Logical Writing in IELTS Writing Task Two (3 of 10) @ Andrew安德魯雅思權威

Well, here we go with the next of the IELTS ‘logic’ posts. Remember, in IELTS essays, one of the biggest problems is a lack of logical thinking, especially if you memorise material from the many IELTS ‘magic books’ out there.

Always remember, IELTS Task-Two essays require a detailed and coherent argument. It must make sense! You need to have the ability to know what makes sense and what does not. Here are five more sentences, but each one has a logic issue. Can you see what it is?

Try to work out the logic problems with the following sentences.

Mass shootings cause death.
Even if young people grow older, they ….
Adults tend to need an occupation.
It is clear that the Internet was 50 in 1998.
Increasing taxes on cigarettes will reduce smokers’ addiction.

The answers will be given in the next ‘logic’ post.

Answers to Logic (2 of 10)

‘Tend’ is very weak. It means we usually do, but not always. Drug addicts do not ‘tend’ to want drugs. They are addicted. They depend on drugs.
A graph doesn’t show something only when we look at it, right? This is an example of bad memorisation.
‘European figures are lower’ is a simple fact, not a conclusion. My IELTS Task One Writing book says we should never conclude in Task One. This is one reason why.
‘According to’ is a big problem. It is popular, but it is almost always fluff, thus not good or necessary or logical. ‘According to’ is only used when there is some doubt, questions, or uncertainty. This means that the authority (‘according to doctors/Freud/the law’) or the source (‘according to newspaper reports/Bill/the latest gossip’) needs to be given. In Task One, the source is known, showing hard facts about which there is no doubt. The only way ‘according to’ can be used logically is if the data predicts into the future (meaning, there is now some doubt). Thus, ‘According to the graph, the profit will fall in the next few years’ is logical; however, as stated at the end of Tip 6, it is better to avoid mentioning a Task-One item we cannot see on the page, and instead use a ‘future predictive’ tense, such as ‘[Y quantity] is expected/predicted/forecasted to fall…’.
If something is ‘widely accepted’, then some people, but not many, do NOT accept it. ‘Life is important’ is a fact everyone would accept.