Living Alone or in Small Family Units in Cities

In many countries today, people in big cities live either alone or in small family units, rather than in large, extended family groups.

Is this a positive or negative development?

From essays on this question

Essay ideas: Living Alone or in Small Family Units in Cities

WhyThis is aPositive or negative essay — it asks why a trend is happening and whether it is good or bad.

SoWe split the ideas intoPositive(why it is good)andNegative(why it is bad).

Positive

5 ideas

Negative

5 ideas

Same question · Different responses

Sample responses and feedback

Response 01

Must fixSuggested

Essay · 268 words · 1 paragraph · 14 comments

Score details

Response 01
Estimated band7.0/ 9

Overall assessment

The response presents a clear, consistently maintained position that the trend is more negative than positive, with well-organised paragraphs and relevant supporting ideas. The main limitation is that some arguments, particularly the benefits side, remain briefly developed and occasionally rely on generalised claims rather than fully explored reasoning.

TR

Task Response

The response addresses both sides of the question and presents a clear, consistent position that the trend is mainly negative, with relevant main ideas, though some points receive limited development.

7.0
CC

Coherence and Cohesion

Ideas are logically organised into clear paragraphs with effective use of cohesive devices such as furthermore, however, and as a result, with only occasionally mechanical linking.

7.0
LR

Lexical Resource

The response uses a sufficient range of topic-appropriate vocabulary, including nuclear families and vulnerable state, though expressions such as death cases and true to people show occasional collocational imprecision.

7.0
GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

There is a good variety of complex structures, including relative and conditional clauses, with generally accurate control. Agreement with the collective noun family is interpretable, although singular agreement would clarify the household-as-unit reading.

7.0

What to work on next

Develop the supporting points more fully, especially the benefits of smaller households, by extending each idea with deeper explanation or a concrete example.

From essays on this question

Useful vocabulary: Living Alone or in Small Family Units in Cities

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Part 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write at least 250 words.

Words: 040:00 starts on first word