Some countries import a large amount of food from other parts of the world. To what extent is this a positive or negative trend?
Sample Response
Instead of producing their own foodcreating their own food commodities, governments throughout the world are increasingly dependent on food imported from other countries. It is, in my opinion, a dangerous trend that will have a detrimental influence on the countries’ agricultural sectorsagricultural sectors of countries. In the followingforthcoming paragraphs, I shall explain my thoughts in detail.
The disadvantage of depending on imported commodities rather than indigenous goods is that local farmers nationwideall local farmers in the nation who rely on crop sales would experience a significant drop in salessee a significant drop, lowering their standard of livinglowering their living conditions. As a result, agricultural workers may need to seek alternative employment opportunities. Moreover, during times of crisis, nations that import products on a large scale will stop doing so, causing other countries that buy these items to suffer greatly.
Additionally, imported food is not necessarily nutritious. To preserve the food while it is transported to other parts of the world, preservatives are added to itspecific chemicals are added to it. These preservatives have been linked to the development of deadly illnesses such as cancer. In addition, inadequate storage facilities resultfailing to maintain storage facilities results in significant food waste. Moreover, countries have to spend huge amounts on imported foodspend a huge amount to foreign countries in trade, and imported food is overpriced. It also has a negative impact on the nations’ native cultures. In Japan, for example, where imported meals are growing more popular, people’s knowledge of their own indigenous cuisines is dwindling.
However, in a way, it might also be true that importing goods can provide access to some foods that would otherwise be unavailable in certain countries. Preserved foods kept for extended periods, on the other hand, can induce a range of illnesses.
To summarise, imports are not always beneficial, and they have a negative influence on the country’s agriculture sector, weakening the country’s economic position.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response presents a clear negative position and supports it with a broad range of relevant consequences, while its paragraphing makes the argument easy to follow. The main limitation is uneven development: several claims, especially those about crises, health, waste, trade, and culture, are asserted rapidly or expressed imprecisely. Prioritise two or three central reasons and explain each causal link with a credible, specific example.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear negative position is maintained and supported by several relevant ideas, although some claims are insufficiently developed or logically imprecise.
Develop fewer main reasons more fully, making each consequence of food imports explicit and supporting it with a credible example.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through clear paragraphs, but frequent additive linkers and the brief concession create somewhat mechanical cohesion.
Use linking expressions more selectively and integrate the positive concession into a paragraph that clearly advances the central argument.
Lexical Resource
There is a reasonably wide topic-specific vocabulary, but recurring awkward collocations and imprecise word choices reduce naturalness and clarity.
Replace expressions such as creating food commodities and spending money to countries with accurate, natural collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates meaning clearly, though several sentence-level construction and reference problems remain noticeable.
Check complex sentences for complete complements, clear pronoun reference, and accurate clause relationships before finalising the response.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some countries import a large amount of food from other parts of the world. To what extent is this a positive or negative trend?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.