DC IELTS: Dominic Coles IELTS and Beyond!

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Useful opinion language in IELTS essays!

This first set of words are either personal or my. My advice is not to be afraid of
using these words in IELTS essays.!

Personal and my words

Examples

My view is

My view is that smoking should be banned

Personally,

Personally, I do not believe that this proposal would be

effective

My personal opinion is

My personal opinion is that organised sport in school should

be encouraged

In my experience

In my experience, increasing taxation on airlines has had little

or no effect on pollution.

My conclusion is

My conclusion is that there is nothing that can be done about

climate change.

From my perspective,

From my perspective, the most effective solution would be to

improve health education

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The next set of words do use I but in more advanced ways. Would is a nice
word!!

I phrases

Examples

I tend to believe that

Despite this, I tend to believe that the advantages outweigh the

disadvantages

I would suggest that

In conclusion, I would suggest that the only effective mesure

would be to ban smoking entirely

I would strongly argue that

I would strongly argue that parents should be involved in the

educational process.

I am convinced that

I am convinced that it is not too late to take action against

climate change

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This set of words is more impersonal again. The opinions may be personal, but the
language doesnt use I or my. Adjectives do the work.!

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Adjectives like good

Examples

There is a strong argument for

saying that

There is a strong argument for saying that all bloodsports

should be banned

A good case can be made

A good case can be made for saying that children should be

given the vote at 16.

That is a fairly weak argument

It is a fairly weak argument, however, because it does not take

into account the fact that people now live longer.

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This set of words is also more impersonal. You should see though that the
qualifying words still make the opinion personal!

Qualifying words

Examples

This, however, is extremely unlikely

This, however, is extremely unlikely to be effective given the

prejudice that remains in the workplace

It can reasonably be argued

It can reasonably be argued that sport is a vital part of the

curriculum

There is little doubt that

There is little doubt that people are going to read fewer books
in the future.