一句話用法：講「普遍傾向」時用 tend to——比 always 安全、比 usually 學術。
意思
Tend to + V = 傾向於做……、通常會……
中文邏輯說「人們總是 / 大家都」——英文寫成 people always 立刻扣分（太絕對）。改成 people tend to 既誠實、又顯成熟。
自然搭配
- Children tend to imitate the behaviour of their parents.
- Cities tend to have higher rents than rural areas.
- Students who read regularly tend to perform better on language tests.
- People tend to underestimate how much exercise they need.
- In my experience, friends I've known the longest tend to be the most reliable.
Speaking Part 3 也很好用：講普遍現象時開頭一句 People tend to... 立刻顯出組織性。
學生常犯的錯
很多學生在 IELTS 用絕對化說法：
All teenagers are addicted to phones. ← 太絕對，扣分 Teenagers tend to spend a lot of time on their phones. ← 安全 + Band 7
另一個常見錯誤——tend to 後面接 V-ing：
Children tend to imitating their parents. ← 錯 Children tend to imitate their parents. ← 對（接原形）
Band 7 同義替換
避免一篇文章 tend to 出現五次，輪流用：
- be likely to——Cities are likely to have higher rents.
- typically——Students who read typically perform better.
三個輪流——tend to / be likely to / typically——一篇 Task 2 用兩三次都自然。
試試看
把這句改成 Band 7 版：
People always prefer fast food to home cooking. → People tend to prefer fast food to home cooking, especially when they're short on time.
加了 tend to 後可以順勢補一個條件子句——一石二鳥。
延伸閱讀：Band 6 → 7 詞彙升級