Some people claim that there are more disadvantages of the car than its advantages. Do you agree or disagree? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a car.
Sample Response
Owning a car is a birth-right for some people while other people try their life-long to purchase one. Apart from these two groups, there are certain people who do not dare to even think about purchasing a car because of their miserable economic conditions. However, for all those people the four-wheel car is a fancy machine with advantages and utility. Owning a car can also bring some drawbacks.
Among the advantages of owning a car, in my opinion, freedom of travelling is the most important one. Someone who owns a car can plan his route, timing and destination. He won’t have to wait for the schedule of a public bus, stand in a long queue, wait for hours for the bus to arrive, and sit in the public bus uncomfortably. A person car gives the freedom, saves time and the owner can utilise the time while he travels. Apart from that, he can carry the grocery, goods and other valuables in the car at his discretion. Owning a car also offers the flexibility of visiting relatives and friends who stay far away without much hassle of a public bus. Taking a child or an old person in a public bus is quite impossible and owning a car would facilitate someone to take his kid, old relatives with him if needed. The comfort and safety of a private car can’t be achieved in a public car. In terms of expense, sometimes personal car saves monthly expenses that would otherwise be required for a person if he travels frequently.
On the other hand owning a car has some disadvantages as well. First of all, private cars require garage and parking hassle. Sometimes the expenses on hiring a driver and purchasing fuel might exceed the budget for the people who could have easily availed public transportations for infrequent journeys. The traffic issue, paper renewal issue, tax, police cases are sometimes too much to handle for the personal car owners. For example, if a public bus gets busted in the middle of a road, the passenger can easily leave it a look for another one. But in this same situation, a private car owner who was riding in his car would have to take the burden of taking care of the busted car and reach to the automobile repairing centres.
In summary, though owning a car has some disadvantages, it offers many advantages as well.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use standard spelling Original: birth-right Suggested revision: birthright Why it matters: 'Birthright' is written as one unhyphenated word.
- 2. Correct the time phrase Original: try their life-long Suggested revision: try all their lives Why it matters: The plural time expression must agree with the plural subject 'people'.
- 3. Use precise register Original: miserable economic conditions Suggested revision: difficult financial circumstances Why it matters: The revision expresses economic hardship in a more precise formal register.
- 4. Use natural collocation Original: freedom of travelling Suggested revision: freedom to travel Why it matters: 'Freedom to travel' is the standard expression for this benefit.
- 5. Use parallel details Original: plan his route, timing and destination Suggested revision: plan their route, schedule and destination Why it matters: 'Schedule' is the natural noun here, and singular 'they' avoids an unnecessary gender assumption.
- 6. Use natural collocation Original: wait for the schedule of a public bus Suggested revision: follow a public bus timetable Why it matters: Passengers follow a timetable rather than wait for a schedule.
- 7. Correct the preposition Original: in Suggested revision: on Why it matters: English uses 'on' for travelling by bus.
- 8. Use plural noun Original: carry the grocery Suggested revision: carry groceries Why it matters: 'Groceries' is the usual plural noun for purchased food and household items.
- 9. Use natural phrasing Original: without much hassle of a public bus Suggested revision: without the hassle of using a public bus Why it matters: The revision clearly identifies bus travel as the source of inconvenience.
- 10. Use correct transport term Original: in a public car Suggested revision: on public transport Why it matters: 'Public car' is not the appropriate term for shared transport services.
- 11. Add an article Original: sometimes personal car saves Suggested revision: sometimes a personal car saves Why it matters: The singular countable noun 'car' requires an article.
- 12. Punctuate the transition Original: On the other hand owning Suggested revision: On the other hand, owning Why it matters: A comma should follow this introductory transition.
Suggested Rewrites
- birth-right birthright
- try their life-long try all their lives
- miserable economic conditions difficult financial circumstances
- freedom of travelling freedom to travel
- plan his route, timing and destination plan their route, schedule and destination
- wait for the schedule of a public bus follow a public bus timetable
Why this response received Band 6.0
The essay provides a substantial discussion of convenience, flexibility, costs, and maintenance burdens, with the advantages especially well illustrated. Its main limitation is task fulfilment: the response never states clearly whether disadvantages outweigh advantages, and the disadvantages receive less focused development. Prioritise declaring a direct position in the introduction and conclusion, then compare the relative importance of the two sides rather than only listing them.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Relevant advantages and disadvantages are discussed at length, but the required agree-or-disagree position remains implicit and the comparison is uneven.
State explicitly whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and justify that judgement by comparing their relative significance.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a recognisable four-part structure, although long lists, repeated references to buses, and loose development reduce overall focus.
Group related benefits and costs into two or three developed points and use each example to complete a clear explanatory progression.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate for transport and ownership, but frequent unnatural collocations and word choices sometimes obscure precision.
Replace phrases such as ‘try their life-long’, ‘parking hassle’, ‘public transportations’, and ‘gets busted’ with accurate formal alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mixture of simple and complex sentences communicates the main ideas, though errors recur in articles, possessives, verb patterns, and coordination.
Proofread noun phrases and verb complements carefully, especially forms such as ‘a person’s car’, ‘enable someone to’, and ‘reach a repair centre’.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people claim that there are more disadvantages of the car than its advantages. Do you agree or disagree? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a car.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.