Governments spend a lot of money on public celebrations such as national holidays and public festivals. Some people say that the government spends too much on this and that they should use this money on other useful things. Do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
The commemoration of important national eventsCommemoration of important national events is a source of national pridea part of a nation's pride and a way to show respect for its traditionstradition and history. Such events are instrumental in encouraging the younger generation to value patriotismmotivating the new generation to be patriots and payingbestowing tribute to people whose contributions are unforgettable. Thus the amount spent on such celebrations is justified.
To begin with, public ceremonies are important in terms of promoting national identityspreading nationality, giving the general publicmass people a reason to forget their differences and improving public relations. The amount spent on such events is often disputed by many, but this opinion, in no way, is practical, and observing national events remains importantthe importance of observing national events is unparalleled. Such a celebration, for example, Independence Day, teaches us who we really are, how much our ancestors sacrificed to give us freedom, and how we are all connected as a nation. In my early childhood, I did not show a keen interestshow an acute interest in the history of our country until I noticed the way people observe IndependenceIndependent Day and how the whole nation remembers the sacrifices of the martyrs of our country. We need to celebrate our significant national days to pass on this historypass the history to the next generation.
Now getting back to spendingusing the funds on more important things - a government already has a plan in place for disaster recovery and other important sectorsfor disaster recovery and using funds for important sectors. Each sector in a country already gets an allocation from the national budgeta share of the national budget, and we need to focus more on prudently using the funds for sustainabletrue development, not switching funds from one important cause to another. Finally, celebrating festivals is a fundamental rightfestivals are people's fundamental rights, and a government should always support such public festivals including religious and national celebrationsgalas to prove that the authority works for public well-beingfor the contentment of the public.
To conclude, public celebrations and the government's role in organising them and using national funds to support themusing the national fund to support it have a strong influence on fosteringhave a great influence in fostering nationality, showing a government’s support for the peoplea government's support to the people. This is why the amount spent on such events is essential.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response’s strongest feature is its consistent position, supported by a developed explanation of how national celebrations preserve shared history and identity. Its main limitation is that the financial counterargument is asserted rather than closely examined, and recurring unnatural word combinations reduce precision. Prioritise a more specific comparison of celebration spending with other public needs while choosing more idiomatic vocabulary.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response maintains a clear disagreement and develops relevant reasons, especially the role of celebrations in transmitting national history.
Address the claim of excessive spending more directly by comparing costs, benefits, and competing budget priorities with concrete reasoning.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay follows a clear introduction-body-conclusion structure, and the main ideas progress logically despite some abrupt or conversational linking.
Use a more formal transition into the budget paragraph and make the connection between funding allocations and the final rights-based point explicit.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a reasonably wide vocabulary, but frequent collocational choices such as “spreading nationality” and “mass people” sound unnatural.
Use conventional combinations such as “strengthening national identity,” “the general public,” and “pass history on to the next generation.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are used with generally good control, though faulty parallelism, pronoun reference, and prepositional choices recur.
Check parallel structures and agreement in longer sentences, particularly those combining several government actions or purposes.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Governments spend a lot of money on public celebrations such as national holidays and public festivals. Some people say that the government spends too much on this and that they should use this money on other useful things. Do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.