Here are two questions that a student (Javier) asked in a 'comment' this week:
- Is it correct to use personal examples to support my ideas? Some teachers told me I shouldn't, because these examples are not objective or universal.
- I used your "firstly, secondly, finally" structure in one of my body paragraphs, but I was told that I gave too many ideas, which were not well-supported.
Javier was given the wrong advice by his teachers. Here are my answers:
- Below every IELTS writing question it says: "Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience". The question tells us to use our own experiences, and there is nothing in the examiners' marking system that mentions the need for 'objective' or 'universal' examples.
- If the question asks for 'advantages', 'problems', 'reasons' etc., you need to give more than one. So it's fine to give three and use a "firstly, secondly, finally" structure! People often forget that the topic sentence gives the main idea of the paragraph, and the three points in a "firstly, secondly, finally" structure are supporting ideas.
Why do so many teachers give the wrong advice about IELTS writing?
I'll try to answer this tomorrow.
nice......
Posted by: mahedi | April 16, 2016 at 16:32
They are afraid of saying 'no'. Some of them do not confess of their lack of knowledge, which I suppose is wrong.
Posted by: Hasan | April 16, 2016 at 17:50
An ielts teacher told me not to use word "nowadays " because examiners do not like this word
Posted by: Nazira | April 16, 2016 at 18:13
Mr.Simon
What do u think about Nazira's comment?
Posted by: Eg0 | April 16, 2016 at 21:57
Eg0
i was told so, and i use "these days" instead
Posted by: Tony | April 17, 2016 at 00:52
Nazira,
Simon used "nowadays" in one of his band 9 sample essays. So I'm afraid your teacher must be wrong.
http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2014/03/ielts-writing-task-2-independence-question.html
Posted by: auau | April 17, 2016 at 03:09
Tony,
I'm a bit confused but not afraid to use it in my essay.
Posted by: Eg0 | April 17, 2016 at 15:53
I new he was wrong I think he wasn't qualified to teach ielts, I had a few lessons with him and I didn't like the way he teach, I found him online
Posted by: Nazira | April 17, 2016 at 21:52
Nazira
There is nothing wrong with the word 'nowadays'.
Tony
I would be careful with 'these days'. It's not as flexible as 'today' or 'nowadays' and there are times when 'these days' might not be suitable.
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Posted by: Akramshakh | April 20, 2016 at 19:21
Be careful with using the word "nowadays", and avoiding misusing it. Many people usually start a sentence with "nowadays" without noticing that the subject is not only happening "now", but in the past it aslo a concern.
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Posted by: Michael | January 21, 2020 at 18:38