Simon’s ielts writing task 2

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Simon
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Wednesday, May 11, 2016 
IELTS Writing Task 2: strong opinion and both sides 
A few people were confused by the 
essay
that I shared last week, because I gave a strong opinion 
(completely agree) and then wrote about both sides of the issue. Can you see why I was able to do 
this? 
Here's the reason: the question contains the phrase "as well as". It wasn't asking me to give an 
opinion about whether companies should make money 
or
have social responsibilities; it was asking 
whether I agree that companies should make money 
and
have social responsibilities. I agreed that 
companies should do both. 
Always read the question carefully. Sometimes it's possible to have a strong opinion and still write 
about both sides. 
Click here
to see another example. 
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Simon
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Wednesday, May 18, 2016 
IELTS Writing Task 2: these phrases don't impress 
A student on Facebook asked me about the following phrases: 

The concerns surrounding the problem of _____ have considerably escalated increasing awareness 
of the general public towards the issue. 

Notwithstanding the fact that attempts have been undertaken to tackle this nuisance, there is still a lot 
to be done to exterminate the problem. 

The most effective way in dealing with this situation is, first of all, through turning urgent attention to 
the underlying causes of the problem. 
I don't like phrases like these, and I never teach them to my students. But why? Do you know why 
these phrases wouldn't impress an examiner?