In some countries, nowadays more and more people are choosing to live alone than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?
Sample Response
These days many people chose to live alone, especially in metropolitan areas and this rate is far higher in developed countries and seems like this has become quite normal there. I believe this trend has more negative consequences than the few positive outcomes it offers. The single-person family is seen to be positive from better personal skill development and economic perspective. A single-member family forces a person to learn some basic skills including cooking, cleaning the house, paying the utility bills, managing personal finance, purchasing daily commodities, adopting hobbies and many more important skills. This makes someone self-dependent which has a greater impact on the development of the country in a broader sense. For instance, research shows that students who stay away from home for their tertiary degrees learn more skills and become more self-dependent than pupils who study from home. Moreover, a single-person family member is bound to do a job, business or have some sort of arrangement for a steady earning and this trend has a great positive impact on a country’s economy. From the opposite viewpoint, the trend of increasing single-person family has many negative consequences. Firstly, the increasing trend of living alone has a direct relationship on the percentage of people suffer from psychological problems these days. Living alone creates loneliness and depression, unlike the traditional family where there are always others to share someone’s distress and sadness. The isolation often leads people to choose a lifestyle that is often negative. A recent study reveals that single-person family members often rely on drugs and many of them become addicted. The human is a social being and living alone is against their natural tendency. For many, bearing the total expenses is tough and this leads them to get involved in crimes. In conclusion, the number of single-person families is increasing these days and this has some positive aspects despite many severe negative consequences.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Name the trend directly Original: The single-person family Suggested revision: Living alone Why it matters: The response is discussing a living arrangement rather than a type of family.
- 2. Correct the collocation Original: positive from Suggested revision: beneficial for Why it matters: The adjective "beneficial" naturally takes the preposition "for".
- 3. Clarify both benefits Original: better personal skill development and economic perspective Suggested revision: personal skill development and the economy Why it matters: The revision creates two clear and parallel areas of benefit.
- 4. Use plural noun Original: finance Suggested revision: finances Why it matters: "Finances" is the usual plural noun for an individual's money management.
- 5. Use natural wording Original: purchasing daily commodities Suggested revision: buying everyday necessities Why it matters: The revision describes routine household purchases more naturally.
- 6. Fix determiner order Original: more Suggested revision: other Why it matters: "Many other" is the correct expression for additional items in the list.
- 7. Use standard term Original: dependent Suggested revision: reliant Why it matters: "Self-reliant" is the standard adjective for being able to manage independently.
- 8. Make wording concise Original: development of the country in a broader sense Suggested revision: country's broader development Why it matters: The concise noun phrase communicates the same broad national effect more clearly.
- 9. Clarify living arrangement Original: stay Suggested revision: live Why it matters: "Live away from home" accurately describes residence during study.
- 10. Use natural phrase Original: for their tertiary degrees Suggested revision: while pursuing tertiary education Why it matters: The revision uses a natural expression for studying at this level.
- 11. Use standard term Original: dependent Suggested revision: reliant Why it matters: "Self-reliant" is the idiomatic adjective in this context.
- 12. Use concise contrast Original: From the opposite viewpoint Suggested revision: Conversely Why it matters: This connector clearly marks the transition to negative consequences.
Suggested Rewrites
- The single-person family Living alone
- positive from beneficial for
- better personal skill development and economic perspective personal skill development and the economy
- finance finances
- purchasing daily commodities buying everyday necessities
- more other
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response is strongest in presenting a relevant two-sided discussion while maintaining a clear judgement that the disadvantages of living alone are greater. Its main limitation is the combination of frequent grammatical and collocational inaccuracies with an undivided single-paragraph presentation, which reduces precision and readability. The highest-priority improvement is to separate the argument into logical paragraphs and then edit each sentence for natural word combinations, agreement, articles, and prepositions.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear negative position is supported by developed discussion of practical benefits and several social, financial, and psychological drawbacks.
Develop the links to addiction and crime more cautiously and specifically instead of relying on broad generalisations.
Coherence and Cohesion
The ideas follow a recognisable introduction-positive-negative-conclusion sequence, but presenting the entire response as one paragraph weakens organisation.
Separate the introduction, positive case, negative case, and conclusion into distinct paragraphs with clear topic sentences.
Lexical Resource
The response shows an adequate range for the topic, but repetition and recurring unnatural collocations limit precision.
Replace repeated phrases such as 'single-person family' with natural alternatives and check common verb-noun and preposition combinations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of sentence forms is attempted, but frequent errors with tense, agreement, articles, clauses, and prepositions remain noticeable.
Prioritise sentence-level proofreading for forms such as 'choose,' 'people who suffer,' and consistent singular-plural reference.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
In some countries, nowadays more and more people are choosing to live alone than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.