Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? There is nothing that young people can teach older people. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.
Sample Response
When it comes to learning, it can be learned from anyone- regardless of age, profession or race. Consequently, I totally disagree with the statement that young people can teach older people nothing. For several reasons, I think that young people can teach older people many things. First of all, young people intend to learn new things faster including the use of new technologies. Young people can always teach the older how to use technologies and those modern tools. Second, young people are more motivated. They aspire to succeed professionally which requires vast knowledge and experience these days. So, they try to acquire knowledge and experience from different sources like the Internet, books, newspaper, magazines and of course from conversations with other people. In terms of knowledge sharing, the young generation can always motivate and teach the older generation. In addition to this, youngsters bring many fresh ideas to the team they are working in. For example, when my friend was hired as a software developer, he surprised everybody with his energy, a bunch of new and fresh ideas about what could be done to improve the process. The fresh idea and innovation of young people are something older people can always learn from. He was the youngest member of the team but everybody listened to him and it was like a fresh air, an impulse, which made everyone work harder. Even the senior employees of this office learned from this young person. Finally, young people often know more about new technologies and how to use these. For example, my husband is 26 years old and he is a software developer So, he is often asked to deliver lectures for different companies and audience. Needless to say, the majority of people who attend those lectures are older than my husband and definitely, they can learn many things from the comparatively young person like my husband. To conclude, I think that young people have many things to teach older people. Moreover, people from every generation have something to learn from each other. People learn through their entire lives from the history, life experience, elders as well as from younger people.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Clarify the subject Original: it can be learned from anyone Suggested revision: we can learn from anyone Why it matters: The passive pronoun “it” has no clear antecedent, so an active subject is needed.
- 2. Choose correct verb Original: intend Suggested revision: tend Why it matters: “Tend to” describes a general tendency, whereas “intend to” means plan to.
- 3. Name the group Original: teach the older how Suggested revision: teach older people how Why it matters: “The older” is incomplete when referring generally to older people.
- 4. Avoid awkward plural Original: use technologies and those modern tools Suggested revision: use technology and modern tools Why it matters: “Technology” is normally uncountable in this general sense, and “those” lacks a clear reference.
- 5. Add relative comma Original: professionally which requires Suggested revision: professionally, which requires Why it matters: A comma is needed before this non-defining relative clause.
- 6. Use plural noun Original: newspaper Suggested revision: newspapers Why it matters: The count noun should be plural to match the other general items in the list.
- 7. Use natural collocation Original: fresh ideas to the team they are working in Suggested revision: fresh ideas to the team they work with Why it matters: People work “with” a team, while ideas are brought “to” it.
- 8. Coordinate the objects Original: with his energy, a bunch Suggested revision: with his energy and a bunch Why it matters: The two things that surprised everybody need to be joined with “and.”
- 9. Remove repetition Original: new and fresh ideas Suggested revision: fresh ideas Why it matters: “New” and “fresh” repeat the same meaning here.
- 10. Fix number agreement Original: The fresh idea and innovation of young people are Suggested revision: The fresh ideas and innovations of young people are Why it matters: Plural nouns are needed to agree with “are” and refer to young people generally.
- 11. Use fixed expression Original: like a fresh air Suggested revision: like a breath of fresh air Why it matters: The idiom is “a breath of fresh air,” not “a fresh air.”
- 12. Refer to workplace Original: this Suggested revision: that Why it matters: “That” is the appropriate determiner for the previously mentioned workplace.
Suggested Rewrites
- it can be learned from anyone we can learn from anyone
- intend tend
- teach the older how teach older people how
- use technologies and those modern tools use technology and modern tools
- professionally which requires professionally, which requires
- newspaper newspapers
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response takes an unequivocal position and supports it with relevant examples of technology, workplace innovation, and professional teaching. Its main weakness is organization: the entire essay appears as one paragraph, the technology point is repeated, and some examples are wordy. Prioritize grouping distinct reasons into focused body paragraphs, eliminating overlap, and polishing recurring collocation and grammatical errors so the strong central argument is easier to follow.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is maintained and supported by several relevant reasons and specific examples, though the two technology-based points substantially overlap.
Replace the repeated technology argument with a genuinely different area in which younger people can teach older people, and explain that idea fully.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence of reasons is understandable and signposting is frequent, but the absence of paragraphing and repetition weaken the overall organization.
Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, each distinct main reason, and the conclusion, with a clear topic sentence in every body paragraph.
Lexical Resource
The response uses an adequate range for learning, motivation, innovation, and professional life, although several collocations and noun forms are inaccurate.
Improve natural phrasing in expressions such as tend to learn, older people, a breath of fresh air, and audiences at different companies.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentences communicates the argument clearly, despite recurring problems with agreement, articles, punctuation, and sentence boundaries.
Proofread longer sentences for correct subject-verb agreement and punctuation, and avoid joining independent thoughts with weak or missing sentence boundaries.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? There is nothing that young people can teach older people. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.