Posts by Epi101

Epi101

Sep 15, 2020

Writing Feedback / IELTS Writing Task 2 - Owning a home is more important than renting [6]

@thaolinh
Thank you very much! I already found the first book yiu recommended (15 days practice for the IELTS test). I skimmed through and it seems like a very concise yet comprehensive book. I haven't found your second suggestion though.

Once again I appreciate your help!

Epi101

Sep 14, 2020

Writing Feedback / IELTS Writing Task 2 - Newspapers and books in the future [3]

In the future, nobody will buy printed newspapers or books because they will be able to read everything they want online without paying.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement

It is thought that hard copies of newspapers and books will see a decline of sales in the future because these reading materials will be available on the internet for free. I agree that newspapers will soon be obsolete. However, I believe printed books will still be popular in the foreseeable future.

Printed newspapers are actually already flunking sales, and in the near future, people will leave them behind. This is because nowadays people can easily access the news from online news portals through their gadgets. Although some online news website requires paid subscriptions, most websites offer up-to-date information free of charge with credible quality. Accessing news from the internet is also quicker. We do not need to wait for the next day to know what is happening around the world. In addition, people can pick a variety of news articles from different agencies according to their preference.

On the other hand, I disagree that printed books will become extinct. This is because printed books are somewhat a collectable object. Certain people are passionate of collecting books and have personal libraries at home. Public libraries will also still need to purchase physical books to enrich their collections. Another reason is that reading printed books is much more favourable compared to e-books due to several factors. Reading e-books cause ocular discomfort due to the light emitted from gadgets. Some people also like to take notes with pens or pencils and highlight sentences on their books. Although this could be done on digital files as well, it is more convenient to do it on paper. Moreover, e-books are actually not free and I believe buying printed books is more worth the value than e-books.

To sum up, I believe that printed newspapers and books might see a different fate in the future: the first will see their dawn and the latter will likely survive.

I would highly appreciate any feedback!

Epi101

Sep 14, 2020

Scholarship / Questbridge 1, Historical Figure to meet: Gavrilo Princip [3]

@IcarusFliesOn
HI. I'm not sure if you answered the task "Tell us about one of ...". Maybe it was a mistake and it was an answer to another question?

Overall I think it's an interesting essay with a good flow, easy to understand and interesting. You use a wide range of lexical resource and almost no grammatical error I believe.

Epi101

Sep 14, 2020

Writing Feedback / Services like education, health, social security should be provided by private groups in community [4]

@CATNIP

Hi Catnip, here are some of my thought on your essay
I think there are several grammatical errors, some are insignificant, but some made your sentences difficult to undestand

"... services must be provided by the government, ~~whereas~~ governments ..."

I think you haven't discussed both views in a balanced manner. On the second paragraph, you focus more on describing how the government's function, instead of elaborating on which services they should offer, and which ones should be offered by private companies. You could explain in depth with reasons and examples.

Epi101

Sep 14, 2020

Writing Feedback / IELTS Writing Task 2 - Owning a home is more important than renting [6]

Dear @Holt and @thaolinh, thank you very much for your feedback

This is my first attempt at doing the IELTS Writing Task 2. I actually tried using a timer and managed to write in 40 minutes. I was surprised at the word count also, but I think I was able to write that long because I typed the answer (since I'm planning to take the computer based test, adn I'm trying to familiarize myself with typing). I spent around 3-5 minutes on revising some errors I noticed, although I realized I could have done better.

I have been educating myself on tips and tricks of writing an opinion essay from a variety of resources (mostly youtube videos and websites) before attempting to write. I suppose there was one source that mentioned that it's okay to agree with both sides of an argument, as long as it is not perfectly balanced. Correct me if I'm mistaken on this. So, I infer that your suggestion on a "positive or negative question" is to just pick one side?

Ah and for the final statement, the question of the essay literally asks "do you think this is a positive or negative situation?". And I used I think as a simple way to deliver my opinion. Do you suggest to not use the phrase "i think" or "in my opinion" in these essays?

You also mentioned there was spelling issue, I noticed one error I made was on the abbreviation ie. (should be i.e). I put it again on spellcheck and couldn't find another error. Could you advise me on which word I mistakenly spelled?

Once agai thank you very much on your constructive input!

Epi101

Sep 13, 2020

Writing Feedback / IELTS Writing Task 2 - Owning a home is more important than renting [6]

In some countries, owning a home rather than renting is very important for people.
Why might this be the case?

Do you think this is a positive or negative situation?

My answer:
In some countries, buying an estate for residential purposes is considered more important than renting. In my opinion, this is because it offers more freedom and stability in the long run. I consider this trend as a positive situation with many advantages, although there are several adversities that must be faced to achieve house ownership.

Some societies put emphasis on house ownership due to several advantages. Buying a house would allow us to have full possession of the house for our entire lives, or until a determined period (ie. if we sell it). The first advantage to this situation is that we can renovate the house and conform it to our own architectural and style preferences. We have freedom to paint the walls, change the room arrangement, or maybe demolish some parts of the building, without having to adhere to certain rules like we would have to if we rent a house. The second advantage is the stability that it offers. We can choose to stay in a that place for a long time and not have to move around. It would be less of a hassle. This is of particular importance if we already have a family and children. Another positive impact is that we could be more connected to our neighbours and the surrounding community.

However, buying a house nowadays is not cheap. Estate prices are ever increasing in a rate that is exponential. This is due to the also increasing price of land. Therefore, in order to be able to afford house ownership, most people would have to work very hard and save money. Some people could also use credit schemes, which would make the house price more expensive. Sometimes it takes years until the loan pays off.

Overall, I think it's good that in some countries people strive to buy their own house even though it's not always an easy task.