IELTS Opinion Essay Body Paragraphs

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This lesson looks at how expand your main points for the body paragraphs in your IELTS writing task 2. This lesson follows on from two previous lessons. Make sure you read the previous lessons first:

Every one of us should become a vegetarian because eating meat can cause serious health problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Planning Body Paragraph A

The main point: A vegetarian diet is certain healthy.

Supporting points:

  • a diet based mainly on vegetables is rich in essential vitamins and minerals
  • protein can be found in pulses and dairy products
  • avoiding certain meats can help reduce heart problems and diabetes

Planning Body Paragraph B

The main point: Not all meat is unhealthy

Supporting points:

  • not all meat is unhealthy
  • examples: fish and chicken

Planning Body Paragraph C

The main point: Having a balanced diet is key

Supporting points

  • A diet which has mostly vegetables and a small amount of meat is best
  • Eating meat in moderation is considered beneficial to health

Now try writing the paragraphs before you check the models below.

Models

Model Paragraph A
Firstly, it must be admitted that having a vegetarian diet is certainly healthy. A diet which contains a high quantity of vegetables is rich in all the essential vitamins and minerals needed to promote health. In addition, avoiding red meats, which is said to lead to heart problems if eaten in large quantities, can also be beneficial.
Model Paragraph B
However, while having a vegetarian diet is certainly a healthy way to eat, not all meats are actually unhealthy. Take, for example fish, this meat contains vital omega 3 oils which are essential in building health and it is recommended by the medical profession to include fish in the diet at least once a week. Another illustration is white meat, such as chicken, this meat is also considered healthy when eaten in moderation.
Model Paragraph C
Finally, the key to health is to eat a balanced diet which consists of predominantly vegetables but also some healthy meats, namely fish and chicken. Having a balanced diet is generally more manageable for most people and would require only small changes in their current diet to see significant changes in their health.

 

Recommended Lessons

IELTS Opinion Essay Model
IELTS Video Lesson Writing Skills: Connecting sentences
IELTS Video Lesson for Writing: Should ideas be interesting?

 

Filed Under: IELTS Writing Task 2 Tagged With: ,

IELTS Essay Introduction for an Opinion Essay

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This lesson looks at how to write an IELTS essay introduction for an opinion essay. The introduction is the easiest part of any IELTS essay as it follows a similar content for all IELTS task 2 types.

This lesson is a follow-on lesson from last week. Learn how to find main points before continuing with this introduction lesson: Finding Main Points for an Opinion Essay:

Every one of us should become a vegetarian because eating meat can cause serious health problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

How to write an IELTS essay introduction
  1. Write one statement paraphrasing the information given. This will be your background statement. Make sure you paraphrase the information exactly and don’t include any irrelevant or extra information in it.
  2. When you paraphrase, make sure you are using words that you are confident with. It is good to paraphrase but you will reduce your band score if you have too many errors.
  3. Introduce your answer in the thesis statement. The thesis statement follows the background statement. It should contain your answer, your main points.
  4. Don’t write more than 50 words for your introduction.
Model Introduction

Eating meat is considered by some to damage our health and for that reason they believe all people should adopt a vegetarian diet. In my opinion, although a vegetarian diet is certainly a healthy option, having a balanced diet, which contains vegetables and some healthy meat, is the key.

Vocab Builder
  • cause serious health problems = damage our health
  • become a vegetarian = adopt a vegetarian diet

 

Next lesson, we will look at how to write the body paragraphs for this essay.

Recommended Lessons

Finding Main Points for an Opinion Essay (Previous Lesson for this topic)
IELTS Video Lesson for Writing Task 2: How to write an introduction
IELTS Video Lesson for Writing Task 2: Connecting Sentences
IELTS Liz YouTube Channel

Filed Under: IELTS Writing Task 2 Tagged With: , ,

Opinion Essay: Finding Main Points

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This lesson shows you how to find ideas for your IELTS opinion essay and organise them into paragraphs. It is important to spend time analysing the statement before you decide your opinion. You should look at the essay question carefully and think about the issues in the statement. Below you will see some questions to help you analyse the opinion essay title.

Every one of us should become a vegetarian because eating meat can cause serious health problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Analysing an Opinion Essay

Answer the following questions

  1. Do you think vegetarians are healthier than people who eat meat?
  2. Do you think the vegetarian diet is healthy?
  3. Do you think people who eat meat are unhealthy?
  4. Does eating meat always create health problems?
  5. Is there any meat which you think is healthy to eat?
  6. Do you think all people should be vegetarian?
  7. Do you think all people should stop eating meat?
  8. What is another way to say “vegetarian”?
Model Ideas & Structure
  • Body Paragraph A: I agree that eating a vegetarian diet is healthy.
  • Body Paragraph B: However, not all meat is unhealthy
  • Body Paragraph C:  I believe that having a balanced diet containing predominantly vegetables with some healthy meats is best.
Paraphrase
Vegetarian = people who do not eat meat / people who do not have meat in their diet / to have a vegetarian diet. You cannot paraphrase “vegetarian” as “vegan”. A vegan is someone who does not eat or use any product that comes from animals.

 

Recommended Lessons

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