Nowadays, news companies spend a lot of money covering international news. However, local news is more relevant to people’s lives and should receive more funding. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Sample Response
In today’s growing world, news providers such as television channels, online news handles and newspapers are investing a lot of money on International news coverage neglecting local news. I believe local news is essential to society as it can inform people about happenings around them.
On the one hand, local news should receive more funding as it is crucial to the people living in the region. To illustrate, people should be aware of the weather forecast of their country or region before setting out for work so as to make them anticipate any bad condition and take necessary precautions or prepare for it. Furthermore, the public also needs to know the latest news of happenings like crime, traffic and natural disasters around them. This can make them change their route when going out to prevent undesirable events. For instance, if a particular street has been reported over time for their crime, people will tend to avoid that street when commuting.
On the other hand, investing a lot of money in International reports has its advantages. Global businessmen rely on International news from media to keep them abreast with happenings around the world. For instance, a sudden change in oil price in a country will mean more money for some businessmen. In addition, in case of a new breakout of diseases, other countries will be on the lookout for the sign and symptoms of the new diseases and take necessary precautions at the airport to curb the disease. Through International news, ways to prevent or curb the diseases will be learnt by the people, so as to protect themselves. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, people got to know about the disease early due to international news coverage of some local news agency.
In conclusion, investing a lot of money in international news coverage is vital. However, I agree that local news should get more attention owing to the fact that residents depend on the information for their everyday life.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use natural phrasing Original: growing Suggested revision: modern Why it matters: ‘Growing world’ is an unnatural description of the present day.
- 2. Choose the right noun Original: handles Suggested revision: outlets Why it matters: ‘Outlets’ is the standard term for organizations or platforms that publish news.
- 3. Correct the preposition Original: on Suggested revision: in Why it matters: The verb pattern is ‘invest money in’ an activity or service.
- 4. Link the clauses Original: International news coverage neglecting Suggested revision: international news coverage while neglecting Why it matters: ‘While’ is needed to connect the simultaneous actions, and ‘international’ is not a proper adjective here.
- 5. Use precise wording Original: happenings around them Suggested revision: events in their area Why it matters: This phrase states the local-news context more naturally and precisely.
- 6. Correct the preposition Original: to Suggested revision: for Why it matters: ‘Crucial for’ correctly expresses importance or benefit to a group.
- 7. Use the right relation Original: of Suggested revision: for Why it matters: A forecast is normally described as being ‘for’ a place.
- 8. Clarify the purpose clause Original: so as to make them anticipate Suggested revision: so that they can anticipate Why it matters: This clause correctly makes people the agents who anticipate the conditions.
- 9. Use a natural collocation Original: any bad condition Suggested revision: any adverse conditions Why it matters: ‘Adverse conditions’ is the natural phrase for potentially harmful weather.
- 10. Improve the collocation Original: latest news of happenings Suggested revision: latest information about events Why it matters: News or information is given ‘about’ events rather than ‘of happenings’.
- 11. Express the effect precisely Original: make them change their route Suggested revision: prompt them to change their route Why it matters: ‘Prompt’ expresses the influence of the news more naturally than ‘make’.
- 12. Fix reference and phrasing Original: has been reported over time for their crime Suggested revision: has repeatedly been reported for crime Why it matters: A singular street cannot take the plural possessive reference ‘their’.
Suggested Rewrites
- growing modern
- handles outlets
- on in
- International news coverage neglecting international news coverage while neglecting
- happenings around them events in their area
- to for
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response maintains a clear preference for greater local-news funding and develops both local and international benefits with relevant everyday examples. Its main limitation is that several supporting points are imprecisely expressed or only loosely explained, which weakens the force of the argument. The highest priority is to develop fewer examples more precisely, showing exactly how each one proves that local coverage deserves relatively greater investment.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is maintained, and both local and international news are discussed through generally relevant explanations and examples.
Make the comparison more explicit by showing why local needs justify greater funding despite the acknowledged value of international coverage.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through a clear introduction, two focused body paragraphs, and a consistent conclusion.
Use less formulaic contrast framing and strengthen the logical links between each example and the paragraph's central claim.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, with effective items such as 'keep them abreast' and 'necessary precautions', despite recurring collocational imprecision.
Improve natural word combinations, particularly phrases such as 'investing money in', 'disease outbreak', and 'news about local events'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex structures communicates meaning clearly, although agreement, articles, prepositions, and singular-plural forms are not consistently controlled.
Proofread systematically for agreement and noun-form accuracy, especially in phrases such as 'signs and symptoms' and references to streets or agencies.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Nowadays, news companies spend a lot of money covering international news. However, local news is more relevant to people’s lives and should receive more funding. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.