The media should include more stories which report good news. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
In recent years, arguments over mass media have mushroomed in many parts of the world. While I am convinced that good news should be disseminated widely as a resource of inspiration and motivation, I believe unfortunate incidents are also essential to cover on such channels to prevent people from unduly immersing themselves in overly naive and optimistic worldviews.
On the one hand, it is essential to know that reports delivering meaningful and motivating stories are believed to boost humans’ productivity and thus deserve considerable media coverage. Specifically, people with outstanding achievements on their career paths appeal to journalists as role models for others to imitate. Such reports encourage people to break their comfort zones and pursue their ambitions, which attributes significantly to their success. Moreover, meaningful things should be reported to promote benevolence around the world. If community work, ranging from collecting garbage and doing charity to rescue and adopt abandoned animals, is spread and valued, modern humanity will be enhanced, especially in a competitive society.
On the other hand, because the media’s role is to provide an overview of society, on both dark and bright sides, bad stories are essential to be disseminated to awaken people to reality, which is full of severe hardships and dangers. Indeed, the information about global issues, infectious diseases, and notorious criminals enables people to equip themselves with essential skills and knowledge to deal with them actively and successfully. Conversely, the lack of preparation and alertness can lead to a pessimistic scenario when people make light of those problems, which results in unforeseeable consequences. Take the Covid-19 pandemic as an example. Although broadcasting the number of deaths and new cases frightens people and makes them feel suspicious about authorities’ ability, this news can act as a warning that requires people to obey the government’s strict rules contributing to the fight’s success against the lethal pandemic.
In conclusion, the media keeps people posted on their real lives and the world’s development, which is a precondition to brighten their prosperity. Therefore, either positive or negative news should be reported to help this industry function effectively.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use precise topic phrase Original: arguments over mass media Suggested revision: debates about the role of mass media Why it matters: This phrase states the subject of the debate more precisely.
- 2. Correct the collocation Original: resource Suggested revision: source Why it matters: News can be a source, rather than a resource, of inspiration.
- 3. Fix the passive structure Original: are also essential to cover Suggested revision: must also be covered Why it matters: The incidents receive the action, so a passive form is required here.
- 4. Choose a natural verb Original: delivering Suggested revision: featuring Why it matters: Reports feature stories; they do not normally deliver them in this context.
- 5. Use a natural noun Original: humans’ productivity Suggested revision: people's productivity Why it matters: People is more natural than humans when discussing everyday work and motivation.
- 6. Correct the idiom Original: break Suggested revision: leave Why it matters: The standard expression is leave or step outside one's comfort zone.
- 7. Use the correct verb Original: attributes Suggested revision: contributes Why it matters: Contribute to means help cause a result, whereas attribute requires a different structure.
- 8. Use a specific phrase Original: meaningful things Suggested revision: positive actions Why it matters: This phrase identifies the charitable activities more clearly.
- 9. Make the list parallel Original: collecting garbage and doing charity to rescue and adopt abandoned animals Suggested revision: collecting litter, donating to charity, and rescuing and adopting abandoned animals Why it matters: Parallel -ing forms make the three examples grammatically consistent.
- 10. Use the right verb Original: spread Suggested revision: publicised Why it matters: Community work can be publicised, while spread does not fit this noun naturally.
- 11. Fix phrase structure Original: overview of society, on both dark and bright sides Suggested revision: overview of both the dark and bright sides of society Why it matters: The revised structure correctly links both sides to society.
- 12. Use natural reporting language Original: bad stories are essential to be disseminated Suggested revision: negative stories must be reported Why it matters: The revision is more direct and uses a natural media collocation.
Suggested Rewrites
- arguments over mass media debates about the role of mass media
- resource source
- are also essential to cover must also be covered
- delivering featuring
- humans’ productivity people's productivity
- break leave
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents a clear, nuanced position and develops both the motivational value of positive reporting and the practical need for negative news with relevant explanation. Its main limitation is that several claims are expressed through awkward collocations and a few imprecise causal links, which occasionally blur otherwise sophisticated ideas. Prioritise more natural word combinations and tighter sentence-level logic while retaining the strong balanced argument.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The position is clear throughout, and both positive and negative reporting are explored through relevant, well-developed reasons and examples.
Sharpen the final justification by stating more directly why a balanced news agenda serves the public better than predominantly positive coverage.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through a clear introduction, two focused body paragraphs, and a conclusion, with generally effective cohesive control.
Tighten a few long causal chains so that each sentence advances one clearly defined relationship between evidence and claim.
Lexical Resource
A wide vocabulary conveys abstract arguments effectively, although several ambitious collocations sound unnatural or imprecise.
Prefer established combinations such as leaving one's comfort zone and contributing to success over less natural verb-noun pairings.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures with strong overall control, despite occasional faulty reference, parallelism, and clause attachment.
Check the grammatical subject of relative clauses and keep coordinated verb forms parallel when listing actions or consequences.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
The media should include more stories which report good news. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.