According to some, we learn most of our lessons from our parents and hence they are our best teachers in life. While others argue that the teachers we meet in our schools and colleges teach us more important things. Who do you consider to the best teacher in our life?
Sample Response
We came to this world as an infant with a blank slate in our mind to be filled with various things as we grow older. We receive inputs from the society comprises of peoples such as our parents, siblings, relatives, playmates, friends and our teachers. But our first teachers is our parents and I think they are the best among all the teachers we come across in our life because they are the one we spent most of our time with and they have greater influence in our lives than anyone else.
Learning starts as soon a child appears in his mother’s womb and as per a scientific study, evidence was found that most of the neurone connection in human develops even before they come to the world. So undoubtedly parents are first and the most important teachers. They taught us how to eat, how to walk and to summarise how to behave like a human. For example, once I had seen a footage on Discovery channel wherein a four-year girl was found in the custody of dogs who have raised her ever since her parents left her. And a result of this is that she hardly speaks, she used to bark and walk on four legs instead to two. So this proves that what we see is what we learn. Hence parents play a pivotal role in our life acting as the very first tutor of behavioral science.
Yes there is no doubt that school teachers are the best gift you can get because they bestow you with all the knowledge and experience they have. But characters and personality is built at home and parents are the best teachers because they will always be there for you whenever you feel confused and guide you to the path which is best for you.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Correct preposition Original: to Suggested revision: into Why it matters: The idiomatic construction is “come into this world.”
- 2. Match plural subject Original: as an infant Suggested revision: as infants Why it matters: The plural subject “We” requires the plural complement “infants.”
- 3. Use plural noun Original: mind Suggested revision: minds Why it matters: The possessive “our” refers to multiple people's minds.
- 4. Fix subject agreement Original: is Suggested revision: are Why it matters: The plural subject “teachers” requires “are.”
- 5. Correct number and tense Original: they are the one we spent most of our time with Suggested revision: they are the ones we spend most of our time with Why it matters: The plural complement and present-tense verb must agree with the ongoing general claim.
- 6. Add article Original: greater influence in our lives Suggested revision: a greater influence in our lives Why it matters: The singular count noun “influence” needs the article “a.”
- 7. Complete conjunction Original: as soon a child Suggested revision: as soon as a child Why it matters: The time conjunction must be written as “as soon as.”
- 8. Fix number agreement Original: neurone connection in human develops Suggested revision: neural connections in humans develop Why it matters: Plural nouns and the plural verb are needed for this general statement.
- 9. Place article correctly Original: parents are first and the most important teachers Suggested revision: parents are the first and most important teachers Why it matters: The shared article “the” should introduce both coordinated descriptions.
- 10. Keep present tense Original: taught Suggested revision: teach Why it matters: The essay describes parents' continuing general role, so the present tense is appropriate.
- 11. Use clear summary phrase Original: and to summarise how Suggested revision: and, in summary, how Why it matters: The revised parenthetical phrase clearly introduces the summary point.
- 12. Remove article Original: a footage Suggested revision: footage Why it matters: “Footage” is uncountable and cannot take the article “a.”
Suggested Rewrites
- to into
- as an infant as infants
- mind minds
- is are
- they are the one we spent most of our time with they are the ones we spend most of our time with
- greater influence in our lives a greater influence in our lives
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response gives a clear answer and develops the central claim about parental influence through explanation and a memorable example. However, the comparison with school teachers is brief, and frequent grammatical errors in agreement, tense, articles, and sentence construction make the language noticeably uneven. The highest-priority improvement is to develop a direct comparison of the two teacher types while editing sentences for consistent grammatical control.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Response
The response answers the question directly and develops why parents are best, although the comparison with formal teachers remains limited.
Add a developed comparison showing why parental teaching outweighs the strongest contribution made by school or college teachers.
Coherence and Cohesion
The three-paragraph structure and linking expressions create broadly clear progression, though some connections are mechanical or abrupt.
Use a clearer comparative topic sentence and link the example back to the central claim more precisely.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for the topic, including some less common vocabulary, but several word choices and collocations are inaccurate.
Choose more natural academic expressions for social influence, child development, and the role of teachers.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response attempts varied and complex sentences, but frequent errors in agreement, articles, tense, and clause construction reduce accuracy.
Focus first on matching singular subjects with verbs and maintaining consistent tense within examples and explanations.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
According to some, we learn most of our lessons from our parents and hence they are our best teachers in life. While others argue that the teachers we meet in our schools and colleges teach us more important things. Who do you consider to the best teacher in our life?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.