Writing conclusions
Advantages and disadvantages essays
Lesson aim
The important thing to remember is that there are no right or wrong conclusions, and the examiner will not make any judgements about your opinions, so write freely and clearly.
- a general, one-sentence summary;
- a focused summary of the main points — avoiding repetition of vocabulary;
- something new: your opinion or final position, when the prompt requires or naturally invites it.
Writing conclusions
1Look at two possible conclusions. Drag the labels to show what each part is doing.
A1 All things considered, starting life in a foreign country is never easy.
A2 You need to weigh up the pros of the better lifestyle, weather and so on, and the cons of culture shock and language barrier.
A3 Personally, I believe the benefits in terms of personal growth eventually outweigh any negatives.
B1 In conclusion, there are clearly both positives and negatives to spending an extended period of time overseas.
B2 While going abroad can be a great experience and lead to a better lifestyle, for many people there are too many differences to cope with.
B3 In my opinion, if you go with the right attitude, moving overseas should be an absolutely unforgettable experience.
2Rewrite this conclusion in the correct order. Drag the sentences into the best order.
- ↕In my view, having the chance to see life in another country can open up lots of exciting new experiences.
- ↕To sum up, living abroad is a challenging experience with both ups and downs.
- ↕However, it can also be very difficult to cope with the new culture and language.
- ↕It is important to be happy wherever you are, as the grass is not always greener on the other side.
3Complete the language table. Drag each expression into the correct column.
| introducing a conclusion | expressing opinion | linking devices |
|---|---|---|
Task: write a conclusion
4Read the essay about the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. First, cover the conclusion. Then make notes about the main pros and cons and write your own conclusion. Finally compare it with the original.
Over the last two or three decades, the way that business is done has changed dramatically due to major advances in technology. As a result, a growing number of people are now choosing to work from the comfort of their own home. However, is this development positive, or are there more drawbacks than advantages? In this essay, I will explore the pros and cons of working from home and try to draw some conclusions.
I will start by looking at the advantages. One of the major plus points of working remotely is the fact that you do not have to commute to work. Millions of people worldwide have to deal with rush-hour traffic to make their way to the office. Obviously, this is not necessary if you turn your home into your place of work.
Secondly, working at home gives you much more freedom to manage your working day. For example, if you work in an office, you are often asked to attend meetings, and your timetable is decided for you. This is not the case when you work in an office at home.
On the other hand, it can be very easy to get distracted if you are in your home environment. For instance, it is extremely tempting to turn on the television, go and relax in the garden or make a personal phone call. Clearly, these distractions will dramatically reduce how much work you produce.
Another major disadvantage of working from home is that people have much less contact with their colleagues. This can make them feel cut-off, despite the extra freedom they have working from home. What’s more, daily contact with people at work is often how good friendships are made.
Original conclusion: To conclude, there are both positives and negatives to this way of working. In spite of the fact that it removes travel issues and gives us greater freedom, many people may find it difficult because of distractions at home and feeling isolated. Personally, I believe it is important to keep work and home life separate to find the right work-life balance.
Make notes: drag the ideas into the correct side.
Write your own conclusion for the work-from-home essay.
Exam skills 1: Topic sentences
1Unjumble these useful chunks of language for writing clear topic sentences.
- advantage / overseas / of / living / is / another
- moving / one / of / disadvantages / home / of / away / the / from / biggest / is
- to / of / the / turning / side / other /the/ argument
- is / the / abroad / one / main / of / of / moving / positives
- that / another / be / drawback / is / it / can / major
- by / overseas / let’s / advantages / looking / start / the / of / travelling / at
b One of the biggest disadvantages of moving away from home is ...
c Turning to the other side of the argument ...
d One of the main positives of moving abroad is ...
e Another major drawback is that it can be ...
f Let’s start by looking at the advantages of travelling overseas.
2Put the chunks from Exercise 1 in the order they would come in an essay. Drag them into order.
- ↕a Another advantage of living overseas is ...
- ↕e Another major drawback is that it can be ...
- ↕c Turning to the other side of the argument ...
- ↕f Let’s start by looking at the advantages of travelling overseas.
- ↕b One of the biggest disadvantages of moving away from home is ...
- ↕d One of the main positives of moving abroad is ...
Topic sentences: practice
3Use the chunks of language from Exercise 1 to write complete topic sentences for this essay.
4Complete these topic sentences with your own ideas. Then choose whether they introduce positive or negative ideas.
- One of the main advantages of having a car is . Type:
- One of the best things about changing your career is . Type:
- On the other hand, living in a large city . Type:
5Use each of these words to replace another in Exercise 4 to avoid repetition.
benefit aspect of positive significant
- sentence 1: One of the main of ...
- sentence 2: One of the best of ...
- sentence 1: One of the main of ...
- sentence 1: One of the advantages of ...
6Grammar workout. These IELTS essay topic sentences contain mistakes. Correct them.
- Nowadays, take a year out to live or study abroad is become increasingly popular.
- Let’s begin by look at the advantages of move away.
- All things considered, start a new life in a foreign country never easy.
2 Let’s begin by looking at the advantages of moving away.
3 All things considered, starting a new life in a foreign country is never easy.
Exam skills 2: Avoiding generalizations in your writing
1Complete these sentences using the model essay.
- This make you more rounded as a person.
- Secondly, moving abroad lead to a better quality of life.
- ... which improve promotion prospects on your return.
- This leads to homesickness ...
- Another issue is that it difficult to start a new life from scratch.
- This process takes time and especially challenging if ...
2Rewrite these sentences so that they sound less general. The auto-check looks for a softener such as can, could, may, often, generally, in many cases, for many.
- It is difficult to find a job when you are in a foreign country.
- Children copy the behaviour of their parents.
- Working from home makes it difficult to build good relationships with your colleagues.
- Learning a language gets harder with age.
- Young people turn to crime because of the lack of employment opportunities in their area.
In many cases / the majority of cases, it is extremely difficult at first to integrate in a new society.
Generally speaking, moving abroad is a very difficult thing to do.
For many, the language barrier is a major problem.
Avoiding generalizations: practice
3Rewrite three of the sentences from Exercise 2, using the expressions in the box above.
4Complete these sentences with your own ideas.
- Generally speaking, living in the city .
- In the majority of cases, if you work hard, .
- Generally speaking, developing countries .
- In many cases, people who are aged 50 and over .
- For many, learning a new language .
5Write a paragraph on one of these topics. Talk about the positive and the negative aspects. Use the expressions and grammar you have studied.
marriage teenagers moving house public transport living on your own being a student exams politicians
Check and challenge
Writing about life changes and experiences
CHECK: Find a piece of language you studied in this section which is another way to say:
- try new food
- learn a language in an informal way
CHALLENGE: Using language from this section, write five useful tips for someone preparing to move abroad.
Verb patterns
CHECK: Which three verb patterns did you study? Drag the pattern to the example.
Check and challenge
Topic sentences
CHECK: Find and correct the mistakes in these topic sentence starters.
- One of the main advantages of have a car is ...
- On the another hand, moving to another country can be ...
CHALLENGE: Make a brief plan for this essay title. Drag the points into advantages or disadvantages.
In addition, changing careers helps you to acquire a range of useful and transferable skills.
On the other hand, having more than one job in your working life often means starting from scratch.
Furthermore, some employers may hold back responsibilities if they know you are the kind of person who moves on after two or three years.
Avoiding over-generalizations in your writing
CHECK: Add a modal verb to make each statement less general.
- Losing touch with friends from home unhappiness.
- Working from home life much easier.
Practice questions
Choose one and write a conclusion only. Use the lesson checklist.
Final: your conclusion PDF
- I answer the exact question.
- I summarize both sides without repeating exactly the same vocabulary.
- My final position is clear but not too absolute.
- I do not add a brand-new main argument.