Task Two: Introductions

Sometimes, the hardest part is just to start writing your essay!  Remember that you should make a plan before you start - this will make you feel more confident.

The next stage is to write your introduction.  Don't spend too long on this - your introduction should be simple and short.  It will probably be the shortest paragraph in your essay.

If you are not sure how to start your essay, there is a simple way to do the introduction - it is two steps:

  1. Make a general statement on what people think about this subject.
  2. State briefly your own opinion.

Don't go into too much detail when giving your own opinion - if you do, you will find that your conclusion is just repeating your introduction - and that will lose you marks.

Making a general statement

Here are some phrases you can use for giving a general opinion:

  • It is often claimed that
  • It is generally believed that
  • Some people claim that
  • People often say that

Following this, you can use the idea from the question and expand on it but you must not use the same words.

Let's look at an example.  The question is 'Living in a big city is stressful and brings nothing but disadvantages.'

How can you use the idea but not use the words?  You need to change the vocabulary or the grammar.

So instead of 'living in a big city', you can write 'life in a big city' or 'big city life' or 'life in an urban centre'.

Instead of 'is stressful', you can write 'makes people stressed' or 'brings a lot of stress'.

Instead of 'brings nothing but disadvantages', you can write 'has no advantages'.

So, in this case, you begin your essay like this:

'It is often claimed that big city life makes people stressed and has no advantages.'


Giving your own opinion

Next, you give your own opinion.  You will be agreeing or disagreeing with the first sentence in your introduction. To agree, you could say:

'I would tend to agree with that opinion.'

To disagree, you could say:

'I would tend to disagree with that opinion.'

You now have your introduction!  Of course, you can say more but it is important not to use your arguments in your introduction - if you do, you will end up repeating yourself and that will lose you marks.

TASK

Below are some topics.  They are the same topics as in 'Making a Plan'.  For each one, write an introduction.

  1. Newspapers are a thing of the past.
  2. Education should be compulsory to eighteen.
  3. Taking care of the environment is the responsibility of the government not the individual.
  4. Children spend too much time on the internet.
  5. Bad food should be heavily taxed.
  6. Tourism only has negative effects.
  7. Cars should be banned from all cities.
  8. The retirement age should be raised to seventy.