Vocabulary for essays:

IELTS essay vocabulary

Expressing personal opinions:

 In my opinion, …
 Personally, I think that …
 It seems to me that ...
 I must admit that …
 I believe/suppose that ...
 I cannot deny that …
 As I see it, …
 As far as I'm concerned, …
 I would argue that ...
 I'd like to point out that …
 In my experience, ...

Very strong opinions:

 I am sure that …
 I am convinced that ...
 I am certain that ...

Example: I would argue that computers are rather beneficial for kids.

Proving your arguments

 to attest, ...
 to prove, ...
 this (fact) is attested/proven by ...
 this (fact) is evidenced by ...
 this (fact) is testified by ...
 this (fact) is endorsed/supported by...
 this (evidence) establishes that ...

Example: Consuming moderate amounts of sweets can be good for health. This
is evidenced by a number of cases when people improved their health conditions
by eating chocolate.

Expressing general point of view:

 It is (generally) claimed that …

 It is (generally) said that …
 It is (generally) thought that ...
 It is (generally) considered that ...
 A common opinion is that ...
 A popular belief is that ...

Example: It is considered that rigorous diets are very unhealthy.

Outlining facts

 The fact is that …

 It is obvious that …
 It is clear that …
 There is no doubt that …
 This proves that …

Example: It is obvious that deforestation has no positive effects.

Generalizing

 Generally speaking, ...

 On the whole, ...
 Typically, ...
 By and large ...

Example: Generally speaking, smoking is a bad habit.

Giving examples

 For example, ...

 For instance, ...
 A good illustration of this is ...
 Evidence for this is provided by ...
 We can see this when ...

Example: A lot of wild animals are endangered. Evidence for this is proved by
decreasing number of species.

Concluding

 To summarise, ...
 In conclusion, ...
 Overall, ...
 On balance, ...
 Taking everything into consideration, ...

Example: Overall, no parents should neglect their children.

IELTS Writing Task 2 - giving opinion
In this guide you'll learn how to answer IELTS writing task 2 questions that ask
you to give your opinion. This type of questions is very similar to agree/disagree
questions: it states two opposite views and asks you to give your opinion.
In this lesson you will see IELTS writing task 2 sample question + model answer
and learn
 how to choose your opinion
 how to generate arguments
 how to give a band 9 answer for giving opinion question
IELTS giving opinion question
Let’s look at an example of IELTS writing task 2 question that asks you to give
your opinion:
“You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people believe that violence on television and in computer games has a
damaging effect on the society. Others deny that these factors have any
significant influence on people's behaviour. What is your opinion?
Write at least 250 words”
Choose your opinion & generate arguments

First of all, you need to choose your opinion out of the two given ones. For the task
above, you need to choose from these opinions:

1. violence in media has a damaging effect on the society

2. violence in media doesn’t have a damaging effect on the society

Then, you have to generate your arguments for the chosen opinion. Let’s figure out
some supporting points for each of the given opinions:

 violence in media has a damaging effect on the society

o people often copy actions they see on TV
o violent video games teach people that aggressiveness is normal in
everyday life
o you have an example of the connection between violence in media and
social violence

 violence in media doesn’t have a damaging effect on the society

o people act from their motives, regardless what they see on the television
o video games and television can reduce social violence by providing a
safe outlet for aggressiveness
o you have never seen the connection between violence in media and
social violence
For our essay, we’ll choose the second opinion.

How to answer this task?

1. Introduction

Paraphrase the statement (sentence 1) and give your own opinion (sentence 2):

These days, the amount of violence in media is growing. While some people
argue that this trend will undoubtedly lead humans to dangerous future, others
claim that it has no damaging effect on the society. I believe that in most cases
media violence doesn't affect people's behavior.

2. Body paragraphs

Describe each argument to support your opinion in a separate paragraph. Your

essay should have 2-3 body paragraphs. Use linking structures, vocabulary to
write essays and some words from academic wordlist:

Firstly, I think that people act from their motives, regardless what they see on
the television. That is to say, if someone intends to do harm to somebody, that is
not because of watching TV or playing computer games, but due to that person's
character and education. Although it is generally considered that violent media
accustoms viewers to cruelty, I doubt this opinion. In my view, reasonable and
intelligent people treat others humanely irrespective of what they see or hear in
fictional stories.

Moreover, video games and television may even reduce social violence by
providing a safe outlet for aggressiveness. In other words, truculent people may
fight in virtual reality instead of evincing their combative spirit in real world.
This may not only help those people, but also reduce the level of social violence
in long-term perspective.

Finally, despite many claims and assumptions about negative effects of

television and computer games I have never seen any proven connection
between violent media and illegal activities in social life.

3. Conclusion

In the conclusion paragraph briefly summarize what you have written and restate
your opinion:

Taking everything into consideration, I would say that violence in contemporary

media has no substantial influence on people's behavior. Television and
computers are not the main factors that shape personal character, and they can
even be useful in reducing the level of violence.
Model answer

These days, the amount of violence in media is growing. While some people argue that
this trend will undoubtedly lead humans to dangerous future, others claim that it has no
damaging effect on the society. I believe that in most cases media violence doesn't
affect people's behavior.

Firstly, I think that people act from their motives, regardless what they see on the
television. That is to say, if someone intends to do harm to somebody, that is not
because of watching TV or playing computer games, but due to that person's character
and education. Although it is generally considered that violent media accustoms viewers
to cruelty, I doubt this opinion. In my view, reasonable and intelligent people treat
others humanely irrespective of what they see or hear in fictional stories.

Moreover, video games and television may even reduce social violence by providing a
safe outlet for aggressiveness. In other words, truculent people may fight in virtual
reality instead of evincing their combative spirit in real world. This may not only help
those people, but also reduce the level of social violence in long-term perspective.

Finally, despite many claims and assumptions about negative effects of television and
computer games I have never seen any proven connection between violent media and
illegal activities in social life.

Taking everything into consideration, I would say that violence in contemporary media
has no substantial influence on people's behavior. Television and computers are not the
main factors that shape personal character, and they can even be useful in reducing the
level of violence.

(255 words)

IELTS Writing Task 2. Sample 2 – Suggesting a solution

“You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some students work while studying. This often results in lacking time for
education and constantly feeling under pressure.
What do you think are the causes of this?
What solutions can you suggest?
Write at least 250 words.”
How to answer this task?

1. Introduce the topic.

Just restate your topic and write that the given problem has causes and can be
solved.

2. Write main causes and explain them.

In the second paragraph, describe each cause of the given problem, shortly
explaining it. Use linking structures, vocabulary to write essays and some words
from academic wordlist.

3. Suggest solutions

Propose some solutions and say why they should work.

4. Write a short conclusion.

Briefly summarize what you have written.

Model answer

Nowadays, there are a lot of students who work while studying. Although this tendency
may lead to negative results, the number of young people who sacrifice education for
work is growing. I believe that this problem has certain causes and can be solved by
taking special measures.

It is apparent that most of the students who work have many financial expenses to meet.
One common cause is high cost of education. As many colleges and universities set
high tuition fees, some families cannot fully afford the higher education for their
children. Consequently, these students have to work to pay university and college fees.
The other cause is living expenses. Many students study away from hometown, and
have to pay for accommodation, food, entertainment etc. As it is often hard to cover
these expenses, students are forced to earn money to afford their living. I think that the
problem of students working during their studies results in lower quality of education
and has no benefits at all. Thus, it should be solved on the governmental level.

I can suggest two possible solutions to this problem. Firstly, the government could make
higher education free. For instance, this result can be achieved by financing educational
establishments from the country’s budget. Not only will it make universities and
colleges accessible for everyone, but it will also reduce the number of working students.
The second solution is promoting unpaid e-learning. Such form of distance education
doesn’t require a lot of resources to be maintained. What’s more, students don’t have to
leave their homes and can plan their schedules the way they prefer.
In conclusion, I believe that mainly lack of financial resources causes students to work,
but this problem can be solved by lowering the amount of financial expenses students
have to meet.

(298 words)

IELTS band 9 essay: death penalty – pros/cons

Here you can find advice how to structure IELTS essay and IELTS model answer for
death penalty topic. Question type: advantages and disadvantages.
Here is the question card:
“Some people advocate death penalty for those who committed violent crimes. Others
say that capital punishment is unacceptable in contemporary society.
Describe advantages and disadvantages of death penalty and give your opinion.”

So this is the advantage/disadvantage essay. In this essay you're asked about:

1. Advantages of capital punishment

 2. Disadvantages of capital punishment
3. Your opinion about it

Before writing this IELTS essay, you should decide what’s your opinion and then
choose your arguments to describe pros and cons of death penalty. You don’t have to
make up very complicate ideas. Even simple, but  well-written arguments can often give
you a band 9 for writing.

Some of the possible arguments:

1. Disadvantages of capital punishment:

o we have no rights to kill other humans
o innocent people can be killed because of unfair sentences
o even criminals deserve a second chance
2. Advantages of capital punishment:
o it prevents major crimes
o it restores equilibrium of justice
o it lessens expenses on maintenance of prisoners

How to structure my answer?

Surely, there are a lot of ways to organise this essay. But here is one possible way of
structuring the answer to produce a band 9 essay:

Introduction: rephrase the topic and state your opinion.

Body paragraphs:

 paragraph 1: disadvantages of death penalty

 paragraph 2: advantages of death penalty

Conclusion: sum up the ideas from body paragraphs and briefly give your opinion.

Band 9 essay sample (death penalty)

Many people believe that death penalty is necessary to keep security system efficient in
the society. While there are some negative aspects of capital punishment, I agree with
the view that without it we will become more vulnerable to violence.

Death penalty can be considered unsuitable punishment for several reasons. The
strongest argument is that we have no rights to kill other humans. Right to live is the
basic right of any human being, and no one can infringe this right, irrespective of the
person’s deeds. Moreover, innocent people can face wrongful execution. Such unfair
sentences take away lives of innocent people and make other citizens lose faith in law
and justice. And besides, sometimes criminals repent of their acts. In this case they
should be given a second chance to improve themselves.

However, I believe that capital punishment is necessary in the society. Firstly, it is an

effective deterrent of major crimes. The best method to prevent a person from
committing crime is to show the consequences of his or her actions. For example, the
government of Pakistan has controlled the rate of terrorism by enforcing death penalties
for the members of terrorist organisations. Secondly, the governments spend large sums
of national budget on maintenance of prisoners. Instead, this money can be used for the
development of the society and welfare of the people.

To sum up, although capital punishment has some disadvantages, I think that it proves
to be the best way of controlling criminals, lessening governmental expenses and
preventing other people from doing crimes.

(257 words)

Useful vocabulary

capital punishment = death penalty

to commit a crime - to do a crime

deterrent of major crimes - something that prevents big crimes

to face wrongful execution - to be mistaken for a criminal and killed for that

to infringe someone’s right - restrict someone’s right, hurt someone’s interests

innocent people - people who are not guilty or responsible for crimes

to repent of something - to feel sorry for something

right to live is basic right of any human being

unfair sentence - not fair judgement

IELTS causes and solutions essay - band 9 guide

In this lesson you will learn how to write a high-scoring causes & solutions essay in
IELTS Writing. As an example, the model essay will be about loss of bio-diversity.
Basically, causes & solutions essay is one of the most common question types in IELTS
writing task 2. This question asks you to describe causes and propose solutions for a
given problem.
In this lesson you will see:
 question sample + model answer
 band 9 answer structure for causes & solutions essay
 effective strategies to produce ideas for your answer
IELTS problems & solutions question sample
For example, this is the question you’ve got for IELTS writing task 2:
“Influence of human beings on the world's ecosystem is leading to the extinction of
species and loss of bio-diversity.
What are the primary causes of loss of bio-diversity?
What solutions can you suggest?”
Of course, the topics for causes & solutions essay may vary, but the answering strategy
is pretty much the same for all essays of causes/solutions type.
Producing ideas

As you know, it’s recommended to spend about 40 minutes on IELTS Writing task 2.
But before starting to write your essay, it’s a good idea to dedicate 2-4 minutes to
producing some ideas for your essay. This way you’ll know what to write about and
your essay will be more structured.

To produce ideas for causes and solutions essay, you have to determine 3 things:

 Problem
 Causes of this problem
 Solutions to this problem

The problem is already given: loss of bio-diversity (in other words, some animals and

plants are dying out).

Now let’s think about its causes and solutions. Don’t be afraid of simple ideas!
Remember: getting a high score means writing simple things well. Here are some ideas
that may come to your mind:

Causes:

 change of the natural habitats

When humans artificially transform the environment (build roads, houses etc.),
they destroy animals’ natural habitat.

 pollution

Pollution negatively changes the flow of energy, the chemical constitution of the
environment and the climate in general, so a lot of species cannot live under
such conditions and die out.

 overexploitation of resources

When the activities connected with capturing and harvesting a natural resource
are too intense in a particular area, the resource becomes exhausted. Example:
 too intense farming exhausts the soil; too frequent fishing, which doesn’t leave
enough time for fish to reproduce, makes fish disappear.

After you’ve though of the possible causes, you can use them in your writing. You can
invent more reasons of this problem, but usually, it’s enough to give 1-2 causes in
your writing.

Possible solutions:

 protect areas - Protecting areas where human activity is limited and avoiding
overexploitation of resources are the best ways to save the environment and prevent
species from dying out.
 promote awareness - Informing the general population about the disadvantages of
loss of biodiversity will encourage people to be more conscious of the environment.

1-2 solutions are enough for a good essay. Now, after we’ve collected some ideas, it’s
time to structure our thoughts into an essay.

Band 9 answer structure for causes & solutions essay

There may be many possible answering strategies, but we’ll use this good and time-
tested essay structure:

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph 1 – causes
3. Body paragraph 2 – solutions
4. Conclusion

Introduction

Write the introduction in 2 sentences:

o Sentence 1 - paraphrase the question (restate the problem):

Despite knowing about biodiversity’s importance for a long time, human activity
has been causing massive extinctions of different species.

o Sentence 2 - tell the examiner what you’re going to describe in your essay:

This essay will examine the main causes of loss of biodiversity and possible
solutions of this problem.

Body paragraph 1 - causes

o Sentence 1 - state 2 main causes:

 The two main causes of species extinction are change of their habitats and
overexploitation of natural resources.

o Sentences 2-4 - explain the first cause + give an example:

When humans artificially transform the environment, they destroy vegetation

and animals’ natural habitat. For instance, to build new roads people are
cutting down the trees and cementing the soil, altering the environment.
Because of that, a lot of species are dying out.

o Sentences 5-7 - explain the second cause + give an example:

Also, when the activities connected with capturing and harvesting a natural
resource are too intense in a particular area, the resource becomes exhausted.
For example, too frequent fishing doesn’t leave enough time for fish to
reproduce and makes them disappear.

o The last sentence - give a short summary (if needed)

In other words, human activities often deplete local flora and fauna and cause
loss of bio-diversity.

Body paragraph 2 - solutions

o Sentence 1 - give 1-2 possible solutions

Some possible solutions to this problem are protecting natural areas and
promoting awareness among people.

o Sentences 2-4 - explain how each of the solutions solves the problem (you may
give an example if you wish)

By protecting areas where human activity is limited and avoiding

overexploitation of its resources, we can save the untouched environment and
prevent species from dying out. Moreover, the next step in fighting bio-diversity
loss is informing the general population about the dangers of this problem. This
way, people will be more conscious of the environment and won’t overuse or
destroy its resources.

Conclusion

o Sentence 1 - restate the causes of the problem

To conclude, people’s activities that change the environment have negative

impact on the world's ecosystem.

o Sentence 2 - remind the reader of possible solutions

However, we can significantly lessen the extinction of species by protecting

natural areas and enlightening people as to this problem.
Model essay for IELTS Writing causes/solutions question

The model band-9 essay for this question will look as follows:

Despite knowing about biodiversity’s importance for a long time, human activity has been
causing massive extinctions of different species. This essay will examine the main causes of
loss of biodiversity and possible solutions of this problem.

The two main causes of species extinction are change of their habitats and overexploitation of
natural resources. When humans artificially transform the environment, they destroy vegetation
and animals’ natural habitat. For instance, to build new roads people are cutting down the trees
and cementing the soil, altering the environment. Because of that, a lot of species are dying out.
Also, when the activities connected with capturing and harvesting a natural resource are too
intense in a particular area, the resource becomes exhausted. For example, too frequent fishing
doesn’t leave enough time for fish to reproduce and makes them disappear. In other words,
human activities often deplete local flora and fauna and cause loss of bio-diversity.

Some possible solutions to this problem are protecting natural areas and promoting awareness
among people. By protecting areas where human activity is limited and avoiding
overexploitation of its resources, we can save the untouched environment and prevent species
from dying out. Moreover, the next step in fighting bio-diversity loss is informing the general
population about the dangers of this problem. This way, people will be more conscious of the
environment and won’t overuse or destroy its resources.

To conclude, people’s activities that change the environment have negative impact on the
world's ecosystem. However, we can significantly lessen the extinction of species by protecting
natural areas and enlightening people as to this problem.