Section 5 / Lesson 5 - Putting Together An Answer
In this final lesson of this section, we will look at how to plan, organise and write our answer. Planning is essential as it is very easy to be very repetitive with this kind of question. At the end of the class, we'll look back at language from previous sections to see how we can use it in this type of answer.
Organising the Essay
Our basic structure for this type of answer is the same as all over writing task one answers:
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Paraphrase the topic from the question
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Overview all the changes
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Body 1 - Describe half the changes
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Body 2 - Describe the other half of the changes
The Introduction
As always, find as many synonyms as possible and then rewrite the first part of the question to introduce your essay's topic.
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plan = map
to show = to detail
the development of = the changes made to
a small town = an urban area
between 2008 and 2018 = in the decade after 2008.
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The two plans detail the changes made to an urban in the decade after 2008.
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After this, you need to give a summary of all the changes in one or two sentences. To do this, group the changes into two, three, or four types of building/facility/land use and then describe what happened to each group in general.
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In this example, I would split it into 1. residential and schooling, 2. recreation, 3. commercial and industrial, and 4. nature. You do not need to give the details of any specific building, only describe what has happened overall:
Overall, the amount of housing increased and the number of recreation and education facilities have increased alongside increased commercial and industrial activity. While the amount of parkland got smaller, there was more forest by 2018.
Body Paragraphs
As with all writing task one questions, it is best to split the data into two or three body paragraphs to make it easier for your reader to understand your answer. There are two ways to do this:
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By geographical position
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By type of building / structure / infrastructure (like the overview)
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Most of the time, it will be best to organise your answer by where the changes were made. This allows you to reduce repetition in your answers as you can describe where the change happened in relation to another. For instance, if you describe the houses, then the forest area, and finally the new recreation facilities, you must say west, then east, and finally west again. It is much easier to say the sports facilities are behind the new apartment buildings. With this question, the river is a clear geographical divide so:
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Body 1 - the west of the river
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Body 2 - the east of the river
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In a much more complex map, it sometimes best to split your paragraph into the same categories as your overview. . E.g. Body 1 - Changes to residential buildings, schools and leisure facilities. Body 2 - Changes to industrial and commercial buildings. However, don't do this without thinking if there is a better way first!
Complexity
Model Answer
As with other writing task one questions, the complexity of the data given can vary. You need to write around 150 words no matter how much data is given to you. With complex questions, you may need to choose what not to describe.
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The example question here is a very complex floor plan with changes made to three different floors. The areas marked in red do not change between the two maps, so do not necessarily need to be described.
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In this case, I would answer the question using this plan:
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Body 1 - New entranceways, reception area changes, and changes to the 2nd Floor
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Body 2 - Conversion of the parking area into a pediatric, maternity, and woman's health area
B1
1F
2F
When you are writing your answer, try to add a range of these things:
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1. A range of verbs to describe change.
2. A range of location language
3. A range of tenses (in this case)
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present simple
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past simple
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present perfect (most of this answer is in this tense)
4. Passive voice - will be underlined in out model answer (see this lesson)
5. Use comparative forms (see this lesson)
6. One or two relative clauses (see this lesson)
7. Give purpose if clear (see this lesson)
8. Correct use of articles
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Please note: You do not need use sequencing language. We don't know in which order the changes were made.
The two plans detail the changes that have been made to an urban in the years since 2008.
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Overall, the amount of housing has increased alongside the number of recreation and education facilities. There is also more commercial and industrial activity nowadays. While the amount of parkland is smaller, there is more forest.
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In 2008, there was a small amount of housing on the main road leading west out of town. Two-thirds of the housing on the northern side of this road has been knocked down and two new apartment buildings have been constructed. A new side road has been built off this road in order to put up more housing. The land behind these apartments, which used to be parkland with a playground, has been used to build sports facilities.
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Over the river, the school is now larger and the local shop has been enlarged into a supermarket with its own car park. New factories have been opened in the south of the town but the old stage in the park opposite this has been demolished. There is now a playground in its place. More trees have been planted in the north of this park.