Writing Task 2: Family Topic-specific Vocabulary and Useful Grammar
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- Jul 26
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Topic-specific Vocabulary on Family Relationships and Useful Grammar to reach the Top Bands in IELTS
The IELTS Question on Family Relationships:
It is generally agreed that family relationships are not as close as they were in the past.
Explain why you think this has happened and suggest how family relationships could be made closer.
A band 9 model answer:
It is commonly thought that families are not as close-knit as they were previously. In my opinion this could be the result of changes in society that have made it harder for people to spend quality time with family members. In order to address this problem, it’s important that people make more effort to stay in touch with family, and they can leverage modern communication devices and applications to do this.
As a result of various changes in society it is much harder for people to maintain close ties with their families than previously. For one, in the past, people tended to live very near relatives during their whole lives, whereas in today’s world this is not the case. These days, people are more mobile and regularly move to different cities or even countries in order to find a better job, take advantage of better education or for some other opportunity. This makes it more difficult to socialise with relatives and therefore more difficult to maintain close relationships. Furthermore, people’s lives are busier today than they were in the past. We have a plethora of work and personal responsibilities, not to mention all of the recreational and personal development opportunities now available. This means that it is even harder to find time for family. People are often only able to focus on providing for their nuclear family, at the expense of bonds with siblings, cousins and other members of our extended families.
One solution to the problems causing weakening family relationships is for people to prioritise their family members and make more effort to foster family relationships. People should get together with relatives more frequently and spend more quality time together. For example, they could organise a weekly meal together, or a regular family day out. As a consequence of these activities, family members would likely become closer. Moreover, even if a person lives far away from their relatives, in the modern world we have a myriad of technologies which enable us to stay in touch. Be it on Skype, Messenger, or any similar application, people can message and speak to their siblings, parents or others quickly and cheaply. By doing this, people who live far apart from their family members would still be able to remain close with them.
In conclusion, changes in society have made it harder for people to maintain strong family bonds. However, if we make a little more effort, and take advantage of the communication technologies now available, there’s no reason why we can’t sustain close relationships no matter where we live or how hectic our lives are.
Topic-specific vocabulary for family relationships:
Bonds are strong connections or feelings between people.
Close-knit is an adjective which means having strong relationships between members of a group or family.
Extended family is an uncountable noun which means family members who are not part of your immediate family, like aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.
Foster is a verb which means to help something grow or develop, especially a relationship or feeling.
A nuclear family is a family group made up of parents and their children only.
Quality time is time spent together doing something enjoyable and without distractions.
A sibling is a brother or sister.
To stay in touch is to communicate with someone regularly.
And finally, a tie is a connection between people, usually because of family or friendship.
Useful grammar structures to score highly for grammatical range:
The passive voice fits well in academic essays, and can often be used in the introduction when paraphrasing. If, for example, the task question states ‘people often think’ you can change this to the passive voice and write, ‘it is commonly thought’.
“It is commonly thought that families are not as close-knit as they were previously”
The answer uses conditional sentences. Here we have an example from the answer with a first conditional, which shows a real possibility.
“if we make a little more effort, and take advantage of the communication technologies now available, there’s no reason why….”
Linking words and phrases can be used to create complex sentences, especially by introducing purpose clauses and result clauses. In our model answer we can see how ‘in order to’ is used to introduce a purpose clause and ‘as a result of’ and ‘as a consequence of’ are used to introduce result clauses.
Purpose clause:
“people are more mobile and regularly move to different cities or even countries in order to find a better job”
Result clause:
“As a consequence of these activities, family members would likely become closer”
The answer also uses relative clauses effectively. For example, there is a relative clause using the relative pronoun ‘who’, which adds detail about the ‘people’ in this sentence.
“people who live far apart from their family members would still be able to remain close with them”
Comparatives:
There is a comparative adverb + than, which is used to compare two things and show the difference between them.
“people’s lives are busier today than they were in the past”
And finally, this answer includes an example of inversion. The writer uses ‘be it’ to replace ‘whether it is’. Not only is this grammatically more advanced but it also sounds great in an academic essay.
Be it on Skype, Messenger, or any similar application
Conclusion
Try to use as much topic-specific vocabulary as you can, and aim to use a wide range of grammatical structures in your Writing Task 2 answer. Remember, topic-specific vocabulary is more important than "advanced" vocabulary. Combining great vocabulary with a range of grammar structures, used accurately, is the secret to scoring bands 8 and 9. Best of luck!
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