IELTS Opinion Essay Body Paragraphs

This lesson looks at how expand your main points for the body paragraphs in your IELTS writing task 2. This lesson follows on from two previous lessons. Make sure you read the previous lessons first:

Every one of us should become a vegetarian because eating meat can cause serious health problems.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Planning Body Paragraph A

The main point: A vegetarian diet is certain healthy.

Supporting points:

  • a diet based mainly on vegetables is rich in essential vitamins and minerals
  • protein can be found in pulses and dairy products
  • avoiding certain meats can help reduce heart problems and diabetes

Planning Body Paragraph B

The main point: Not all meat is unhealthy

Supporting points:

  • not all meat is unhealthy
  • examples: fish and chicken

Planning Body Paragraph C

The main point: Having a balanced diet is key

Supporting points

  • A diet which has mostly vegetables and a small amount of meat is best
  • Eating meat in moderation is considered beneficial to health

Now try writing the paragraphs before you check the models below.

Models

Model Paragraph A
Firstly, it must be admitted that having a vegetarian diet is certainly healthy. A diet which contains a high quantity of vegetables is rich in all the essential vitamins and minerals needed to promote health. In addition, avoiding red meats, which is said to lead to heart problems if eaten in large quantities, can also be beneficial.
Model Paragraph B
However, while having a vegetarian diet is certainly a healthy way to eat, not all meats are actually unhealthy. Take, for example fish, this meat contains vital omega 3 oils which are essential in building health and it is recommended by the medical profession to include fish in the diet at least once a week. Another illustration is white meat, such as chicken, this meat is also considered healthy when eaten in moderation.
Model Paragraph C
Finally, the key to health is to eat a balanced diet which consists of predominantly vegetables but also some healthy meats, namely fish and chicken. Having a balanced diet is generally more manageable for most people and would require only small changes in their current diet to see significant changes in their health.

 

Recommended Lessons

IELTS Opinion Essay Model
IELTS Video Lesson Writing Skills: Connecting sentences
IELTS Video Lesson for Writing: Should ideas be interesting?

 

Comments

  1. hi Liz, I wrote this kind of thing for paragraph A:
    first of all, a vegetarian diet based mainly on vegetables that is rich in essential vitamins and minerals also protein can be found in pulses and dairy products. consuming these products can be useful for health. on the other hand avoiding certain meats can help reduce heart problems and diabetes.
    is this possible?

    • Try writing it again using full stops. By this I mean, put each point into a separate sentence and make sure it is explained fully. Don’t run ideas and supporting points together in one long sentence. Organise your thoughts into sentences.

  2. hello liz,
    when we use meat and when we use meats?

    • If you are not sure, then you should only use the uncountable noun. Never take chances in IELTS. Any mistakes will reduce your score.

  3. Hello Liz,

    I wrote my writing test recently, and it talked about ready to eat foods.

    More and more people buy ready to eat foods than cooking. Do you think the advantages are more than disadvantages? Give relevant examples from your personal experience.

    When paraphrasing, I substitute ready to eat foods for foods gotten from restaurants and canteens. My introduction was:

    Purchasing foods in restaurants and canteens have taken the global stage. A lot of people now preferred buying already made foods to cooking. In my opinion, this practice has more benefits than drawbacks because it allows one to sample variety of foods while also creating more time for other activities. This essay will shed more light on this position.

    Is this introduction great? I am afraid it is off topic, what do you suggest?

    • Yes, it’s off topic. Sorry to tell you. This is about ready meals which means packaged ready meals that you put directly in the oven or microwave. It is not about restaurant food or from a canteen. There are four marking criteria for writing task 2. For Task Response you will get a low mark. But the other three criteria will not be affected at all by this mistake. You will also have your scores from task 1 as well. Fingers crossed for your results! you should also be avoiding phrases like “This essay will shed more light on this position.” – those are not your words. Each sentence must be uniquely created by yourself, not copied from books or other essays.

  4. Hi Liz,

    If I say, “First of all, …. ” or “Firstly”in the beginning of the paragraph is it okay?

  5. Mukesh kumar says

    Hello liz.. Sorry to ask here about band scores.. Can you please tell me im very confused regarding it.. Is the band scale has been changed.. What is the latest band scale.. Can you tell me? I got 32 correct answers in listening and received only 6.5 band.. Is it correct… Tell me please regarding each module… 🙏 plz tell me as fast as possible….

  6. Hi Liz
    Do we still have to write a conclusion paragraph ? Last body paragraph looks like a summarization . Thx

    • Each body paragraph presented a main point. Your conclusion will then sumamrise all points. For example, “Although a vegetarian diet can be healthy, it is still best to have some meat in a daily diet.”

      • Thx you for your reply now I got it . One more question though . In the fisrt paragraph ” avoiding red meats , which is …” I m confused , “meats ” here is countable or uncountable ?
        Happy weekend 🙂

        • This is a trick one to explain. The words “cheese” and “meat” are generally said to be uncountable. But when students reach advanced level, they learn that some uncountable nouns can also be countable, such as cheeses and meats. If this is new to you, don’t use it in your test. Never use new language in your IELTS test, use language you understand well and know well. However, if you would like more information, see this page about “meat” countable & uncountable: https://www.englishclub.com/ref/esl/Nouns_that_are_Count_and_Noncount/meat_2998.htm

  7. Dear Liz,

    Is it okay to write “e.g.” instead of “for example” in the essays? In the scientific articles, the abbreviations “e.g.” and “i.e” are frequently used especially when mentioning the items in brackets.

    Many thanks in advance.

  8. What length should the supporting paragraphs be?
    If I am consistently writing a 2 supporting parragrpah essay, will a 80 word would work?

    • If you have two body paragraphs, then aim for about 95 words. If you have three body paragraphs aim for around 65 each.

  9. Hi Liz
    Could you give us a similar example to advantage/disadvantage essay? I haven’t found any exercise and I have doubts related the conclusion in this kind of essay. In the same way I don’t know if there is a need to express personal opinion. Thank you
    JM

  10. Hi!
    Thanks for your amazing lessons!
    A quick question: Can I use ” we should” or “we can see that”? Or only the impersonal form is allowed, like “is said”?
    Thanks

  11. Whatever happens what you need to do is to keep yourself
    Calm and tranquil on the test day.If you want to be treated fairly

  12. i can’t believe that almost similar question appeared (september 19).
    everyone should become a vegetarian because they do not need to eat meat to have a healthy diet. to what extent do you agree or disagree?
    my thesis was: In my opinion, while I agree that plant based diet is beneficial to health, I do not agree that everyone should turn vegetarian.

  13. I have found your tips beneficial and I must thank you for that Liz.
    Please kindly revisit this part of the first paragraph ‘In addition, by avoiding red meats, which is said to led to heart problems if eaten in large quantities, can also be beneficial’. I am not too comfortable with the word BY and then LED; kindly make it clearer Ma. Thank you

  14. Hi Liz,
    Thank you for your helpful website, it is really great and it is helping me through my long journey with the IELTS.
    I would like to ask you about paragraph B (recommended by medical profession). Shouldn’t it be (professionals)? (and omega3) Why not (Omega three)?

    Thank you

    • The word is “the medical profession” which refers to the profession not a person. Please check in your dictionary.
      All the best
      Liz

  15. Radhakrishnan Rajendran says

    Hi Liz,

    Good day.
    I watched your video explaining how to write the Introduction paragraph of Writing task 2. Do you have any link video explaining how to write the Body paragraph and the important aspects that has to be considered during this exercise.

    Thanks
    R. Radhakrishnan.

  16. Hi, Liz!
    Can I use a rhetorical question in IELTS writing?
    When I practice with body paragraph B, I point out that it’s more delicious to have meat like fish and chicken than vegetables only. So to emphasize the idea, my ending for this paragraph is “So why should we give up such wonderful foods which are not only healthy but also delicious?”. Is this OK? I’m quite worried because I haven’t seen any rhetorical question sentence in sample answers.

    By the way, is there another lesson for the conclusion? I mean, on this essay topic, there are lessons for finding main points, the introduction and body paragraphs. To make a complete sample answer, it still lacks a conclusion paragraph.

    Hope for your help. Thanks!

  17. Swikriti says

    Hi Liz maam,
    I have written the eassy for the same question mentioned above. I request you to check and provide feedback on it. Thank you.

    Vegetarian diet is considered to be a healthy diet for each one of us as meat consumption can lead to fatal health issues. To some extent, I beleive this statement to be true but I strongly support the balance diet with some reasonable portion of meat.

    On the one hand, green vegetables are rich in iron and minerals which are very essentials for our physical and mental well being. Similarly, other vegetable, pulses and dairy products provides protien and vitamins required for the healthy body and all the nutritions required by the healthy body has been fulfilled by the consumption of vegetarian foods alone. In addition to his, having meat espesialy red meat (for instance: pork) in our diet is considered to be unhealthy since it increases risk of causing various serious diseases as heart problems and diabetics.

    On the other hand, not all the meats are regarded as unhealthy for consumption. Fish and chicken are considered as a good source of protien and is healthy to include it in our diet. Likewise, meat provide enough protiens demanded bt the active working body.

    In conclusion, in my view, a balance diet should be the choice for everyone. One should not overdose one self with just a food product unlike one should have a proper combination of vegetarian as well as an adequate proportion of meat on diet.

  18. Hi liz,

    What would be the possible conclusion in this essay? Thanks a lot.

    Regards,
    Mark

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