IELTS Writing Task 2: make your 'position' clear

One of the key principles that you should remember when writing a task 2 essay is this: make sure that your position is clear throughout the essay.

Your "position" is your overall answer to the question. It is an expression of where you stand on the issue or topic.

Notice also my use of the word "throughout". Your position should be made clear in the introduction, supported in the main paragraphs, and restated in the conclusion.

Task:
Look again at this essay. Which phrases did I use to make my position clear?

Comments

[Elli]

He has not done much of an effort.

is it OK to use not much of + countable in task 2?

Authorities have not done much of an/a...

[gioletta]

Elli

https://www.google.com/search?hl=uk&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22made+much+of+an+effort+to%22&num=10

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=much+of+an+*%2Cmade+much+of+an+impact%2Chad+much+of+an+impact%2C*+much+of+an+issue%2Chad+much+of+an+effect%2Cmade+much+of+an+effort&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Cmuch%20of%20an%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20impact%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20impression%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20effort%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20effect%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20improvement%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20exaggeration%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20increase%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20idea%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmuch%20of%20an%20appetite%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cmade%20much%20of%20an%20impact%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chad%20much%20of%20an%20impact%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2C%2A%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bnot%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bas%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Btoo%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bbe%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bbeen%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bso%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bthat%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmake%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bmade%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bnever%20much%20of%20an%20issue%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chad%20much%20of%20an%20effect%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cmade%20much%20of%20an%20effort%3B%2Cc0

https://www.google.com/search?hl=uk&tbm=bks&ei=IdCbXIjiEszLrQGOiLXgAQ&q=%22not+made+much+of+an+effort+to%22&oq=%22not+made+much+of+an+effort+to%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...112814.113381.0.113829.4.4.0.0.0.0.183.519.0j3.3.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.BomnSGc-eAU

"Not made much of effort to" [do something] seems perfectly normal.

[Yves]

SIMON,

In the IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Score Descriptors particularly in the Task Response BAND 7 – it says in the second bullet “presents a clear position throughout the response”. I heard one IELTS expert in IDP who told us when he conducted a lecture that candidates get a better score if they write a strong opinion in an Agree/Disagree question, and was actually a bit dogmatic with this idea. I wanted to refute him but who am I to challenge the words of an IELTS expert.

Please do enlighten us with this. Thanks

[Pachu]

Great lesson sir.Many of us state position in introduction and conclusion only.But this advice is eye opening and it would be good to state the opinion throughout the essay.I think we could state the opinion either in the first body paragraph or in the second body paragraph depending upon the situation.Here, in this essay (293 words,12 sentences,4 paragraph,9 band)the phrases used for position is 'I believe' that, in intro;I would argue that, in BP1.

[Khe]

Yves

There are two ways to answer questions of the type "to what extent do you agree/disagree".

A) If you strongly agree or disagree, then both main body paragraphs should support your position.

B) If you partly agree, then one main body paragraph should support your fundamental or overall agreement or disagreement, and the other paragraph should deal with your reservations. This paragraph is more difficult to write successfully in the time and space available, as to some extent you will be arguing against your overall position, but at the same time you must clearly support it. For instance:
"Whilst it may seem nice to have many options when [leaving the EU], it just takes that much longer to come to a decision."

[Pachu]

Further thoughts, also we can use least 3 or 4 other sentence with phrase like I think , I opine that, According to my opinion in body paragraph. Sir what you think sir. Please advice Sir.

[sunny liu]

of cause we know the positions how deep it is ,
but many of candidates are youngest than examiner , our through map and example are locking .

[Akter]

what are the appropriate uses of Beside and Besides and what the difference between them?

need some examples which link to writing task 1. plz help

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

Yves,

You quoted an IELTS teacher who said this:

"candidates get a better score if they write a strong opinion in an Agree/Disagree question"

This may be true in a sense. Perhaps more candidates do a better job of writing a clear and coherent essay when they express a strong view.

However, this does not mean that the scoring system is biased towards "strong opinion" answers. It just means that candidates may be better at writing that kind of answer.

Here's my view: It may take a bit more skill and practice to write a good balanced answer. Hopefully you can learn that skill from my lessons!

[Da Nang]

Pachu
As a verb, "opine" is often used ironically. Phrases such as "in my view" might be more appropriate.

[Jigna]

Hello Friends,

can anyone help me by correcting my mistakes for the following essay?

I also like if someone can tell me that did I present my idea clearly and they are linking throughout the essay? It would be a great help.

-----------------------------------------------------

Essay:

These days people pay more attention to artists (writers, painters and so on) and give less importance to science and technology.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
-------------

It is true that artists have gained popularity among people due to their constant appearance on different media. However, I do not agree with the statement that science and technology are treated as less important.

On the one hand, artists can easily attract people. Their presence on different platforms such as television, Youtube and Facebook allows many artists to connect with people almost every day. For example, reality shows on TV cast popular actor and actress to raise their viewers for the show. Also, popular actor or singer’s personality and lifestyle influence the ordinary human and the person wants to know more about his/her favorite artist. As a result, the person follows the artist on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to pay attention to the artist’s activity.

On the other hand, the popularity of science and technology cannot be ignored. Firstly, smartphones, tablets, and laptops are the creation of technology. The companies who are launching these products have so many technical workers who are working hard to make this possible. More and more students are enrolling in programming either to join tech companies or to create an application or games. Finally, many countries are spending much money on space programs. For example, recently, in India, a space institution launched a missile to destroy an unwanted satellite in the space. This type of experiment clearly shows that science experiments are still essential to any nations which want more progress in this area. I would say that technology and science experiments are also famous.

In conclusion, while it is a fact that artists are much more popular, science and technology are also valued by many people all over the world.

[gigi]

Jigna

1) "reality shows on TV cast popular actor and actress to raise their viewers for the show"

... actors and actresses in a bid to attract more viewers.

Wiktionary: In the sense of a person who acts in a play or film, the traditional sense of the word only applied to male actors; the term actress being used for the female counterpart. This distinction is now normally avoided.

2) "popular actor or singer’s personality and lifestyle" : popular actors' and singers' personalities and lifestyles ...
OR (better): the personalities and lifestyles of popular actors and singers ...

3) "the ordinary human": "human" is often used in contrast to animals or other primates, or extraterrestrial life forms: 'ordinary people, who often ...'.

4) "his/her": their.

5) "As a result, the person...": As a result, they follow ...

6) "to any nations which want": more commonly: to any nation which wants

This is to me an odd Task 2 question, as it asks for your opinion about something that could be determined by a statistical survey. I was surprised that the question did not ask whether science and technology should be given more attention.

Secondly, I would look at the final sentence in each body paragraph again. Sometimes it is a good idea to close the paragraph off, and link the ideas back to your point or the main question, and transition properly.

Then there is always the question of criteria. What criteria are you applying?

Just some ideas.

[jvh]

Fast food is a part of life in some place. Some people think this has bad effects on lifestyle and diet.
Do you agree or disagree?

It is often argued that ready to eat meals have become common in many countries, and this leads to harmful effects on people’s way of living and eating habits. I completely agree with this assertion because of health consequences and nutrition deficiency associated with this trend.

Fast food is largely linked to various disease conditions in individuals. This is primarily because many people find it easy to consume such food as they do not have to spend their times in purchasing food ingredients and in cooking fresh food recipes. Such a convenient diet option make their lifestyle sedentary and thus leads to various health issues, such as obesity and diabetes. For instance, a recent health survey has found that a greater number of diabetic patients in India used to predominantly consume readymade food as their daily diet.

It is often seen that junk food usually lacks nutritional value. Most suppliers of such food products prefer to use lower quality ingredients to earn more profit by selling their products at a lower price. This means that people who live on fast food often see a lack of certain crucial nutrients in their blood reports. For example, Vitamin B12 deficiency is most common in Indian people, who work fulltime in private firms, as they mostly have to rely on readymade meals because of their hectic work schedules.

In conclusion, I fully support the view that regular consumption of fast food has the negative effects on individuals’ lifestyle and diet as this substantially increases the risks of health disorders and deficiency of vital blood elements and vitamins in people.

[Gladys]

jvh
'in some place': singular or plural?

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=way+of+living%2C+lifestyle%2C+way+of+life&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cway%20of%20living%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Clifestyle%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cway%20of%20life%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cway%20of%20living%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Clifestyle%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cway%20of%20life%3B%2Cc0

ready-to-eat meals: this would refer to packaged meals in a supermarket for home heating.

to spend their times: singular or plural?

a convenient diet option make: singular or plural?

It is often a good idea to write a closing/transitional sentence at the end of a body paragraph. Simon:
Notice how I finish with a reference to the original question: "I doubt whether... in the long term" refers to the idea that "individuals don't really want to do these activities in their spare time".

"on individuals’ lifestyle and diet ": on an individual's lifestyle ...
Surely the type of food and their diet is actually part of their lifestyle, and the key point is that it affects their long-term health? Other lifestyle factors would include exercise, housing, pollution and so forth.

[Jigna]

@gigi

Thank you so much for your suggestions. Your ideas will help me to improve my writing. I am stuck on band 6.

Anyways, What do you mean by criteria of the question?

[gigi]

Jigna

"These days people pay more attention to artists (writers, painters and so on) and give less importance to science and technology.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?"

1) Does "more attention" mean more attention than in the past, as is implied by 'these days'? Or does it mean more than 50% of their time vis-a-vis science and technology? Is it a past/present comparison, or an arts vs science comparison?

2) Which people are we talking about? How would we measure their attention? Time on the internet? Or total time in their life? What age people? Schoolchildren or elderly? Educated or peasants? Does 'pay more attention' mean spend more time on, or attach more importance to, or just consider more useful?

3) Do we need to discuss what the "correct" amount of time (or importance) would be? How could we determine that? On what basis?

So whenever we are asked for our opinion, we need to explain the criteria we are using.

[Jigna]

gigi

I never thought about it. Thank you so much for your detailed explanation on the criteria.

I will take these in to consideration while writing my essays. Once again thank you.