IELTS Writing Part Two- Phrases

Useful phrases for IELTS Writing Part Two

With a partner, brainstorm at least two phrases into each of the categories below.

Introduction – Setting the scene

Introduction – Saying why it is an important and/ or interesting question

Explaining the structure of the essay

Starting paragraphs – Explaining why you chose that topic

Starting paragraphs – Showing a change of topic

Strong statements

Weak statements

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2011

Supporting your arguments - Personal experience

Supporting your arguments - Other people’s opinions and experiences

Supporting your arguments - Giving examples

Other ways of supporting your arguments

Listing

Generalising

Summarizing

Concluding

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2011

Compare your answers to those below.
Introduction – Setting the scene
“Nowadays…
“In modern society…”
“(In my country) many (older/ younger) people think that...”

Introduction – Saying why it is an important and/ or interesting question
“This is a common talking point…”
“… has been getting a lot of newspaper coverage recently.”

Explaining the structure of the essay
“I will look at … and…, and then … in my conclusion.”
“To look at this matter from both sides, I will…”
“In this essay I will… the main points and then…”

Starting paragraphs – Explaining why you chose that topic
“There are many advantages to this/ possible ways of approaching this topic…”, “the most
important/ most topical/ easiest to illustrate/ one I know most about…”

Starting paragraphs – Showing a change of topic
“Looking (now) at the advantages/ disadvantages (of…)…”
“Another area of this topic that is worth looking at is…”
“I will now examine the arguments for…/ about…”

Strong statements
“It seems clear to me that…”
“We can therefore obviously conclude that…”
“I don’t think anyone can doubt that…”
“It is almost universally agreed that…”

Weak statements
“I don’t have the data I would need to be confident on this matter, but…”
“It could perhaps be said that…”
“Although I am no expert on this matter,…”

Supporting your arguments - Personal experience
“In my own experience,…”
“A relevant experience I had was…”
“I (once) experienced this when…”

Supporting your arguments - Other people’s opinions and experiences
“My own friends and family…”
“I once saw a television programme in which…”
“According to a newspaper article I read last week,…”

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2011

Supporting your arguments - Giving examples
“One (well-known) example is…”
“An example from my own experience is…”
“To give an example,…”
“For instance…”
“…, such as…”/ “…, e.g…”

Other ways of supporting your arguments
“In other words…”
“To put it another way…”
“I can perhaps illustrate this point by…”

Listing
“Firstly,…/ Secondly,…/ A third point to consider is…/ Finally,…”

Generalising
“In general,…”
“Almost everyone (I know)…”

Summarizing
“To sum up/ To summarize (what I have written above/ the two sides of the argument),…”

Concluding
“As should be clear from the arguments above, the … outweigh the …”
“I therefore conclude that….”
“Having weighed up both sides of the argument,…”
“Although the arguments for/ against… are also quite convincing,…”
“On balance, I would say that…”

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2011