IELTS Writing Part Two- Phrases
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
The most useful phrases for the introduction, body and final paragraph of IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essays, including how to give opinions and support them.
Lesson Plan Content:
Brainstorming useful language for IELTS Writing Task Two
First of all with no help, write as many suitable phrases as you can in each space below.
IELTS Writing Task Two introductions phrases
Setting the scene/ Background to the question/ Rephrasing the question phrases
(Optional) Setting out your position at the beginning phrases (if you’ll only look at one side of the argument)
Explaining the structure of the essay/ the organisation of the essay phrases
Useful phrases for the body of an IELTS Writing Task Two essay
Strong opinions phrases
Weak opinions phrases
Other opinions phrases
Supporting your arguments/ Supporting your opinions phrases
Personal experience phrases
Other people’s experiences/ Explaining the sources of your knowledge phrases
Giving examples phrases
Logical arguments (cause and effect, etc) phrases
Generalising phrases (for general statements about people in your country, etc)
Comparing and contrasting phrases
Advantages and disadvantages/ Looking at both sides phrases
Problems and solutions phrases
Talking about importance phrases
Predictions phrases
Rephrasing/ Explaining more phrases
Starting new body paragraphs/ Changing topic phrases
Ending IELTS Writing Task Two essays phrases
Summarising (when you have already given your opinion in the introduction)
Linking the conclusion to the content of the essay phrases
(Optional) further point based on the summary or conclusion phrases (recommendation, prediction, etc)
Look at model answers, worksheets you have used, etc for suitable language, brainstorm more, then compare your ideas as a class and/ or with a list of phrases.
The big list of useful phrases for IELTS Writing Task Two
The most useful phrases are underlined. Ones in brackets () with NOT and X are typical mistakes to try to avoid such as missing words and different meanings.
IELTS Writing Task Two introductions phrases
Setting the scene/ Background to the question/ Rephrasing the question phrases
(In my country) many (older/ younger) people think that/ are of the opinion that...
(Perhaps) a majority of… in the world (have to deal with the issue of)…
… has been very controversial recently due to…
…have (recently) become popular/ ubiquitous/ notorious…
Almost all…
(For people growing up) nowadays,…/ these days…
In many (developed/ developing) countries…
In modern life,…
In today’s society,…
In our globalised/ hyper-connected world,…
There is a common view (in many countries/ amongst the older generation) that…
There is an assumption in many places that…
Many (local/ national/ regional) governments (have a policy of)…
Many… in the world…
At the moment/ Currently/ Presently,…
Over the last few years/ decades,…
(Recently), there has been (a lot of/ quite a lot of/ a substantial amount of/ some/ passionate/ bitter/ online) controversy/ debate/ conflict over…
There are (two/ strongly/ several/ two very) contrasting points of view on the topic of…
There are (two/ some/ very/ many/ slightly) different points of view on the topic of…
Since…, there has been lots of news coverage on the topic of…
Many people (my age/ in my country/ who I know) believe that/ have experienced/ suffer from…
For the majority of (young/ older/ middle-aged/ working/ retired/ middle class) people (in this country/ in the developed world/ in the developing world),...
It is thought by many that…/ There is a widespread belief that…/ A great number of people hold the view that…
There is (also) a lot of resistance to this idea (from…)
(NOT … people believe that/ have experienced/ suffer from… X NOT In these days… X)
(Optional) Setting out your position at the beginning phrases (if you’ll only look at one side of the argument)
Although I can understand both points of view, I am quite a strong supporter of this idea in the majority of cases/ most cases.
Whether this is a good idea or not really depends on… but I believe in general it is probably a good thing/ positive thing.
I can see both points of view, but I lean towards the latter opinion.
I strongly agree with the former point of view.
I feel exactly/ just/ more or less the same way (about…)
I completely disagree with this opinion.
(NOT Although I can understand both points of view, I am quite a strong supporter of this idea in most of cases. X NOT I strongly agree to the former point of view. X)
Explaining the structure of the essay/ the organisation of the essay phrases
I will write about… and then examine…, before giving my own opinion on…
I will consider…, move on to… and lastly draw conclusions on…
I will look at (first) the advantages and then the disadvantages of this idea and finally give my own opinion.
I will look at the pros, turn my attention to the cons, and use both to come to a conclusion.
I will look at the positive and negative consequences of… in that order.
I will give three reasons for my opinion in the paragraphs below.
I will look at the consequences for the children, discuss the effects on families, and then give my view on whether it is generally a good idea or not.
I think there are both positive and negative sides to this, which I will examine in that order below.
I will look at the positive and negative… in turn.
(NOT I think there are both positive and negative sides to this, which I will examine respectively below. X)
Useful phrases for the body of an IELTS Writing Task Two essay
Strong opinions phrases
I strongly believe that…
I really think that…
It seems obvious to me that…/ It seems clear to me that…
I have no doubt that…/ I have little doubt that…
It definitely…
I’m (absolutely) certain/ positive that…
I’m (completely) convinced that…
I don’t think anyone can doubt that…/ There can be absolutely no doubt that…
It is almost universally agreed that…
(NOT I strongly think that… X NOT I have no doubts that… X)
Weak opinions phrases
Although many people probably disagree with me, I believe…
Although I am no expert on this matter,…
As far as I know,…/ As far as I’m aware,…
To the best of my knowledge,…
I (would) guess/ I (would) imagine/ I (would) suppose…
I would probably say that…
I’m fairly certain that…
It’s very difficult to generalise, but…
I don’t have the data I would need to be confident on this matter, but…
My personal point of view is…
It could perhaps be said that…
(NOT As far as I aware,… X NOT My personally point of view is… X)
Other opinions phrases
I’m pretty certain that…
…seems to make (some/ quite a lot of/ a lot of/ complete) sense.
I (strongly/ totally/ mostly/ partially/ partly/ don’t really/ really don’t) agree with...
Supporting your arguments/ Supporting your opinions phrases
Personal experience phrases
In my (personal/ limited/ own) experience,…
Personally, I have found…
I generally find that…
This happened to me when…
This is supported by my own experience, in that…
To give an example from my own experience,…
A relevant experience I had was…
I (once) experienced this when…
(NOT This was happened to me when… X)
Other people’s experiences/ Explaining the sources of your knowledge phrases
Almost everyone I know…
I saw a TV programme on (exactly/ more or less) this topic (once/ a couple of weeks ago) in which someone said…
According to a newspaper article that I read last week,…
I read a book which said…
I saw a video on YouTube in which…/ I saw a presentation on TED.com in which…
I’ve never experienced this myself, but…
My friend/ teacher/ father/ mother/… told me that…
My own friends and family…
(NOT Almost people I know… X NOT I don’t experience this myself, but… X)
Giving examples phrases
Probably the best example of this is…
A (good/ famous/ relevant/ well-known/ recent) example/ illustration of that is…
To give an example,…/ To give (just) one example,…
One example of this is (from my own experience/ from a programme I saw)…
Examples of this include,…
For instance,…
For example,…
… etc.
… and so forth.
… and so on.
… and things like that.
…, e.g….
…, for example,…
…, such as…
An additional example of this is…
Taking… as an example,…
I can illustrate my point by looking at…, which…
(NOT … and etc. X NOT Examples of this include,… and so on. X)
Logical arguments (cause and effect, etc) phrases
… (inevitably/ tends to/ often) lead(s) to/ results in…
… would have a (positive/ positive/ mixed/ huge/ small) effect on…
This happens because of…/ This occurs due to…
The (only/ main/ clearest) reason for this is…
This has a/ an (extremely/ very/ somewhat/ slightly) bad effect on…
This has a (massive/ huge/ major/ large/ positive/ negative/ mixed/ substantial/ small/ tiny) impact on…
This is (mainly/ probably/ possibly) because of/ due to (the fact that)…
This is (obviously/ clearly/ almost certainly/ probably) caused by…
One effect of this is…
This can affect…
One of the (short-term/ medium-term/ long-term/ greatest/ unexpected) consequences of this is…
As a consequence/ result of this,…
The (main) (long-term) result of this is…
For that reason,…
The main/ chief/ root cause of this is…
Owing to…
(NOT Main long-term result of this is… X NOT This is occurred due to… X NOT This caused by… X NOT This can effect… X NOT One affect of this is… X)
Generalising phrases (for general statements about people in your country, etc)
…mostly
In the (vast) majority of cases,…
Almost everyone (I know)/ Almost all…
Most people…
The majority of…
… usually/ generally…
… often…
A great deal of…
A large number of…
In general,…
Many…
(NOT A great deal of people… X NOT Many of people… X NOT Almost people… X)
Comparing and contrasting phrases
This situation is very similar to…
This is roughly equivalent to…
This could have the same effect as…
This would be (far/ quite a lot/ considerably/ somewhat/ a little) better than…
(NOT This could have same effect as… X)
Advantages and disadvantages/ Looking at both sides phrases
There are both pros and cons to…
One of the (main/ chief/ most relevant) advantages of/ arguments for/ good points of/ benefits of this approach is…
A selling point of…
One positive aspect…
The main argument in favour of/ against … is…
Another point of view is…/ The opposite point of view is…
(NOT One of the main advantage of this approach is… X)
Problems and solutions phrases
…is a (huge/ large/ growing/ manageable/ small) problem for…
… suffers (greatly) from…
To tackle/ deal with/ solve/ resolve this issue,…
…would (greatly/ substantially/ somewhat/ slightly) improve…
… is (by far/ easily/ almost certainly/ probably/ possibly) the best way to deal with…
… would (definitely/ almost certainly/ probably/ probably not/ almost certainly not/ definitely not/ help) prevent…
Talking about importance phrases
… is (absolutely/ almost certainly/ probably) essential in order to…
…is (extremely/ very/ fairly/ not so/ completely un-) important for…
… is (far/ much/ considerably/ slightly) more important than…
… is not (quite/ nearly) as important as…
… should be a (top) priority (for…)
Predictions phrases
In the (near/ distant) future,…
Sooner or later,…
…will (definitely/ almost certainly/ probably)…
… could (possibly/ conceivably)…
There is a (very high/ high/ good/ reasonable/ low) chance of…
Rephrasing/ Explaining more phrases
i.e./ In other words…
To put that another way,…
That is to say…
Starting new body paragraphs/ Changing topic phrases
Moving on to the consequences,…
As for the second advantage of this idea,…
Turning (our attention) (from the benefits) to the drawbacks,…
Another… is…
There are also drawbacks to…
There is also one more advantage to…
Looking (now) at the (dis)advantages (of…)…
Another aspect of this topic that is worth looking at is…
It is also possible to argue the (opposite/ different/ opposing) point of view that…
(NOT Moving on the consequences,… X NOT Second,… X NOT On the contrary, there are also drawbacks. X NOT And there is one more advantage. X NOT But there are also problems with this policy. X)
Ending IELTS Writing Task Two essays phrases
Summarising (when you have already given your opinion in the introduction)
Although there are also arguments for/ against (such as…), as I said in the introduction, I am convinced that…
For all the reasons given above,…
To summarise/ To sum up (what I have written above/ the views given above/ the two sides of the argument),…
The arguments above can be summarised as…
I have shown above that… Therefore, as I mentioned in the introduction, I believe that…
(NOT To summarise up what I have written above,… X NOT In conclusion, I have shown that…X NOT In conclusion, I think this is a good idea. X)
Linking the conclusion to the content of the essay phrases
(Having weighed up both sides of the argument,) although the arguments for/ against are also quite convincing, in the majority of cases… (Therefore,…)
I have explained both advantages and disadvantages above. Nonetheless, in modern society…(, so…)
Despite the (dis)advantages given in the previous paragraph, for the younger generation… Thus,…
While all the factors explained above are true for some people, the most important factor for most is… For that reason, it seems clear to me that…
Though it is worth thinking about all the aspects explained in this essay, by far the biggest effect comes from… I therefore am forced to come to the conclusion that…
Whilst all the arguments above are true, we can safely ignore… This means that the only possible conclusion (overall) is…
There are both pros and cons above. Nevertheless, the advantages (far/ easily) outweigh the disadvantages because….
It is (obviously/ probably/ partially) true that… Nonetheless, there are (far) more pros than cons to…
Despite the (possible/ obvious/ well-known/ many/ few) drawbacks, on balance…
Of all the arguments above, (by far) the most important is… Therefore we can (safely) conclude that…
Having taken all the factors above into account,…
(NOT Despite of the disadvantages given in the previous paragraph, for the younger generation… Thus,… X NOT For all the reason given above, as I said in the introduction… X)
(Optional) further point based on the summary or conclusion phrases (recommendation, prediction, etc)
Because of this/ For this reason, (I believe that) (national/ local) governments should/ ought to/ have no choice but to/ have to…
In the future, hopefully people will pay more attention to…
I predict that…/ It seems likely that…
We can all do our part to help with this by…
This means that the government should put (much/ quite a lot/ some/ a little) more effort/ investment into…
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