Some people prefer to travel around town by car, while others prefer public transport such as bus, trains, subway. Which one do you prefer? What are the advantages of both choices?
Sample Response
Over the last few years, the means of transportations increased by the public within the cities around the world. Few individuals choose to travel by their own vehicles like cars. However, the others opt for public transportations like the train, bus or metro rail. Both these type of transportations have its own benefits and drawbacks. In this essay, I will discuss it and try to provide my opinion.
To begin with, if a person uses his own transportation then he will not need to wait for the availability of the vehicle like public transportation. Also, he can reach the destination quickly if he needs as he may increase the speed of his vehicle. Generally speaking, people who travel by their own vehicles reach their target on time and therefore they are more punctual. Thus, people find private transportation is more reliable and faster way to travel from source place to destination place.
On the other hand, people, who use public transportation, can experience their travelling with ease because they do not have to worry about the stringent traffic and driving rules. In fact, they can listen to their favourite music or check their official emails via smartphones or even they can read the newspaper. Additionally, public transportation costs lower than the private transportation. What is more, public transportations carry many people at the same time so it makes low pollution compared to private travelling. Hence, public transportation is considered as convenient, cost-effective and environment-friendly travelling.
In conclusion, although private transportations provide flexible travel, freedom and quick access to the vehicle, I believe, public transportations are far better than private transportations in terms of the convenience and incurred expenses of the travelling.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Avoid unintended quantity Original: Few Suggested revision: Some Why it matters: “Few” implies that the number is small, while “some” introduces the group neutrally.
- 2. Remove unnecessary article Original: the others Suggested revision: others Why it matters: The general plural pronoun “others” does not take “the” here.
- 3. Use uncountable transport Original: transportations Suggested revision: transport Why it matters: “Public transport” is uncountable in this general sense.
- 4. Fix transport examples Original: like the train, bus or metro rail Suggested revision: such as trains, buses or the metro Why it matters: The revised list uses natural parallel names for the transport modes.
- 5. Fix plural agreement Original: type of transportations have its Suggested revision: types of transportation have their Why it matters: “Both” requires plural “types” and the plural possessive “their.”
- 6. Clarify pronoun reference Original: discuss it Suggested revision: discuss both options Why it matters: The singular pronoun does not clearly refer to the two transport choices.
- 7. Use neutral reference Original: his own transportation Suggested revision: their own vehicle Why it matters: Singular “they” maintains agreement without assuming gender.
- 8. Maintain neutral pronoun Original: then he Suggested revision: they Why it matters: This continues the neutral singular reference consistently.
- 9. Clarify transport reference Original: availability of the vehicle Suggested revision: availability of public transport Why it matters: The revised phrase identifies what the traveller would otherwise wait for.
- 10. Complete conditional meaning Original: quickly if he needs Suggested revision: quickly if necessary Why it matters: “If he needs” is incomplete because it lacks an object or infinitive.
- 11. Remove restrictive commas Original: people, who use public transportation, Suggested revision: people who use public transportation Why it matters: The defining relative clause should not be enclosed in commas.
- 12. Use natural expression Original: experience their travelling with ease Suggested revision: travel with ease Why it matters: The original phrase uses an unnatural verb-noun combination.
Suggested Rewrites
- Few Some
- the others others
- transportations transport
- like the train, bus or metro rail such as trains, buses or the metro
- type of transportations have its types of transportation have their
- discuss it discuss both options
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly states a preference and covers advantages of both private and public transport in a straightforward, well-organized discussion. The ideas are relevant, but several are asserted rather than convincingly explained, and frequent errors with countability, agreement, articles, and collocation make the language noticeably unnatural. The highest priority is to build each advantage with precise cause-and-effect support while revising recurring noun and verb patterns.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both requested sets of advantages are addressed and a clear preference is given, though some supporting claims are simplistic or insufficiently justified.
Explain why each advantage follows and choose evidence that is realistic, especially for speed, punctuality, and pollution.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response follows a clear introduction-body-conclusion structure, and the contrast between transport choices is easy to track.
Make links within body paragraphs less list-like by connecting each example explicitly to the main advantage it supports.
Lexical Resource
There is enough range to discuss convenience, cost, reliability, and environmental impact, but frequent collocation and countability errors reduce naturalness.
Learn and apply natural transport collocations, especially public transport, lower costs, causes less pollution, and travel expenses.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses both simple and complex sentences, but recurring errors in plurals, agreement, articles, and clause construction remain noticeable.
Revise uncountable nouns and agreement patterns first, then check that every comparative and subordinate clause is grammatically complete.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people prefer to travel around town by car, while others prefer public transport such as bus, trains, subway. Which one do you prefer? What are the advantages of both choices?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.