Today family members eat fewer meals together. Why is this? Is this a positive or negative trend?
Sample Response
In recent years, it has become less common for families to eat meals together. In my opinion, this is related to developments outside the home and is a positive trend overall.
There is now a great variety of public activities. In the past, families traditionally ate dinner together because it was rare to go out to restaurants and events. Today, individuals can eat at cheap or expensive restaurants, attend concerts, go to public parks, and meet a wider circle of acquaintances due to the rise of social media. For instance, it is common to notice an event while scrolling through social media, such as a gallery opening or a sports match, and make plans with friends quickly through a group chat. The prevalence and accessibility of such events explains why family meals are now uncommon.
This phenomenon is negative for families but positive for society overall. Reduced time with one’s family can lead to psychological problems as a person must feel loved by family members to maximize healthy growth. One method of achieving this unconditional sense of security is through family meals. However, there are other ways for a family to be close and the opening up of society beyond the household is a massive boon for individuals. People who were stuck at home and bored now have a variety of entertainment options and live overall more fulfilling and richer lives. For example, a person who often goes to concerts will likely make friends from various backgrounds and form lasting memories with them.
In conclusion, family meals are less common because of developments in society generally and it is positive on the whole given the freedom the average person now possesses. Nonetheless, it is still important to balance time with family and friends.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use natural collocation Original: a great variety of public activities Suggested revision: a wide range of public activities Why it matters: A wide range is the more natural collocation for numerous kinds of activities.
- 2. Remove time redundancy Original: families traditionally ate dinner together Suggested revision: families ate dinner together Why it matters: In the past already supplies the historical time reference, making traditionally redundant.
- 3. Use parallel phrasing Original: go out to restaurants and events Suggested revision: dine out or attend events Why it matters: The revised verbs form a natural parallel pair for the two activities.
- 4. Use precise register Original: cheap or expensive restaurants Suggested revision: inexpensive or high-end restaurants Why it matters: These adjectives describe restaurant price ranges more precisely and formally.
- 5. Use natural expression Original: meet a wider circle of acquaintances Suggested revision: meet a wider range of people Why it matters: People meet new individuals, while a circle normally describes existing contacts.
- 6. Choose accurate verb Original: notice an event Suggested revision: learn about an event Why it matters: Learn about more accurately describes discovering event information on social media.
- 7. Improve word order Original: make plans with friends quickly through a group chat Suggested revision: quickly make plans with friends in a group chat Why it matters: This word order and preposition produce a more natural expression.
- 8. Use natural collocation Original: maximize healthy growth Suggested revision: support healthy development Why it matters: Support healthy development is the natural expression for promoting a person's well-being.
- 9. Use measured register Original: a massive boon Suggested revision: a major benefit Why it matters: Major benefit is more measured and appropriate for an academic argument.
- 10. Improve word order Original: developments in society generally Suggested revision: broader social developments Why it matters: This concise phrase expresses the intended general social changes more naturally.
- 11. Sentence rewrite Original: People who were stuck at home and bored now have a variety of entertainment options and live overall more fulfilling and richer lives. Suggested revision: People who were previously stuck at home and bored now have a variety of entertainment options and generally lead fuller, more rewarding lives. Why it matters: The rewrite corrects the awkward adverb placement and creates a balanced description of people's lives.
Suggested Rewrites
- a great variety of public activities a wide range of public activities
- families traditionally ate dinner together families ate dinner together
- go out to restaurants and events dine out or attend events
- cheap or expensive restaurants inexpensive or high-end restaurants
- meet a wider circle of acquaintances meet a wider range of people
- notice an event learn about an event
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response gives a clear, nuanced judgement and develops both the social cause and the mixed consequences with specific, relevant examples. Its strongest feature is the coherent progression from increased opportunities outside the home to a balanced evaluation of family and societal effects; the main limitation is occasional imprecision in phrasing and one agreement error. Refine those few awkward expressions and proofread subject-verb agreement to make an already strong argument more consistently precise.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response fully addresses both questions with a clear overall judgement, well-developed reasoning, and relevant examples.
Strengthen the causal analysis further by acknowledging whether work schedules or household routines also contribute to fewer shared meals.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through well-focused paragraphs, with cohesive devices and referencing used smoothly and unobtrusively.
Refine the transition from the family-level drawback to the wider social benefit so the evaluative shift is even more seamless.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise vocabulary range supports nuanced discussion, with only occasional awkward phrases such as maximize healthy growth.
Replace the few overextended or slightly unnatural expressions with more idiomatic academic phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately, with only rare slips such as the subject-verb disagreement in prevalence and accessibility explains.
Proofread compound subjects and adverb placement to eliminate the remaining isolated errors.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Today family members eat fewer meals together. Why is this? Is this a positive or negative trend?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.