Some believe governments should spend more money on improving roads and highways, while others thank money should be spent on improving public transportation such as buses, trains and subways. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
People have argued about how the government should utilise their budgets on transportation areas. Some people think that the government should spend more money on developing streets and highways, while others believe that improving public transportations is the most important one. The following essay will discuss in details about it, but I do believe that both aspects are important and should be proportionately improved. On the one hand, a group of people think that the government should focus on improving their street, road and highway facilities. They believe that public accesses are vital for the economic development of the respective country. Without the existence of qualified roads and highways, it will be difficult for industries to grow, as there will be some obstacles for the supply of raw materials and deliveries of goods. Consequently, it will impact on the efficiency of many companies and also to the government's income tax.
On the other hand, other people think governments should spend more budgets on improving and maintaining public transportation such as buses, trains, aeroplanes and ferries. They believe that if the government could improve the quality of these mass transportation facilities, it will reduce traffic and air pollution problems. As public transportations become more convenient and safe, more people will use them, and it will gradually reduce the number of private vehicle users. As a consequent, it will reduce traffic congestion and reduce air pollution as well. In conclusion, I personally believe that the government's spending on public accesses and transportations are both essentials. And it becomes the government's task to allocate those budgets proportionately for both areas since we could not focus on one area and abandoned the other. It would be useless for a country to have good public transportations, without the support of good roads and highways.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Match the singular subject Original: their budgets Suggested revision: its budget Why it matters: The singular government requires the possessive its, and budget is sufficient here.
- 2. Use a natural term Original: transportation areas Suggested revision: the transport sector Why it matters: The transport sector is the natural expression for this area of government spending.
- 3. Use the uncountable noun Original: transportations Suggested revision: transportation Why it matters: Transportation is uncountable when referring generally to a public transport system.
- 4. State the comparison precisely Original: the most important one Suggested revision: the greater priority Why it matters: Greater priority expresses the comparison between the two spending options more directly.
- 5. Correct the essay phrase Original: discuss in details about it Suggested revision: discuss both views in detail Why it matters: Discuss does not take about, and in detail is singular in this expression.
- 6. Fix agreement and wording Original: their street, road and highway facilities Suggested revision: its streets, roads, and highways Why it matters: The singular government takes its, and the revised plural nouns name the infrastructure naturally.
- 7. Name the infrastructure clearly Original: public accesses are vital Suggested revision: transport links are vital Why it matters: Public accesses is not a natural term for roads and highways.
- 8. Remove unnecessary wording Original: respective country Suggested revision: country Why it matters: Respective is unnecessary because only one country is being discussed.
- 9. Use the correct adjective Original: qualified roads and highways Suggested revision: high-quality roads and highways Why it matters: Qualified describes people or eligibility, whereas high-quality describes well-built infrastructure.
- 10. Correct the preposition Original: for Suggested revision: to Why it matters: Obstacle normally takes the preposition to when it blocks a process.
- 11. Use parallel noun forms Original: deliveries Suggested revision: delivery Why it matters: The singular mass noun delivery is parallel with the preceding supply of raw materials.
- 12. Use the verb directly Original: impact on the efficiency Suggested revision: affect the efficiency Why it matters: Affect takes the object directly and avoids the faulty impact on construction used here.
Suggested Rewrites
- their budgets its budget
- transportation areas the transport sector
- transportations transportation
- the most important one the greater priority
- discuss in details about it discuss both views in detail
- their street, road and highway facilities its streets, roads, and highways
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly discusses both spending priorities and sustains a balanced position, with relevant explanations about trade, congestion, and pollution. Its main limitation is recurrent imprecision in grammar and word choice, compounded by paragraph boundaries that merge the introduction with the first argument and the second argument with the conclusion. The highest-priority improvement is to use accurate countable and uncountable nouns while separating each essay function into a distinct paragraph.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views and the writer’s balanced opinion are clearly addressed and supported with relevant causal explanations.
Develop the roads argument more precisely by explaining the claimed tax benefit rather than leaving that link implicit.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument follows a clear two-sided progression, but paragraphing is faulty and some linking is repetitive.
Separate the introduction, each main view, and the conclusion into distinct paragraphs with clearer internal focus.
Lexical Resource
The response shows an adequate range for transport and economic issues, though recurrent collocation and word-form errors reduce precision.
Use natural forms such as “public transport,” “road access,” “funding,” and “as a consequence” consistently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Simple and complex sentences communicate the argument clearly, but frequent errors in agreement, number, and clause control remain noticeable.
Prioritise subject-verb agreement and countable-noun control, especially in phrases such as “transport is” and “spending is essential.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some believe governments should spend more money on improving roads and highways, while others thank money should be spent on improving public transportation such as buses, trains and subways. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.