In some countries, nowadays more and more people are choosing to live alone than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?
Sample Response
In the recent years, most people, particularly in developed countries, likely to opt for living independently. Although living solo come along with several drawbacks, I would consider this more of a positive development. For several reasons, living alone may have some drawbacks. Firstly, living independently can be extremely costly as life is becoming increasingly complex and property price is just skyrocketing. This has created a difficult situation in finding an accommodation at a reasonable price. For this reason, single occupants may have to work unbelievably hard to make their ends meet. Being a singleton has meant that they cannot expect any financial or moral support from family or relatives in most cases. Lone occupants are more likely to experience depression, anxiety and uncertainty with bearing all household responsibilities on top of pursuing a work life than family-oriented people. As a result, single people tend to lead a hectic as well as burdensome life with having a feeling of being resented and anguished and therefore resulting an unhealthy lifestyle. On the other hand, I believe that people, leading a life as single dwellers are the luckiest one. A sense of freedom with an acute privacy is something considered as the most desirable element of a happy life. This is the main reason why single occupant tends to be seen as a successful peer of the society. Because living a life on their own allows them to invest a precious time in the development growth and shaping out their personality. Furthermore, single people are likely to attend more public social affairs, thus allowing cities and urban areas to reinvigorate as they spend more money on holiday-making, doing outdoor activities or surfing other services compared to their couple counterparts. Finally, if more people became independent, the more they live greener by living in apartments or near to towns instead of living in suburb houses and commuting to work from far away stretched distances. To sum up, going solo may have some disadvantages but I would argue that this development should be seen as a progress.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Remove article Original: In the recent years Suggested revision: In recent years Why it matters: The fixed time expression does not take “the” here.
- 2. Add finite verb Original: likely to opt Suggested revision: are likely to opt Why it matters: The sentence needs the finite verb “are” after its subject.
- 3. Use plural noun Original: property price is just skyrocketing Suggested revision: property prices are skyrocketing Why it matters: A general claim about prices requires a plural noun and matching verb.
- 4. Uncountable noun Original: an accommodation Suggested revision: accommodation Why it matters: “Accommodation” is normally uncountable in this context.
- 5. Fix idiom Original: make their ends meet Suggested revision: make ends meet Why it matters: The fixed expression is “make ends meet.”
- 6. Use simple present Original: Being a singleton has meant Suggested revision: Being single means Why it matters: The simple present suits this general claim, and “being single” is more natural.
- 7. Clarify cause Original: with bearing all household responsibilities Suggested revision: because they bear all household responsibilities Why it matters: A finite because-clause expresses the intended cause grammatically.
- 8. Natural collocation Original: pursuing a work life Suggested revision: maintaining a working life Why it matters: “Maintaining a working life” is a more natural collocation.
- 9. Remove stray comma Original: people, leading Suggested revision: people leading Why it matters: The comma incorrectly separates the noun from its defining participial phrase.
- 10. Fix number Original: the luckiest one Suggested revision: the luckiest Why it matters: The plural subject “people” is incompatible with singular “one.”
- 11. Natural expression Original: an acute privacy Suggested revision: a high degree of privacy Why it matters: “A high degree of privacy” expresses the intended meaning naturally.
- 12. Fix plural agreement Original: single occupant tends Suggested revision: single occupants tend Why it matters: The generalization requires a plural noun and plural verb.
Suggested Rewrites
- In the recent years In recent years
- likely to opt are likely to opt
- property price is just skyrocketing property prices are skyrocketing
- an accommodation accommodation
- make their ends meet make ends meet
- Being a singleton has meant Being single means
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response presents a clear preference and considers both the disadvantages and advantages of living alone, with several relevant lines of argument. Its main limitation is that some claims are asserted or expressed unclearly, while frequent grammatical and collocational errors reduce precision. The highest priority is to develop fewer benefits with specific, credible support and then proofread sentence structures, articles, and word combinations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear positive position is maintained, and both sides are addressed, although several benefits are insufficiently supported or only loosely justified.
Develop the strongest positive arguments with concrete explanations or examples and clarify the causal link in the environmental point.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses from disadvantages to advantages and a conclusion, but some long or fragmentary sentences weaken the flow within the single extended paragraph.
Use distinct paragraphs for the introduction, each main idea, and the conclusion, with clearer sentence-level referencing.
Lexical Resource
There is a reasonably broad vocabulary for independence, finance, wellbeing, and social life, but frequent inaccurate collocations reduce naturalness and precision.
Replace strained combinations such as “acute privacy” and “surfing other services” with conventional, context-appropriate phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures conveys the main ideas, but recurring errors with articles, agreement, sentence boundaries, and clause construction are noticeable.
Prioritise complete sentence structures and systematically check subject-verb agreement and article use during proofreading.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
In some countries, nowadays more and more people are choosing to live alone than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.