Researching the History of Houses and Buildings

In some countries, more and more people are becoming interested in finding out about the history of the house or building they live in. What are the reasons for this? How can people research this?

Annotated response

11 correction notes

Showing 11 correction notes.

The history of a house or a building can be fascinating, if we try to delve into it. For some people, learning about the history of is for various reasons. This essay attempts to outline some of those possible reasons for this and a couple of methods to research this.

The first possible reason for many to become inquisitive about the past of their houses could be that they actually want to find a connection, if any, between themselves and the buildings. Such connections, or lack thereof, could actually provide an insight to them as to whether those buildings contained anything “unique” at some stages of their existence that would “special” among the others, or “different” from in their neighbourhoods. After all, I think that it feels really good to remain at the centre of attention every now and then.

Some people would be interested in learning about the history of their buildings, especially how they were built, or what kinds of materials were used to construct them because they want to make sure that the buildings are . After all, nobody would want to put their lives at risk by choosing to live in a “” building that was built with some “” materials about a century ago!

But, for whatever reasons they want to learn about the history of their buildings, it is always better that they ask the locals first to get their information about the former residents of their houses. They could also contact the local municipality or the who could apprise them about how the buildings were made. Finally, people could also visit a local library or the authority that keeps information about old buildings, to learn about the history of buildings in their respective areas.

To conclude, people are becoming more and more interested in the history of their houses primarily to find a unique feature of it to feel special or to learn about the architectural style and safety features of the house. They can contact local residents, municipality offices and the library to do the research work required to find the history of their houses.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The response addresses both parts of the task with clear, relevant ideas and a visible structure from introduction to conclusion. Its main limitation is the occasional informal or slightly contrived development, such as the focus on feeling special, which weakens the persuasiveness of the reasons offered.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Response

7.0

The response answers both questions with a clear position and relevant main ideas, though some support, such as the desire to feel special, is developed in a slightly superficial or informal way.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.0

Ideas progress logically across well-separated paragraphs with effective linking, although some connectors like 'After all' and 'But' are used somewhat loosely.

Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary shows flexibility and less common items such as 'inquisitive', 'delve into', and 'apprise', but occasional informal or imprecise choices like 'mesmerising' and 'the crowds' reduce precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0

A good range of complex structures is used with mostly accurate control, though some sentences are strained by heavy punctuation and awkward insertions.