Ideas for an opinion essay
Littering in cities is an increasing problem which needs to be dealt with. Some people think that steeper fines is the best way to deal with the problem.
To what extent do you agree?
When you analyse a statement for an opinion essay, it is useful to ask yourself different questions regarding the topic. Think about the questions below and then decide your answer.
Questions for Analysis
- What is littering? AnswerDropping waste on the ground or in the streets rather than disposing of it correctly by putting it in the bin.
- Why do people litter?AnswerSome litter because they don’t care about the effects and some do it just for convenience.
- It is already an offence to throw litter in the streets so why do people continue to do it?AnswerMost people know it is wrong but they do it because they know they will not be caught.
- Would having a bigger fine stop them?AnswerIt is possible that a heavy fine might deter them but only if it is likely they will be caught and the fine imposed.
- Is having a bigger fine the best way to stop littering? AnswerIt’s one way to stop people but not everyone agrees that it is the best way.
- Are there other ways to stop littering? AnswerYes, one way is to put more bins in the streets so that people will use them rather than throw their litter on the floor. Educating children from a young age to dispose of their litter correctly is another way. Some people think that having more police on the streets would be a good deterrent because people will be less likely to attempt to litter the streets.
Now use your ideas and form them into an essay format. That means you should have two or three main ideas which are divided into two or three body paragraphs. After you have your essay ideas planned, check the model body paragraphs below. Can you write the introduction and conclusion for the model essay below?
Model Body ParagraphsBody Paragraph A: Having bigger fines is certainly one way to tackle the issue of littering. Increasing the fines will make people take littering more seriously. At present, many people litter the streets because they do not consider this to be a serious offence and for the convenience but by imposing a considerable penalty, people will think twice before they litter.
Body Paragraph B: However, the best way to deal with the problem of littering would be a long-term solution involving educating the younger generation. Littering is common due to the fact that many people are not fully aware of the environmental and health impacts that it has. By raising awareness and building a habit of disposing of waste correctly, this problem can be eradicated in coming generations.
Body Paragraph C: Finally, another possible solution would be to have more litter bins available to the public. The reason being that the majority of people littering the streets do so because there are no bins available to put their waste in and they do not wish to carry their rubbish with them until they find a bin. By having more bins available, it would not only be more convenient for people to dispose of their waste properly but it would also act as a reminder for them to do so.
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Hi Liz. I want ask about another essay question that relates to environment. The question is Environmental problems should be tackled internationally, not nationally. Do you agree?” My question is, is that ok if I write my essay saying that, “global environmental issues such as climate change, desertification and ocean pollution should be handle internationally, but the national level actions must be taken into consideration.” Does it sound like sitting on the fence? I can’t figure it out clearly. lease help me.
Sitting on the fence is when there is no clear opinion and you are simply discussion both sides equally with no clear position. Your example is not sitting on the fence. You have a clear opinion with neither agrees with one side nor with the other. Your opinion is very specific and depends on factors. This is a called a partial agreement or specific view point or balanced view. Personally, I like this approach with quite a few essay topics because it gives a deeper dive into the issues. You would write your thesis statement as “In my opinion, it is best to tackle global problems internationally, whereas local or domestic problems are better dealt with on a national level.” All the details about which specific problems you are referring to should be left to the body paragraphs.
Hi Liz,Thanks in advance for being here..Please share your comments
Littering is a serious concern and an alarming sign of increase in irresponsible population.In my opinion,higher fines must be imposed on such people who litters in common areas and also I would suggest punishing with imprisonment along with the higher fines as well.
All the cities must be kept clean and tidy inorder to build a better environment.There are many cleaning staffs who are responsible in collecting garbages on a weekly basis but at the same time we cannot expect them to be the integral part of cleaning the areas which are spoiled by the considerable amount of people. So it is an indvidual responsibility to not litter in common areas across cities.Higher fine rates should be imposed on breachers who do not abide to the rules.Well, imposing fines on the rule breakers may help in better way to keep the cities clean however, if the rules can be just breached multiple times by paying steeper fines then there should be an imprisonment as well.
Collectively in the law, there should be an additonal clause called ‘imprisonment’ along with the steeper fines.Thereby if a person who has already fined twice for littering and third time if he or she committing same mistake, there should be a jail punishment.This will help reducing the littering in common areas.
Long story short, ‘do not repeat the mistakes’ and ‘do not break the rules AGAIN’, if found guilt more than twice then third time it will not be only steeper fines but adding to that there will be an imprisonment.
Hi Liz, i would really appreciate it if you would give me your opinion on what i wrote:
Intro:
Nowadays, littering continues to be an escalating issue which requires urgent intervention. Otherwise, unless properly dealt with, the consequences will be detrimental on many levels. In my opinion, while steeper fines is an effective method to approach this problem, it is not the only available option.
Conclusion:
To conclude, inflicitng heavier fines along with hefty efforts to educate the upcoming generations are effective means to the eradication of the littering phenomenon.
Your technique is exactly right. Try to make your background statement one sentence – a lengthy introduction is a waste of time.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read what i wrote and for replying.
I think this essay is really good and I am glad it can help me because it is actually interesting.
Please provide a few examples of conditional statement for a clear idea of how to use them in an essay. According to some, it is just better to use these in an essay for grammatical range. Would you consider these important?
I am currently preparing a Grammar book for IELTS which will help you with this. The marking criteria for grammar is about both range and accuracy. That means you need to be flexible in the tenses and sentence structures as well as accurate to avoid errors.
Hi Liz
Could you please update if you have published this book?
No e-book is available yet. Hopefully at the end of this year. I will post a notice on my website when it’s ready.
thank you ms. liz!
I’m really scared of the possibility of not knowing the meaning of a word in IELTS writing tasks 1 and 2. I’m at level C1 in English however, I did not know the meaning of ‘littering’ 🙁
It is not common to get a completely unknown topic in writing task 2. This means your preparation of ideas and vocabulary is essential. Review all my essay questions on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/100-ielts-essay-questions/ – use your dictionary to learn the words. Then review all topics on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/recent-ielts-questions-and-topics/. Then review all main pages on the RED BAR at the top of this website.
is litter the same as trash, garbage ? are they considered formal words ?
Litter is a type of trash – it not a synonym for trash. Look in the dictionary to find the difference.
Infact littering is very bad .Now what the government need to do ,is to map up a strategies to eradicate these problem.1 intensive education on how people should dispose their litter,2 Imposing high fine,3 posters and stickers should be all over to create awareness ,4 every 200 metres there should be a dustbin ,5 more advert on both tv and radio to create awareness ,6 Involvment of non governmental organization can also help a lot, 7 Industries and big companies should indcate it on their products to create awareness, 8 health personnel involnment can also add up .I think that all these can help a lot.
Hello Liz.
I read somewhere that it is okay to put “fake research” in IELTS task 2, which means I can make up any data I want and write it down.
Is it even allowed? or is it considered as cheating?
Sure, it’s fine. But why? It won’t give you a higher score. Presenting statistics in writing task 2 will have NO impact on your score.
I see. Thanks Liz. It’s just I found many “suggestions” that contradict others. One says it’s okay and will increase the score if it’s done, the other one says its not affecting anything, or even will decrease the score.
It’s so confusing sometimes to practice without the help of a professional instructor.
I suggest you learn how the writing test is marked. It is clearly shown: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/. It shows that ideas need to developed – this means well explained. This is about developing ideas, not presenting data. You need to use language, not numbers.
hey liz i want full essay can you help me please
You can find model essays on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/
hello liz, i want to ask something regarding speaking part..
during my speaking exam ..in speaking part 2..i feel that my answer was little bit out of track…however my rest of the parts 1 and 3 were very good…so SP 2 will going to effect on my band score or my band score will be consider based on only speaking part 2….
Thanking you
Please see the lesson I will post tomorrow about being off topic in speaking part 2.
Hi liz,pls check my intro and conclusion
Dropping waste on the ground or in the streets rather than disposing it properly has been an increasing issue that calls for an immediate solution. It is considered by some that imposing bigger fines is the best method to handle the problem, however, I believe that littering is best managed by a long-term approach of discipline and education.
In conclusion, high rate fines can help deter people from littering, however, education and disciplining the younger generation is the key for a long-term solution. If these are implemented early in schools, littering would not be a problem in the future.
A strong intro and conclusion.
Hi Liz.I tried to write an introduction,can you please speak your mind for it. Leaving behind ruins has become growing issue today ,which needs to cope with.According to some putting high penalty is the best solution to deal with it. In my opinion,however excessive fines is the effective option,there are also other reasonable alternatives.
The word “ruin” means a building which has been partially destroyed – it is off topic.
thanks for your comment and what about my thesis?is it clear?
Excuse me, even though rarely, it happens that i see words like litter and steeper fines, words i have never heard of. If it happens in an essay i am done ! Could you please give me a list of such rarely encountered probable words that may happen to pop in an essay topic. Thanks !
The best thing you can do is to prepare vocabulary and ideas for writing task 2 topics: https://ieltsliz.com/100-ielts-essay-questions/. You can find ideas and vocabulary online by researching these topics.
Hi LIZ, Do you know that in India nobody follow the rules, in india farmers used to do too much sprays and use injections to grow thier vegetables and fruits faster to earn money quickly which results ailments like cancer and death for eaters even similar to non vegetarians.
What is more the backward people in India spread littering all around in streets if the government will not issue beneficial policy to them.Recently in harayana ‘jatt ‘ mainly called a farmers caste people do rapes and breaking transport, firing innocent people to get job reservation from government. finally, government gave them and then they stop.in the end i would like to say that you should give thanks to God that you born in ENGLAND.I really hate my own country india. That’s why I wish to settle in abroad and pray to God.
Hi Liz
In the question he asks to what extent do you agree,which means we have to give reasons for our agreement or disagreement but not alternative solutions because he did not ask what are other solutions.
Could you please clarify what we should answer with this type of essay .do we have to put reasons why we do not agree or other solutions?
Thanks
https://ieltsliz.com/liz-notice-2015-2016/
You are right but when you disagree with this statement for not imposition of fines then you will give the alternative solutions to support your answers.
Hi Liz,
In model body paragraph A, two words “because” and “but” are put in the same last sentence. But to my knowledge, two conjunctions, as “because” (subordinating) and “but” (coordinating) in this case, cannot appear in the same sentence. Am I right ?
Regards,
Dzung
It’s fine to have them both in a sentence but it doesn’t work all the time. It depends on the information you wish to present.
Liz
Nowadays littering one of the global issues for the humanity.Due to scientist from the many countries prognosis that if this process had been continued half surface of the earth would have been covered by litter.The litter is the artificial product which after using thrown away as useless and could not decay itself.After using plastic bottles, boxes , packets and other household things which are thrown away consider as litter.People continue litter because they think only about themselves not about surround environment they are selfish.Fortunately todays many countries have created many prohibition rules for littering which will reduce this issue.Simultaneously, many companies for instance in food industry produces special biodegredable packets for food which can easily decay itself as soon as they are thrown away.Moreover,litter is used to produce biogas and electricity by power plant.To conclude I hope that people will convert their opinion about environment and think deeply before littering
Hi,
Introduction :
waste disposal on roads in cities is becoming a ubiquitous problem which should be controlled.Some people considered that high rated fines is an effective method to control this type of issues.In my opinion, steeper fines can reduces the littering problems, along with that measures such as installing bins should be taken to control this issue.
conclusion :
to conclude, these are some effective ways to eradicate the problems with littering on Streets.