Should a city try to preserve its old, historic buildings or destroy them and replace them with modern buildings? What is your viewpoint on this issue? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
Sample Response
Past and future have to be a part of every city's characteristics; this is what makes cities different and diverse. That’s how we get attracted to one city and feels bored at another. Walking in the streets alone should give us an idea of the history of the city or how technologically advanced it is. So, I think it is a critical task and an influencing one on the inhabitants of the city to decide what historical buildings to keep and what to replace with modern iconic ones. This balance can keep the soul of a city and still hold a place on the race of development. On another hand, I think it is crucial to keep a significant amount of any city's historical buildings as it teaches people about their past and how they actually developed, it grows a sense of loyalty and patriotism; it increases the feeling of ownership and in return preservation. In general these impacts positively on society and on the message any visitor leaves with after a visit. Here comes to mind how the city of Munich in Germany rebuilt and still most of the historical buildings destroyed during the world war two, it is an accurate imitation of the original destroyed building using archived photos and old blueprints, this shows how significant history is to their culture and way of life. In brief, it's not the buildings that are preserved, it's the history, the stories behind those buildings and the people spent parts of their lives on those buildings, preserving all this will never happen unless there are still remains of their presence and those buildings stands as a witness and a living proof of this existence.
(by- Mohamed Shokry)
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Add definite articles Original: Past and future Suggested revision: The past and the future Why it matters: The abstract periods are specific concepts here and require definite articles.
- 2. Use natural noun phrase Original: a part of every city's characteristics Suggested revision: part of every city's character Why it matters: A city's “character” naturally describes its distinctive identity.
- 3. Fix passive form Original: get Suggested revision: are Why it matters: The passive construction requires a form of “be,” not “get,” in this formal context.
- 4. Fix subject agreement Original: feels Suggested revision: feel Why it matters: The verb must agree with the plural subject “we.”
- 5. Fix adjective preposition Original: at Suggested revision: by Why it matters: The adjective “bored” takes “by” when identifying what causes the feeling.
- 6. Clarify street experience Original: Walking in the streets alone Suggested revision: Walking through a city's streets Why it matters: The revision removes the ambiguous meaning that the walker is unaccompanied.
- 7. Fix development idiom Original: hold a place on the race of development Suggested revision: remain competitive in the race for development Why it matters: The original phrase combines prepositions and idioms incorrectly.
- 8. Use additive transition Original: On another hand Suggested revision: Furthermore Why it matters: This point adds another reason rather than contrasting with the previous idea.
- 9. Use countable quantifier Original: a significant amount of any city's historical buildings Suggested revision: a significant number of each city's historical buildings Why it matters: Countable plural “buildings” requires “number,” not “amount.”
- 10. Fix pronoun agreement Original: as it teaches people Suggested revision: as they teach people Why it matters: The plural noun “buildings” requires the plural pronoun “they.”
- 11. Clarify pronoun reference Original: how they actually developed Suggested revision: how their city actually developed Why it matters: The revision makes clear that the city's development, not the people's, is being described.
- 12. Use natural collocation Original: it grows a sense Suggested revision: this fosters a sense Why it matters: A historical connection “fosters” a feeling more naturally than it “grows” one.
Suggested Rewrites
- Past and future The past and the future
- a part of every city's characteristics part of every city's character
- get are
- feels feel
- at by
- Walking in the streets alone Walking through a city's streets
Why this response received Band 6.0
The essay’s strongest feature is its thoughtful position that cities should preserve substantial historic fabric while allowing selective modern development, supported by a relevant Munich example. Its main limitation is control of progression and sentence structure: the entire response forms one block and several run-ons obscure otherwise meaningful ideas; the highest-priority improvement is to divide the argument into focused paragraphs and rebuild each long sentence around one main claim.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear, nuanced position is developed through cultural identity, civic attachment, modernization, and a relevant example, although some claims could be explained more directly.
Clarify the criteria a city should use to decide which buildings to preserve and which may be replaced.
Coherence and Cohesion
The broad argument is recognizable, but the absence of paragraphing and frequent comma-linked clauses weaken logical progression and referencing.
Use separate paragraphs for the balanced policy, the benefits of preservation, the Munich example, and the conclusion.
Lexical Resource
The essay shows a good range for history, identity, preservation, and development, but awkward collocations such as “race of development” and “impacts positively” reduce precision.
Use natural phrases such as “remain competitive,” “have a positive impact,” and “evidence of their presence.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex ideas are attempted, but frequent agreement errors, fragments, run-on sentences, and faulty relative clauses reduce clarity.
Write shorter sentences and check forms such as “we feel,” “buildings that were destroyed,” and “people who spent parts of their lives in them.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Should a city try to preserve its old, historic buildings or destroy them and replace them with modern buildings? What is your viewpoint on this issue? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.