Some believe that younger family members should be legally responsible for supporting older family members when they become physically, mentally and financially unable to look after themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
There have been recent proposals for laws that would require younger generations to look after older family members when they are no longer capable of doing so themselves. In my opinion, these laws are ethically justifiedresponsible but should not be enacted, givenyet should not be enacted considering the many circumstances they fail to take into account.
Supporters argue that elderly careSupporters argue elderly care is a basic responsibility. As parents age, there is a near certaintya near absolute chance they will have some combination of physical, mental, or financial difficulties. Since most older people are unable to work full-time jobs, the duty of care naturally falls to either the state or their families. The government has other concerns and their care is impersonal, as in the case of a state-funded nursing home. Children, who have an obligation to their caregiversoriginal care-givers, are in a much better positionare in much better positions to provide loving support. This could include living with them, providing financial supportsupplying money, or helping them with medical bills.
However, this discounts the many contexts in which this care may not be appropriate. Many parents do not want to be a burden to their children and would rather look after themselves later in life. Others may not have supported their childrenhave been there for their children, or even been abusive. Moreover, the help that children offer will likely hinder their own progress in life. If they are wealthy, this is not a major concern as they can hire someone to look after their parents and the financial support will not be a burden. However, most working class families will struggle to advance socially when burdenedslowed by a duty of care for elderly parents, especially if this includes expensive medical bills.
In conclusion, despite the moral justifications, there are simply too many situations where these laws would result in injustices and inconveniences. Individuals should be given the opportunity to look after themselves.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response is strongest in its nuanced, consistently maintained position and its balanced development of the moral case for family care alongside practical and ethical exceptions. Its main limitation is that a few claims are expressed too absolutely or with slightly imprecise wording. The highest-priority improvement is to qualify these generalisations and make the final recommendation more explicitly address how support should be decided when older relatives cannot care for themselves.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay addresses the legal-responsibility question fully, presents a nuanced disagreement, and develops both moral and practical considerations convincingly.
End with a more explicit alternative to compulsory family support so the conclusion resolves the stated care problem as well as rejecting the law.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses logically from the ethical justification to important exceptions, with well-controlled paragraphing and cohesive transitions.
Clarify the referent of broad phrases such as this discounts so that links between claims remain immediately precise.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is wide, fluent, and generally precise, with effective language for discussing care, obligation, injustice, and financial burden.
Replace slightly awkward or absolute phrases such as near absolute chance and original care-givers with more natural, qualified wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide variety of complex sentence forms is handled accurately, and the few minor lapses do not disrupt communication.
Polish occasional pronoun agreement and article choices to make grammatical control consistently exact.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some believe that younger family members should be legally responsible for supporting older family members when they become physically, mentally and financially unable to look after themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.