from the Google Play or App store.

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