[WRITING | LESSON 10]
LESSON 10. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
READING 1 |
You are going to read an article in which four people talk about their lifestyles. For questions 1–10, choose from the people
(A–D). The people may be chosen more than once.
This is your life
Four more personal accounts in our series on different lifestyles
(1) A. Colin Dobson: television and stage actor
Normally I get out of bed around midday. I’ll
sometimes go for a run after I get up, though it’s not
really my idea of fun. I’m not a fitness fan, but I realize (40) tend to be out all day visiting farms and it wasn’t fair to
(5) it’s important.
When I’m not rehearsing or on tour, afternoons
usually involve reading scripts or learning lines. My
wife and two sons are also actors, so at home there are
usually scripts lying all over the place. It’s a bit of a
(10) mess, I’m ashamed to say. I’m passionate about history,
and if I’m working away from home, I spend the
afternoons in museums or historic buildings. I always
get to the theatre at the last minute, which annoys my
co-actors, but I don’t like arriving anywhere early.
(15) After a performance I eat and spend a few hours
unwinding, so bedtime is often two or three in the
morning. I always fall asleep as soon as my head hits
the pillow.
B. Jodie Miller: potter
(20) Before I started renting the workshop at the open-
air museum, I would crawl out of bed in the morning,
get dressed and go straight into the garage, which I’d
converted into a studio. Now I get the train and a bus,
so I have to get up early and my morning routine is dull (60) gets us to do cleaning and maintenance work as well as
(25) and conventional, the same one that’s played out in
millions of households.
On the plus side, though, I get to meet lots of
people: there are the museum visitors that come into the
workshop every day to watch me working, the other
(30) craftspeople – the broom maker, the blacksmith or the
glassblower – and I also give classes. Working at home
was a solitary business and I hated the fact that I would
often go for days without speaking to anyone.
I get lots of requests for personalized mugs, and
(35) evenings are spent packaging up orders to send out the
(36) next day. I often get to bed later than I would like.
Which person?
admits to having an untidy house?
could not imagine doing any other type of work?
likes the unpredictable nature of their work?
is not particularly keen on taking exercise?
says they start the day like many other people?
does not have to go far to get to their place of work?
never has any trouble getting to sleep?
used to feel lonely while working?
says that people have the wrong idea about their work?
would prefer to go to bed earlier on many occasions?
READING 2 |
C. Janie Collins: farm vet
I used to have a dog and we’d go running together
most mornings, but I gave him to my mum in the end. I
leave him alone. So now I don’t get as much exercise as
I’d like to.
I love my job, especially the variety and not
knowing what you’ll be doing from one day to the next.
(45) But being a vet – any type of vet – is not what people
think. It’s not all cuddly lambs and cute little pigs. We
have to do some pretty unpleasant things sometimes,
things which would put you off working with animals
for life.
(50) My mum wants to know when I’m going to settle
down with someone, but there’s no room for a dog in
my life, so I don’t see how I’ll be able to fit marriage in.
D. Mark Fudge: fisherman
My flat overlooks the port, so it’s just a short walk
(55) to the Ellie May. That’s our boat, the place I think of as
home. I get lonely if I’m away from her for longer than
a week or so – the crew is like a family to me.
I’m one of four deckhands, which means that the
first mate – the second in command after the captain –
pulling in the nets, then washing, salting, icing and
storing the fish. We work hard – six hours on, six hours
off, six hours on, six hours off – every day for seven
weeks. It’s tough, but I can’t see myself in any other
(65) profession. There’s nothing else I’d rather do.
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 [WRITING | LESSON 10]
You are going to read an extract from an article about a trip to study the bottlenose whale. Six sentences have been removed
from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (11-16). There is one extra sentence you do not
need to use.
Bottlenose whales: deep-sea divers of the North Atlantic
Douglas Chadwick joined the crew of the research boat the ‘Balaena’
(1) I have joined the crew of the Balaena, a 15-metre research boat, and we are now a few kilometres off the east
coast of Canada, sailing over what seafarers call the Gully. Gully means 'narrow channel’, but this it is more like a
drowned Grand Canyon, about ten kilometres across and, in places, over a kilometre straight down to the bottom of
the sea. The Gully, with its abundant fish, is home to a dozen kinds of cetaceans.
(5) We have come in search of bottlenose whales. Hal Whitehead, a whale expert, and his crew are here to study
the behaviour of these enigmatic creatures. I am hoping to see at least one today, but I am prepared to be
disappointed. I've been told that, as a rule, the first things you see are spouts, the typical jets of water coming out of
their heads, which are visible from a distance. 11 _________________.
Already some three metres long at birth, northern bottlenoses continue to grow in size until the age of twenty,
(10 when they may reach ten metres. Adults weigh between five and seven tonnes, roughly the same as African
) elephants. 12 _________________. ‘These are probably among the most intelligent animals on the entire planet,
and we hardly know a thing about them,' says Hal Whitehead.
It is very quiet and all we can hear is the creak of the ship's masts as it sways. Suddenly, breaths like great sighs
sound through the fog. 13 _________________. The smallest one swims for the boat and a larger companion cuts it
off. Then they rejoin the others to float like swollen logs a short distance away.
(15 I can see them well. They have small fins but big, domed heads with imposing foreheads above narrow,
) protruding jaws. Their heads are two-thirds out of the water now, all pointing our way. 14 _________________.
We are being studied by northern bottlenose whales, which is only fair, since that is what we came to do to them.
If the bottlenoses don't swim too fast, we can keep up and observe them. Their movements are accompanied by
grunts, whistles and cheers made by the blowholes. Every so often, one repeatedly lifts its tail to give the water a
resounding slap. This display may function as yet another way to be heard. 15 _________________.
(20 The biggest question is what goes on when these animals are not on the surface, which is most of the time. To find
) out, the researchers attached a time-depth recorder (TDR) to a whale's skin. The TDR stayed on for four-and-a-half
hours and surfaced with the first solid data ever obtained about a ziphiidae in its submarine kingdom. 16
_________________. This revelation seems to prove Hal Whitehead's theory that the world's deepest diver is the
bottlenose whale - or maybe one of the many other beaked whales yet to be studied.

(25
)
(26
)

A When you come closer, though, you may find that they E The same holds for leaping skyward and making a huge
have submerged on a long dive, presumably in search of splash, though they may do this just for fun.
food.

B On one of its dives, the bottlenose had reached a depth F Beyond these basic facts, little is known about the lives
of nine-hundred metres. of northern bottlenoses.

C These animals aren’t just watching us, they are scanning G These strange noises come from four creatures, twenty
us with rapid clicking noises just above the range of to thirty feet long, which have risen from the depths.
human hearing.

D Whale hunting reduced the population by at least

seventy per cent, and the species remains depleted
today.
WRITING | Putting it all together
Standard Five-Paragraph essay outline format
Many employees may work at home using modern technology. Some people claim that it can benefit only workers,
not the employers. Do you agree or disagree?
1. Introduction
a. Hooks/General statement The spread of telecommunication technology, one of which the Internet
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b. Background information made substantial contributions, has made teleworking possible.

c. Preview of the main points of the essay Discussions center on whether this trend will solely help employees and
d. Thesis statement not employers. I disagree with this, since teleworking provides for higher
(c and d) is reversible productivity and cost reduction for both parties, while the employers
even enjoy an additional boost in talent recruitment.
2. Body
a. Paragraph 1 Firstly, home-working boosts staff motivation. Due to its uniformity and
i. Topic sentence strict regulation, offices often do not account for individual freedom,
ii. Supporting details (at least and causing unnecessary stress to the employees. By working at home,
explanation and an example) workers can manage their time according to their working styles and
iii. Tie-up strike a balance between work and rest. Similarly important is that,
b. Paragraph 2 without the presence of their immediate supervisors, they are liberated
i. Topic sentence from pressure and discomfort. This new-found freedom promotes work
ii. Supporting details (at least and outputs, which profit employers.
explanation and an example)
iii. Tie-up Secondly, the shift from office-based to teleworking also helps save a
c. Paragraph 3 great deal of costs. In most cases, the operation and maintenance of a
i. Topic sentence working environment for hundreds of employees entails exorbitant costs.
ii. Supporting details (at least and Thus, online working enables upper management to save money on
explanation and an example) power and wireless networks while also avoiding the burden of on-going
iii. Tie-up infrastructure upgrades. In the same spirit, this change in working space
significantly reduces transportation and lunch expenses for employees.
These financial resources being saved, the company and employees can
invest in whichever working capacity they find fit.

Thirdly, by allowing workers to work from home, firms may broaden the
base of recruiting, capitalizing on rich human capital. Personal
constraints such as childcare duties or physical disabilities limit talents’
job opportunities across the globe. Physical distance exacerbates this,
denying them of their dream occupations and potential employers of
qualified recruits who are capable of valuable contribution. Home-
working resolves this, allowing employees to perform their jobs at ease,
and thus gives employers more options in human resource use.
3. Conclusion
a. Restate the thesis statement In conclusion, I believe that the integration of online-working benefits
b. Summarize main points both firms and employees. The new working mode allows businesses to
c. Concluding remarks attain higher productivity and cost efficiency while enabling employers to
hire from a broader pool of candidates. Certain measures, however,
should be promoted to facilitate undesirable consequences that might
come out of this switch.
1. Introduction
a. Hooks/General statement: catches the audience’s attention. Students can use quotes, interesting facts and
figures, jokes or anecdotes, etc.
b. Background information: provide some information you think might be necessary for the readers of the
essay, may be a definition of a term (mentioned in the prompt) or the cause of the phenomenon (in
discussion)
c. Preview of the main points of the essay: outline the main point (that will be written in the body paragraphs)
d. Thesis statement affirms the main idea of the essay
2. Body
a. Topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph
b. Supporting details defend or strengthen the topic sentence. Supporting details can include explanation, facts,
examples, and expert opinions about a specific subject.
c. Tie-up/Impact of the example: If your example includes statistics or facts, you have to show the readers the
connection between the example and the reasoning/topic sentences
3. Conclusion
a. Restate the thesis statement: Paraphrase the thesis statement
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b. Summarize main points: Paraphrase topic sentences in one short, focused sentence
c. Concluding remarks: Use suggestions, predictions, or opinions that tie up with the introduction.
d.
A little dos and don’t in IELTS Writing
Don’ts Do
1. Use … or etc. when writing a list of examples.
2. Use question marks in academic writing
“But does this really work?”
3. Use exclamation marks
4. Phrases like “more and more”, “bigger and bigger”,
“greater and greater” are informal.
5. Words like “things” and “stuff” are vague and
informal.
“Patience is the thing that most employers look for in
employees these days.”
6. Use FANBOYS to start a sentence
7. Be too specific or general in the topic sentences.
“The Pippin cafeteria is a nice place” (general)
“The Pippin cafeteria is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday. (specific)
8. Respond to the prompt with a national perspectives
“Commuting is an important expense for workers in
Vietnam”
9. Use contractions (shouldn’t, can’t, mustn’t)
10. Use too much pronouns (you, we, I, us)

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