Some people suggest that a country should try to produce all the food for its population and import as little food as possible. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Every country wants to reduce its dependency on imports while maximising its exports including items such as food and crops. However, not all countries have the same geographic location, weather condition, technology and suitable lands to produce each type of crop the citizens need. This is why a country should focus more on its overall economic growth rather than using manpower and budget to become self-reliant on food. To commence with, soil, weather condition, available lands, technology and demographics of a county determine what crops, vegetables and fruits it can produce. Not all countries have the same geographical features and manpower, and thus, it is obvious that the country needs to import some of the items. In many cases, this is rather advantageous than producing or growing crops and then harvesting the grains. For instance, it is impossible for an Arab country to produce all types of foods due to its weather condition. If they focus on growing these food items and engage their manpower to do that, their economic growth would be hindered. Moreover, a country like Germany and China can focus on manufacturing and industrial innovation while import food from other countries. The ultimate outcome is more beneficial for them. However, this might not be the case for a country that solely depends on the agriculture sector and when a majority of its population are already dependant on it. They can focus on improving their productions, but this model is not suitable for industrial countries. To conclude, I believe that free trade and globalisation have made the world a global village. And with the speedy transportation system, food import cost has already declined. Since fulfilling the mass people's diverse needs for various kinds of food is not feasible for a country, it should focus on its true potential rather than allocating budget and manpower to become self-dependent on food.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use broader term Original: geographic location Suggested revision: geographical conditions Why it matters: This phrase better encompasses the physical features relevant to food production.
- 2. Use uncountable noun Original: lands Suggested revision: land Why it matters: Land is uncountable when referring generally to an area available for farming.
- 3. Use natural transition Original: commence Suggested revision: begin Why it matters: This is a more natural transition for introducing the first main point.
- 4. Correct noun forms Original: weather condition, available lands Suggested revision: weather conditions, available land Why it matters: Conditions should be plural here, while land is uncountable in this general sense.
- 5. Correct country spelling Original: county Suggested revision: country Why it matters: County is a spelling error because the intended reference is to a nation.
- 6. Fix comparison form Original: rather Suggested revision: more Why it matters: A comparative adjective is required before than.
- 7. Remove redundancy Original: producing or growing crops Suggested revision: growing crops Why it matters: Producing and growing are redundant when both refer to crops.
- 8. Use uncountable food Original: foods Suggested revision: food Why it matters: Food is normally uncountable when referring collectively to varieties.
- 9. Use precise wording Original: due to its weather condition Suggested revision: due to its climatic conditions Why it matters: Climatic conditions more precisely describes persistent constraints on agriculture.
- 10. Match the antecedent Original: If they focus Suggested revision: If it focuses Why it matters: The pronoun and verb must agree with the singular antecedent an Arab country.
- 11. Improve collocation Original: engage their manpower Suggested revision: deploy its workforce Why it matters: Deploy a workforce is a more natural collocation in this economic context.
- 12. Use concise reference Original: that Suggested revision: so Why it matters: Do so is a more concise formal reference to the preceding activity.
Suggested Rewrites
- geographic location geographical conditions
- lands land
- commence begin
- weather condition, available lands weather conditions, available land
- county country
- rather more
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear, nuanced rejection of complete food self-sufficiency, supported by relevant contrasts between climate, agriculture, and industrial specialisation. Its main limitation is that the entire argument is presented as one paragraph and several examples are broad or imprecisely expressed. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the case into focused paragraphs and polish agreement, comparison structures, and natural economic collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response maintains a clear position and develops relevant arguments about natural constraints, comparative advantage, and different economic structures.
Make the examples more precise and explain more fully why selective importing produces better outcomes than national self-sufficiency.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument has a recognisable progression from constraints to examples and qualification, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens organisation.
Separate the rationale, supporting examples, and qualification into focused paragraphs with clearer internal sequencing.
Lexical Resource
A sufficiently flexible vocabulary supports discussion of trade, agriculture, resources, and industrial specialisation, despite several imprecise combinations.
Use more natural phrases in place of “rather advantageous than,” “improving their productions,” and “self-dependent on food.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures, but recurring agreement, comparison, pronoun, and verb-form errors reduce control.
Check subject-verb agreement and parallel clause forms, especially when shifting between a singular country and plural pronouns.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people suggest that a country should try to produce all the food for its population and import as little food as possible. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.