Writing

PROS & CONS ESSAY

Advantages and Disadvantages

To make an essay clearer for the reader, we can use prepositional phrases to introduce
the advantages and disadvantages of a subject at the start of a new sentence.

• The main worry about

• One point against
• One good thing about
• Perhaps the biggest concern with
• A real benefit of
• The main argument in favour of
Advantages and Disadvantages

To make an essay clearer for the reader, we can use prepositional phrases to introduce
the advantages and disadvantages of a subject at the start of a new sentence.

• The main worry about -

• One point against -
• One good thing about +
• Perhaps the biggest concern with -
• A real benefit of +
• The main argument in favour of +
Academic writing skills

Common errors
Common errors

Contractions don’t → do not

isn’t → is not
Phrasal verbs go up → increase
take away → remove
Idioms A1 → excellent
Slang kids → children
Pronouns You can see form the graph … → the paragraph shows …
Negatives Is not effective → is ineffective
Is not positive → is negative
Common errors

When you are writing it can be easy to miss out small words or to spell
mistakenly. This can be a problem for the reader, especially if there are
too many mistakes in one paragraph. The reader may lose confidence in
your ideas as well as your English.
Essay structure

• Introduction

• Paragraph 1
main body

• Paragraph 2

• Conclusion
Essay structure

Introduction State the topic.

Talk generally about the topic without giving your opinion.
Paragraph 1 State the advantages with your justification (examples or
(main body) reasons)
Paragraph 2 State the disadvantages with your justification (examples or
(main body) reasons)
Conclusion Restate the topic with different words.
Mention main ‘advantage’ and ‘disadvantage’.
State your opinion clearly.
3.3.1 The pros and cons of electric vehicles

Video
3.3.1 The pros and cons of electric vehicles

Electric cars

Advantages Disadvantages

• It’s fully charged by electricity, so we don’t • The price is high.

need to buy any gas. • Still hard to find electric fueling stations
• The cost for charging and service is much • Need much more significant time investment
lower. to recharge the electric cars because it takes
• It doesn’t emit toxic gases or dangerous smoke eight hours to get fully charged.
in the environment. • The maximum driving range is only 100 km in
• It has a better performance full battery.
3.3.2 Writing task

Write a pros and cons essay about electric vehicles in about 100 words.

Divide your essay into 4 paragraphs:

• Introduction paragraph

• Body ( one pros and one cons paragraph)

• Conclusion paragraph
Use the task checklist to review your essay content and structure

Task checklist
Have you included an introduction which links to the main body
paragraphs and a conclusion which summaries the essay?
Do the main body paragraphs have a topic sentence, supporting
sentences and a concluding sentence?
Have you written about advantages and disadvantages?

Make any necessary changes to your essay.

Thank you