Watching television is bad for children.
Sample Response
Television is ubiquitous these days; I have not come across single household where there is no TV. But is watching TV good for children? Well, I am a strong believer that anything done in moderation is good and same goes with children watching TV. Firstly, with the omnipresence of TV, it is impossible to keep children away from it. Moreover, TV provides an efficient source of learning for children if right channels are watched. We generally are able to grasp and remember more things when we see and hear rather than read it and here is where TV is really useful. These days we have different channels focusing only on children like cartoons or more educational channels like animal planet, discovery channel etc. All these channels help in educating children in an effective manner. It is often seen when the children are really young around 1-2 years, they react to TV; whenever a song is being played, they start dancing, and they often listen to songs and starts singing. This definitely suggests that TV helps children in their development and make them active. Admittedly, TV also has some negative impacts on children. Sometimes, they squander too much time in watching TV and watching wrong channels can also have a negative influence on them. Therefore it is of utmost importance that parents keep a close eye on their children. With the advent of technology, we now have televisions with child lock system in place, which could prevent children from watching irrelevant and adult channels. Parents should extol the importance of watching news channels to develop overall general knowledge of children. When I was growing up, my parents made sure that I watch the news for at least half an hour in a day. This really helped me in improving my General Knowledge and I gradually developed the interest in politics and also watching different debates and group discussions helped me improving my speaking skill and as a result, I won several prizes in debates and quizzes at school and college level. In a nutshell, I think as every coin as two sides, so does television. Watching TV in moderation and under parents’ guidance is good for children entertainment and learning but it is important that parents keep a check on the channels that their children watch and the amount of time being spent on watching TV.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Add missing article Original: come across single household Suggested revision: come across a single household Why it matters: The singular count noun household requires an article.
- 2. Fix idiom Original: same goes with children Suggested revision: the same applies to children Why it matters: The same applies to is the correct formal expression.
- 3. Add missing article Original: if right channels are watched Suggested revision: if the right channels are watched Why it matters: The specific suitable channels require the definite article.
- 4. Use natural word order Original: We generally are able Suggested revision: We are generally able Why it matters: The adverb normally follows the auxiliary verb in this construction.
- 5. Use concise adverb Original: in an effective manner Suggested revision: effectively Why it matters: The adverb expresses the same meaning more concisely.
- 6. Match singular subject Original: make Suggested revision: makes Why it matters: The verb must agree with the singular subject TV.
- 7. Use natural collocation Original: impacts Suggested revision: effects Why it matters: Negative effects is the more natural collocation in this context.
- 8. Fix verb pattern Original: squander too much time in watching TV Suggested revision: spend too much time watching TV Why it matters: Spend time takes a gerund directly, and too much already conveys the waste.
- 9. Use precise adjective Original: wrong Suggested revision: inappropriate Why it matters: Inappropriate clearly describes channels that are unsuitable for children.
- 10. Add transition comma Original: Therefore it is Suggested revision: Therefore, it is Why it matters: A comma should follow the introductory conjunctive adverb.
- 11. Add article and hyphen Original: televisions with child lock system Suggested revision: televisions with a child-lock system Why it matters: The singular count noun needs an article, and the compound modifier should be hyphenated.
- 12. Use present modality Original: could Suggested revision: can Why it matters: Can is appropriate for the current general capability of the system.
Suggested Rewrites
- come across single household come across a single household
- same goes with children the same applies to children
- if right channels are watched if the right channels are watched
- We generally are able We are generally able
- in an effective manner effectively
- make makes
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s clearest strength is its consistent moderate position, supported by practical discussion of educational content, parental supervision, and a detailed personal example. Its main limitation is that all ideas appear in one long paragraph, the benefits receive more development than the harms, and frequent language errors reduce control. The highest-priority improvement is to organise benefits and risks into separate balanced paragraphs and edit agreement, articles, and verb patterns carefully.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly challenges the absolute claim and supports a moderation-based position with relevant benefits, risks, and parental controls.
Develop the negative effects beyond excessive time and unsuitable channels so the evaluation is more balanced and analytically complete.
Coherence and Cohesion
A logical movement from benefits to drawbacks, safeguards, and conclusion is visible, but the unbroken paragraph and lengthy personal example weaken organisation.
Use distinct paragraphs for the position, benefits, risks and safeguards, and conclusion, while shortening the personal illustration.
Lexical Resource
The response shows some range through words related to media, education, supervision, and technology, but several choices are unnatural or misused.
Use precise, natural alternatives for expressions such as “efficient source of learning,” “extol the importance,” and “develop overall general knowledge.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mixture of simple and complex sentences conveys the main ideas, but frequent errors in articles, agreement, verb forms, and clause structure are noticeable.
Proofread every sentence for missing articles and verb-pattern errors such as “starts singing,” “helped me improve,” and “made sure that I watched.”
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Watching television is bad for children.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.