People often tell me that a teacher has advised them to include a "future prediction" sentence in the conclusion for writing task 2.
Is this a good idea? My short answer is no, but I'll explain in detail.
I used to give this advice myself when I first started teaching IELTS. A future prediction seems like a nice way to end an essay, and it gives you the chance to write a conditional sentence e.g. If more people do..... in the future, we will all.....
However, I no longer give this advice. I now tell my students to write just one sentence for the conclusion (click here to see an example), and there are two main reasons for this:
- Most questions don't ask for a future prediction, so there is a danger that the examiner will see your "future prediction" sentence as irrelevant. In other words, the examiner won't be impressed, and the sentence won't help your score.
- You'll waste time that you could have spent on your main body paragraphs. Or you could finish your essay and spend time checking it.
Dear Teacher Simon,
I have a question
I am quite confused between: "the other two types" and "the two other types". I don't know which is correct or if they are both correct, do they have different meaning?
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 26, 2017 at 15:22
"The tables show the amount of money spent on coffee and bananas in two separate years in the UK, Denmark and Sweden"
"The table compares the amounts of waste that were produced in 6 countries in 1980, 1990 and 2000"
(I take these sentences from 2 of your Task 1 essays)
I don't know why we use amount (without s) in the first sentence but in the second one, we must use amounts (with s)
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 26, 2017 at 17:01
Yesterday i did my exam , writing task 2 was mentioned by simon before:
Many criminals re-offend after they have been punished. Why do some people continue to commit crimes after they have been punished, and what measures can be taken to tackle this problem?
Posted by: Lana | March 26, 2017 at 17:42
Hi Simon! I wrote my IELTS (academic module) exam yesterday. The task 2 writing was about
are criminals released from jail after serving their sentence are safe to live in society as they are soon rearrested for committing the same crime again. What is your opinion and suggest suitable solutions for the problem. Due to lack of time, I was able to write only one sentence in conclusion.But the sentence was complete in meaning and summarizing what I wrote main two body paragraphs. Will it negatively impact my scores because of extremely short conclusion?
Posted by: J Sams | March 26, 2017 at 19:46
The writing task 2 was about the crime
The crimals commit crime again when they leave the prison
Why and solutions
Task 1 was about internet usage by adult men and women
Posted by: Avtar Dhillon | March 27, 2017 at 07:00
Hi Anh,
"the other two types" and "the two other types" are both correct.
Regarding 'amount / amounts', I wouldn't worry too much. In both of the examples that you found, I could have used either singular or plural and it would have been fine. This is why I'm not very consistent in my usage of that word!
...
Lana, J Sams, Avtar,
You were lucky to get a question that we have already covered! I hope you did well.
J Sams,
Don't worry. A short, one-sentence conclusion is what I always recommend anyway!
Posted by: Simon | March 27, 2017 at 15:48
Thank you so much, Teacher Simon. It really bothered me a lot, I looked it up in many books and on the Internet but I couldn't figure it out. Now, I am clear, so thank you a lot <3 <3
Posted by: Nam Anh | March 28, 2017 at 10:42