Young people these days tend to be less polite and respectful than in the past. What do you think are the reasons for that? What can be done to solve this issue?
Sample Response
Many studies show that new generation is discourteous and disrespectful than that of previous generations. Rationales are many folds. This essay delves into the reasons for this attitude and suggesting some remedies.
Undeniably, in the past younger people were more polite and respectful to the elderly people and to the society. For instance, in Indian culture, it was very common for young people to always respect the elderly people but nowadays this behaviour has almost vanished. Globalisation, the influence of foreign cultures and sense of individuality are some main reasons for this paradigm shift. The cultural exchange between the nations are rapid and that gives the young generation a sense that they are not obliged to respect others. The impact of western culture has destroyed the traditions in many countries and this is another reason for the less polite behaviour among the youth. Secondly, with the advancement of technology people are busy with the social media, foreign music and movies. For example, the younger generation is not only engaged with their mobile gadgets but also spend less time socialising and as a result, they have less time for others. Furthermore, moral values of the new generation are declining as the educational process has changed rapidly. Teachers and parents no longer spend time teaching children about moralities and obligation to societies.
However, it is necessary to tackle this issue from childhood by proper parental guidance and by proper education. The family is the first school and parents are the best teachers. So they can shape the behaviour of their offspring from the very early stage. Continuous usages of technological devices such as mobile phones or computers should be restricted. In addition school curricular should also give priority to the moral aspects of students and should include counselling and guidance classes in their curriculum. Furthermore, social media should also broadcast the programs portraying the importance of good character and moralities.
In conclusion, it is an undeniable fact that today's generation is lacking respect and politeness in their behaviour. To some extent, this is due to the advancement of technology and influence of social media and foreign cultures. Teacher and parents’ lack of proper guidance can also be attributed to this shift. Proper education, controlled use of technology, socialising, family bonding, and better parenting are the most important aspects to address this pressing issue.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Make verbs parallel Original: suggesting Suggested revision: suggests Why it matters: The coordinated verbs must share the same finite form.
- 2. Add introductory comma Original: in the past younger Suggested revision: in the past, younger Why it matters: A comma should follow the introductory time phrase.
- 3. Use natural respect phrase Original: respectful to the elderly people Suggested revision: respectful towards older people Why it matters: This preposition and noun phrase are more natural and concise.
- 4. Remove unnecessary article Original: to the society Suggested revision: towards society Why it matters: The generic uncountable noun “society” takes no definite article here.
- 5. Remove unnecessary wording Original: always respect the elderly people Suggested revision: respect older people Why it matters: “Always” and the repeated noun phrase add no necessary meaning.
- 6. Add partitive phrase Original: some main reasons Suggested revision: some of the main reasons Why it matters: The superlative-style phrase “main reasons” requires “some of the.”
- 7. Fix agreement and articles Original: The cultural exchange between the nations are rapid Suggested revision: Cultural exchange between nations is rapid Why it matters: The singular head noun takes “is,” and generic plural nations need no article.
- 8. Clarify affected group Original: the young generation a sense Suggested revision: young people the impression Why it matters: This wording identifies the people naturally and replaces the vague phrase “a sense.”
- 9. Remove unnecessary article Original: the less polite behaviour Suggested revision: less polite behaviour Why it matters: The general uncountable phrase does not take “the.”
- 10. Use neutral group noun Original: among the youth Suggested revision: among young people Why it matters: This is a more natural neutral reference to the age group.
- 11. Add introductory comma Original: technology people are Suggested revision: technology, people are Why it matters: A comma is required after the introductory prepositional phrase.
- 12. Correct media collocation Original: busy with the social media Suggested revision: preoccupied with social media Why it matters: People are “preoccupied with” media, and generic “social media” takes no article.
Suggested Rewrites
- suggesting suggests
- in the past younger in the past, younger
- respectful to the elderly people respectful towards older people
- to the society towards society
- always respect the elderly people respect older people
- some main reasons some of the main reasons
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay's strongest feature is its clear division between causes and remedies, with relevant discussion of cultural influence, technology, parenting, and education. Its main limitation is precision: several claims about foreign culture are overgeneralised, while frequent grammatical and collocational errors weaken otherwise understandable ideas. Prioritise developing the causal links more carefully and revising recurring word forms, agreement, and article use.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Response
The response addresses both causes and solutions with a clear position and several relevant supporting ideas, although some explanations rely on broad generalisations.
Develop the strongest causes through more precise cause-and-effect reasoning and avoid unsupported claims about entire cultures.
Coherence and Cohesion
The clear cause-solution structure and logical paragraph sequence make the argument easy to follow, despite some mechanical transitions and repetition.
Use referencing and thematic links within paragraphs to reduce repeated nouns and make connections feel less formulaic.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, but frequent inaccurate word choices and collocations reduce precision.
Replace awkward forms with natural combinations such as moral values, social responsibility, device use, and school curricula.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the ideas clearly, though recurring errors in agreement, articles, and word forms remain noticeable.
Proofread systematically for singular-plural agreement, articles, and correctly formed noun phrases before adding more complex structures.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Young people these days tend to be less polite and respectful than in the past. What do you think are the reasons for that? What can be done to solve this issue?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.