Repetition of vocabulary when writing essay: is the topic counted?

[Nonverbis]

Let's consider IELTS essays.


Let the topic be: What are the pros and cons for children of watching television?

The textbook that I'm studying now suggests to mention in introduction what you are going to write an essay about.

Could you tell me whether the words "pros" and "cons" will be considered as repetition?

Let's have a look at a model assay. In this case the topic was about the advantages and disadvantages. And these words are used in the essay itself.
If it were at school where we ourselves wrote the topic every time, I would have considered it a repetition. I mean, of course, we were given the topic, but we copied it into our exercise books. It made the topic an integral part of our essays.

But in case of IELTS we are not copying the topic. It exists in the task, but as if it is in a parallel universe. If it is like that, then taking some words from the topic itself is not a repetition. And anyway, I feel these words as toxic. If I were in the shoes of the author of the book, I could easily substitute such words with synoyms.

Could you comment on that?

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

What are the pros and cons of children watching television?

It can't be repetitious if it's the first time you mentioned it. (Maybe I missed something.)

Time for coffee!

 

[Tarheel]

@Nonverbis The advantages and disadvantages of what?

 

[Nonverbis]

It can't be repetitious if it's the first time you mentioned it. (Maybe I missed something.)

Is the topic a part of the essay or not? If it is, then this is a case of repetition.

And it does not matter who mentions what. A repetition is a repetition, isn't it?
Once it is in the title (or call it a topic), and then it is in the body of the essay.

Or we can paraphrase this question like that: does an IELTS assay contain a title or not? If it does, then this is a case of repetition, in my opinion.

 

[Nonverbis]

@Nonverbis The advantages and disadvantages of what?

I can't understand your message.

And the question is not about any advantages and disadvantages. It is about repetitions.

 

[Tarheel]

@Nonverbis No, the topic is not part of the essay. It's what the essay is about.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't understand your message.

And the question is not about any advantages or disadvantages. It is about repetitions.

We speak of advantages and disadvantages of something. Or to something. For example, I could say there are advantages and disadvantages to shopping at Aldi.

 

[Nonverbis]

@Nonverbis No, the topic is not part of the essay. It's what the essay is about.

You are trying to say that essays don't have a title? Strange tradition. Without a title it is not an essay, it is not anything complete. It is just rough notes.

If you think otherwise, try to support a diploma thesis, publish a book or an article in a newspaper without a title.

 

[Tarheel]

@Nonverbis You said topic, not title. And what rule says you can't have in the body of the essay words that are in the title?

 

[Nonverbis]

@Nonverbis You said topic, not title. And what rule says you can't have in the body of the essay words that are in the title?

But there is no title. At least the book that I'm studying now does not teach us to write titles to essays.

 

[Nonverbis]

And what rule says you can't have in the body of the essay words that are in the title?

A title is a part of an essay. And in the whole essay you should avoid repetitions, generally speaking. And in this case, we are supposed to write only 250 words. And if we repeat ourselves in such a short text, this testifies limited vocabulary and a bad style.

 

[Tarheel]

Say:

The title is part of an essay.

And:

avoid repetition, generally speaking.

And:

this testifies to limited vocabulary and bad style.

The title has its own space all to itself and is not part of the body of the essay.

 

[Nonverbis]

The title has its own space all to itself and is not part of the body of the essay.

What if one tries to repeat a huge chunk of the title in the essay without any changes? Immediate punishment.

 

[Tarheel]

@Nonverbis A title should be brief--ten words tops.

It would be weird not to see some of the words in the title in the essay itself.

(This might be irrelevant, but in my brief poem, "Whisper" the word "whisper" occurred three times. Naturally, that became the title.)