IELTS Grammar – Would & Remember

Using ‘Would’ & ‘Remember’ in IELTS Speaking

Some IELTS Speaking questions are about your childhood or your past. This is most common in Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking test.

For example:

What was your favourite sport when you were younger? – “I really liked football and cricket when I was a kid.”
Did you have a favourite teacher at school? – “I really loved learning French at primary school.”
What TV shows did you like as a child? – “I used to love Japanese cartoons from the 90s, like DragonBall and Pokemon.”

There are a wide range of ways to talk about your past. But one way to share lots of details about your memories is to use two phrases: “I would” and “I remember”

These two phrases can help you add a level of detail to your answers which an extend your answers and ultimately improve your score if used correctly.

Let’s about exactly what these phrases mean and how to use them with the correct grammar.

Share past routines or specific memories

Here is the first structure:

1. Subj. + would + verb

I [would + go] to my best friend’s house every day after school.
I [would + stay] with my grandparents at the weekend.
I [would + sleep] on my friend’s sofa and then get ready for work!

“I would” describes regular past actions or routines. In other words, things that you did often or frequently. The examiner will understand that these actions happened routinely and were quite normal for you. In the examples above you can also see that I stressed the frequency by saying: “every day after school” and “at the weekend.”

Here is the second structure:

2. Subj. + remember + (object) verb-ing

I [remember + performing] Little Shop of Horrors in the school band one year.
I [remember + hurting] my leg really badly when I fell off my bike.
I [remember + my dad driving] for 15 hours to take us to the beach.

“I remember” describes specific memories. These can be events that you remember that were important, unusual or memorable in some way.

You can combine either (or both!) of these grammar structures with a phrase like “I used to” to create longer, more precise and detailed answers.

Here’s an example from my IELTS Grammar Course:

So let’s use this to improve the answers from the beginning of this post:

What was your favourite sport when you were younger? – “I really liked football and cricket when I was a kid. My dad and I would play together every weekend, and I remember him buying me some new cricket pads for my birthday once.”
Did you have a favourite teacher at school? – I really loved learning French at primary school. She would sing songs in French which I can still remember today!”
What TV shows did you like as a child? – “I used to love Japanese cartoons from the 90s, like DragonBall and Pokemon. I would run home from school so I could get home in time to watch them, and I remember me and my friends talking about every episode the next day.”