OPINION ESSAY
Writing task 2
Well, generally we divide IELTS essays into 5 categories:
Agree or Disagree
Advantages and Disadvantages
Problem (or Cause) and Solution
Discuss both views
Opinion Essay Two-part Question
Sometimes, people call the first one “opinion essays” but I don’t
like that term because actually other question types also call for
your opinion. Therefore, I think of “opinion essay” as a term that
covers several question types.
Let’s look at this topic in more detail.
To put it as simply as possible, an opinion essay is an essay that gives an
opinion. In the context of IELTS, that means giving your opinion about a
stated topic
I mentioned above that there are several question types that could require
you to give an opinion. These are most common:
Agree or disagree
What is an
Advantages and disadvantages
Discuss both views
Opinion Essay? Two-part questions
This is why it’s important to read a question carefully rather than just scan for
keywords and then begin writing.
Of these, the agree/disagree and discuss both views question types are always
going to require an opinion, but for the others you need to read more
carefully. A two-part question, for example, might ask your opinion as the
second question, but it won’t always do this.
Note that most advantage and disadvantage questions do not require your
opinion but some do. If they ask you whether or not the advantages of
something outweigh the disadvantages, then clearly you are required to give
an opinion.
As with all IELTS writing task 2 essays, you need to do several
things:
Read the question carefully in order to analyze it
How to Write Think of a reasonable answer
an Opinion Create a coherent structure
Essay Put your ideas forth clearly and consistently
Use appropriate language
That’s about as simply as I can put it for you, but let’s explore
further.
First of all, any time you are given an IELTS task, you need to read it
carefully and analyze it so that you truly understand the question.
Some are quite straightforward but others are very difficult.
One of the problems with opinion essays is that you won’t necessarily be
asked to “give your opinion.” You will have to use common sense in order to
determine whether your opinion is required. Some words that could indicate
an opinion are:
Do you agree or disagree?
To what extent do you agree?
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
What do you think…?
Remember: If you are asked for an opinion, then give one. If you aren’t, then
don’t. Failure to interpret the question properly would lead to a poor score.
You then need to think of a response and write about it using intelligent ideas.
As you are giving an opinion, you need to justify your viewpoint. One big
mistake here is failing to be consistent. For example, some people do not put
their opinion into their introductions. This would mean that your score for
Task Response would be quite low. Really, you ought to include your opinion
in the outline sentence, then explain it in the body paragraphs, and finally
reiterate it in the conclusion.
Although it’s possible to produce a good structure in different ways, an
excellent IELTS essay will probably look like this:
A good essay should begin with a good introduction. There are
various ways to achieve this, but in IELTS writing task 2 that
means introducing the topic and stating your opinion clearly. I’ve
written at length about how to write a good introduction here.
How to Start Think of your introduction as having two key components:
an Opinion Introduce the topic
Essay Give your opinion
You can do that in two or three sentences. It isn’t hugely
important. However, you must achieve both of those things.
When you introduce the topic, you basically aim to convey the
main idea to your reader. A lot of people just paraphrase the
question but this isn’t always a good idea. In fact, paraphrasing
more often than not leads to big problems in language and logic.
Still, you want to convey the idea in the question and that does mean
taking an idea and putting it into your own words. For example:
All cars that burn fossil fuels should be banned and electric cars
should replace them.
Do you agree or disagree?
In my introduction to this opinion essay, I would write:
During the twentieth century, people around the world began using
vehicles powered by fossil fuels, and in this new millennium that trend
Example has continued, with a vast uptick in the number of privately owned cars.
However, it has become apparent that this phenomenon is causing
major environmental damage and needs to be stopped. This essay will
argue that humans ought to switch to electric cars.
This is a little complex, but what you can see is that I have used two
sentences to introduce and explain the main idea and then one sentence
to put forth my opinion.
Beware: Your introduction should not be too long. This is an example of a
band 9 essay. It uses complex language and structures to convey
intelligent ideas. If your introduction is longer than your body paragraphs,
it is not a good sign.
When writing an opinion essay, you should keep the structure
simple and use it to convey your ideas as logically as possible.
Opinion Essay There are different ways to do this effectively, but I generally
recommend a four-paragraph essay structure
Structure
It is hard to generalise because your structure will ultimately be
dictated by your opinion and that is something personal. However,
you should use your essay to state your opinion in the most
effective way. For example, if you strongly agree with something,
you might create the following structure:
This is a basic structure but can be used very easily. Of course, if
you totally disagree, you can replace “agree” with “disagree” and
use the same structure.
Opinion Essay
Example All cars that burn fossil fuels should be banned and electric cars
Sample should replace them.
Question Do you agree or disagree?
During the twentieth century, people around the world began using vehicles
powered by fossil fuels, and in this new millennium that trend has continued,
with a vast uptick in the number of privately owned cars. However, it has
become apparent that this phenomenon is causing major environmental
damage and needs to be stopped. This essay will argue that humans ought to
switch to electric cars.
The damage done by traditional style cars is obvious. One only needs to look
at a big city like Beijing or Los Angeles to see the vast smog clouds lingering
Sample over highways to recognize that these vehicles are emitting unpleasant
chemicals from their exhausts. Scientific studies over the past few decades
have confirmed that these chemicals cause significant damage to our health
Answer and our environment, as they turn into acid rain or are inhaled into our lungs,
where they cause certain types of cancer. This is in addition to the fact that
fossil fuels are a finite resource, and that their extraction from the earth is
often incredibly destructive.
On the other hand, electricity can be generated in any number of ways, many
of which are relatively harmless. It is possible to generate electricity from the
wind or sun, thereby gathering energy without damaging the earth or causing
harm to human beings. As an infinite source of energy that can be gathered
and used without harm, it is obvious that electricity is the power that should
drive cars in the future.
In conclusion, traditionally powered vehicles are destroying our world and
need to be phased out in favor of electric vehicles. Electricity can be
generated harmlessly and endlessly and is therefore superior to fossil fuel.
When it comes to writing opinion essays, you need to make sure
you understand the question, then formulate an appropriate
response. You should devise an intelligent structure that allows
you to convey your ideas clearly and consistently throughout the
Conclusion whole essay. Make sure that your ideas are realistic and try to
avoid being overly complex as this could create further problems.
It is worth reading articles about common IELTS topics in order to
prepare for this sort of essay. These can teach you both vocabulary
and ideas. They can also help with coherence. For example, you
could Google “electric cars” and find an article there
