Friendships that take place online are not as meaningful as those where people meet each other face to face. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Many people believe that online friendship possesses less value than in-person friendship. I completely agree with this opinion and believe that real-life friendships are more meaningful because of physical presence and shared experience.
Real-life friendships strengthen emotional connection through physical presence. It enables people to have real interactions and this, in turn, contributes to forming intimate relations and understanding. In-person friendships, in fact, allow individuals to hear the tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions, and therefore it helps to facilitate effective communication. Moreover, physical interactions, for example, high-fives, hugs and shared activities can forge a strong affinity and sharpen a keen sense of emotional intimacy that may be quite difficult to replace entirely through virtual interactions. For example, non-verbal cues, like posture, paralanguage, and eye contact, can deepen the intimate connection.
Physical friendship can also build lasting relationships due to shared experiences. In real-life friendships, people often have shared experiences in real-world settings. That is to say that they take pleasure trips, attend social events, or take part in recreational activities together. In consequence, these shared experiences create abiding memories and can impart a keen sense of camaraderie to the relationship. For instance, going on an excursion with friends can create affectionate moments that last a lifetime, enhancing the overall friendship experience. These aspects are the inherent value contributing to the quality of friendship and virtual friendships completely lack these features.
To conclude, I believe that true friendship can only be built on physical presence and shared experience that cannot take place in virtual friendship. It is therefore real-life friendship proves to be more meaningful.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use plural reference Original: friendship Suggested revision: friendships Why it matters: The statement refers generally to this type of friendship, so the countable noun should be plural.
- 2. Use direct comparison Original: possesses less value Suggested revision: is less valuable Why it matters: The adjective construction expresses the comparison more naturally and directly.
- 3. Match plural categories Original: friendship Suggested revision: friendships Why it matters: The general comparison between two types of friendship requires a plural countable noun.
- 4. Use plural connection Original: connection Suggested revision: connections Why it matters: The general claim concerns the connections among multiple friends, so the countable noun should be plural.
- 5. Fix pronoun agreement Original: It enables Suggested revision: They enable Why it matters: The pronoun must agree with the plural subject real-life friendships in the previous sentence.
- 6. Use precise verb Original: have real interactions Suggested revision: interact in person Why it matters: The direct verb phrase states the face-to-face interaction more naturally.
- 7. Clarify relationship outcome Original: contributes to forming intimate relations and understanding Suggested revision: helps form close relationships and mutual understanding Why it matters: The revision uses natural collocations and makes the type of understanding explicit.
- 8. Integrate examples clearly Original: physical interactions, for example, high-fives, hugs and shared activities Suggested revision: physical interactions, such as high-fives, hugs, and shared activities Why it matters: Such as correctly introduces the examples, and the final comma separates the listed items.
- 9. Use natural bond phrase Original: forge a strong affinity Suggested revision: foster a strong bond Why it matters: Foster a strong bond is a more natural collocation for developing closeness between friends.
- 10. Correct sense collocation Original: sharpen a keen sense Suggested revision: develop a strong sense Why it matters: One develops a sense of intimacy; sharpen does not naturally combine with this abstract feeling.
- 11. Use accurate comparison Original: difficult to replace entirely Suggested revision: difficult to replicate fully Why it matters: Replicate more precisely describes recreating the same emotional intimacy online.
- 12. Use natural plural phrase Original: deepen the intimate connection Suggested revision: deepen emotional connections Why it matters: The plural phrase naturally describes bonds among people in general.
Suggested Rewrites
- friendship friendships
- possesses less value is less valuable
- friendship friendships
- connection connections
- It enables They enable
- have real interactions interact in person
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response states a clear, consistent opinion and develops two relevant reasons through physical cues and shared experiences, supported by concrete examples. Its main limitation is repetition within both body paragraphs and some overstatement that online friendships completely lack these qualities, alongside several awkward expressions. Add a more nuanced comparison with online interaction and refine collocations so the argument becomes more precise and persuasive.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly answers the question with a consistent position and develops two relevant, supported reasons.
Acknowledge how online friends can share experiences or emotional support, then explain why face-to-face contact remains stronger.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay progresses logically through a clear introduction, two focused body paragraphs, and a consistent conclusion, despite some repetition.
Remove overlapping explanations and examples so each paragraph contributes a distinct dimension of the comparison.
Lexical Resource
A varied topic-specific vocabulary conveys emotional connection and shared experience, though several ambitious collocations sound unnatural.
Use more natural combinations for emotional closeness, memorable experiences, companionship, and non-verbal communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is generally controlled, with occasional agreement, reference, and sentence-construction errors.
Check pronoun agreement and revise malformed emphasis structures, especially in the concluding sentences.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Friendships that take place online are not as meaningful as those where people meet each other face to face. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.