Some people think that cities are the best places to live. Others prefer to live in a rural area. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city to living in the countryside.
Sample Response
In the modern society, some people like to live in a city area and few enjoy an open countryside to live. There are some blessings and drawbacks in both sites. Many people of today’s society are of the opinion that living in cities is better than living in a rural area while others oppose this concept but my inclination is toward the former. On one hand, it is believed that city life has significantly various advantages in contrast to rural life. The most vital point for the demand which can initially be mentioned is that all services are easily reachable in the city area. Such as most of the major educational institute, hospital, bank all are generally situated in the city area. So city dwellers can get these services within a short period rather than who lives in villages. For example, we used to stay in villages but when we were in grade six our parents sent us to town for better education. What's more, city people can enjoy their life with different amusing activities called as theatre, cultural activities and visit a nice restaurant. But in a village, there is no such place where villagers can animate their free time so life is so boring. A further point is that there are a lot of working opportunities in the commercial area. To clarify this matter people can find any suitable job in the factory, hotel, restaurant, shopping mall and run their livelihood, besides also enhance the economic growth of any countries. On the other hand, there are some negative sides to living in town and have some positive points to live in the countryside. What can be cited first regarding this is city life are more stressful due to its busy atmosphere and noisy heavy traffics while a countryside is a peaceful place to live because of its quiet and calm environment, villagers can breathe in open air and enjoy the tranquillity of the environment. In a nutshell taking all the aforementioned pros and cons into account, I personally admire to live in town.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Remove unnecessary article Original: In the modern society Suggested revision: In modern society Why it matters: Society takes no article when used in this general sense.
- 2. Use concise place noun Original: a city area Suggested revision: a city Why it matters: City already identifies the type of area, making area redundant.
- 3. Correct gerund phrase Original: an open countryside to live Suggested revision: living in the open countryside Why it matters: The gerund phrase is needed after enjoy.
- 4. Use balanced terms Original: blessings and drawbacks Suggested revision: advantages and disadvantages Why it matters: These are the standard parallel terms for comparing positive and negative aspects.
- 5. Use correct setting noun Original: sites Suggested revision: settings Why it matters: Settings refers to urban and rural living, whereas sites suggests specific physical locations.
- 6. Remove wordiness Original: people of today’s society are of the opinion Suggested revision: people today believe Why it matters: The shorter phrase states the belief directly.
- 7. State preference clearly Original: oppose this concept Suggested revision: prefer rural life Why it matters: The revision names the contrasting preference instead of using a vague concept.
- 8. Use direct preference Original: my inclination is toward Suggested revision: I prefer Why it matters: The direct verb produces a clearer and more natural clause.
- 9. Complete linking phrase Original: On one hand Suggested revision: On the one hand Why it matters: The fixed contrastive expression requires the definite article.
- 10. Correct adjective order Original: significantly various advantages Suggested revision: several significant advantages Why it matters: Several expresses number and significant describes the importance of the advantages.
- 11. Use comparison preposition Original: in contrast to rural life Suggested revision: over rural life Why it matters: Advantages over is the natural comparative construction.
- 12. Clarify the first advantage Original: The most vital point for the demand which can initially be mentioned Suggested revision: The first major advantage Why it matters: The revision removes an unclear and unnecessarily elaborate phrase.
Suggested Rewrites
- In the modern society In modern society
- a city area a city
- an open countryside to live living in the open countryside
- blessings and drawbacks advantages and disadvantages
- sites settings
- people of today’s society are of the opinion people today believe
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response's strongest feature is its relevant explanation of city benefits, supported by examples about education, recreation, and employment. However, the comparison is uneven because rural advantages and urban disadvantages are compressed into a brief final section, while frequent awkward phrasing and sentence-control problems reduce clarity. The highest priority is to balance the discussion with one fully developed point on each side and express those points in shorter, more accurate sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response addresses both settings and states a clear preference, but city advantages receive much fuller development than the contrasting points.
Develop one specific countryside advantage and one city disadvantage with explanations and examples of comparable depth.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a broadly understandable sequence, but the single-paragraph format, run-on sentences, and mechanical linking weaken organisation.
Use separate introduction, comparison, and conclusion paragraphs, with each body paragraph organised around one controlling idea.
Lexical Resource
There is an adequate range of topic vocabulary, but several unnatural collocations and imprecise expressions reduce clarity and flexibility.
Replace forced phrases with natural combinations such as educational facilities, job opportunities, clean air, and stressful working conditions.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response attempts varied complex structures, but errors in agreement, articles, punctuation, and clause construction occur frequently.
Prioritise accurate sentence boundaries and subject-verb agreement before adding subordinate clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that cities are the best places to live. Others prefer to live in a rural area. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city to living in the countryside.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.