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Task 2 Writing

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Many people prefer to wear fashionable clothes. Discuss the positives and negatives of this trend.

Write at least 250 words.

Millions of individuals enjoy clothing themselves in the latest trends. Explain the benefits and deficits of this fad.
BAND 8 and BAND 9 essays on IELTS depend just as much on content as they do on English.
Band 7 can get you your English requirement for most bachelor studies at most universities, so this is roughly equal to a grad ‘B’ = 80% to 85% overall grade, in grade 12 English.

TOPIC = people’s choices for clothing

CONTROLLING IDEA = The benefits and negatives of choosing to buy and wear the latest fashions

What is people’s choice of clothing?

It is a selection of attire a person wares in a given context

Why do people choose to wear certain clothes?

Choices of clothing are based on personality, self-expression, trends, social status, budget, comfort,

How do people make their choices?

By getting suggestions, from other people’s choices, weather, advertising, celebrities, visual media, magazines, movies,
***TIP – The reason that you always must go through the steps of WhatWhyHow is in order to get greater clarity and structure in your thoughts around the topic.

What are the benefits of wearing fashionable clothes?

Praise from others, individuality, quality – durable, elegant, recognition, confidence, social acceptance

What are the negatives of wearing fashionable clothes?

They are very expensive there is a ‘fashion cost’ or premium.

They are outdated quickly – go out of style

Discrimination (Judging a book by its cover)

***TIP – essays that express strong points in detail WILL score higher bands than vague (lacking detail) essays that include many points.

Positive = recognition, confidence
Negative = expensive, discriminatory
Among = amongst

When you have your thesis points, like confidence and recognition, do word association, before engaging your ‘body paragraph’ topic sentence.
Recognition  praise, appreciation, status, impression  first impression

THESIS:

The two main deficits of choosing to wear fashionable clothing are cost and discrimination; however, the benefits are confidence and recognition.

(The most powerful thesis statements are those which contain a wealth of information that can be easily understood from a few words.)
INTRODUCITON (hook + background + thesis)

(Hook = a fact including the topic that catches the readers attention in 12 words or less) Millions of individuals enjoy clothing themselves in the latest trends. (background = definition of key concepts and the importance of the question) Many people put in much effort to learn and purchase the most popular clothing styles within a particular time and context in a given society. This choice of attire has a significant impact on each person. (Thesis) The two main deficits of choosing to wear fashionable clothing are cost and discrimination; however, the benefits are confidence and recognition.

BODY 1 – Topic sentence – deeper definition of your thesis point(s) – cost and discrimination:

Average earners pay a hefty price to dress up in fashionable clothes; moreover, this creates social segregation among the rich and the poor. (Explanation – why? + quantify) Trendy clothes often cost five times that of no-name brands because of their high demand, and average employees, such as office workers, need to work for eight hours just to buy a pair of designer jeans. Furthermore, those who are not able to afford the most popular brands can be criticized by others for lacking success and status in society. (Example – when possible, one that can be used in both paragraphs [for cohesion], it should be closely relevant to your explanation, it should be specific and real-world, it should be easily recognized by your audience). A fashionable pair of Levi’s Jeans costs around 150 US dollars in comparison to its 15 dollar no-name counterpart. Studies show that teenagers wearing brand name jeans in school are more widely accepted and adored by their peers, as where students who cannot afford these are often bullied. (Concluding sentence). Clearly, these are the negative impacts of pursuing fashion in society.

BODY 2

Keeping up with the latest clothing trends oftentimes creates a strong first impression in public when meeting others, based on appearance, and this, in turn, results in high self-esteem and even greater success. When people do not have information about strangers for the first time they meet in school or the workplace, they tend to make initial judgments based on that person’s choice of attire. Frequently, when people are clothed inexpensive modern designer gear, they are immediately respected and accepted. For the students wearing the Levi’s Jeans it is an absolute positive for their self-worth to gain popularity among their peers, and arguably, this carries over into their future successes in university and career.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the desire to be trendy when choosing clothes definitely has certain benefits as well as deficits for individuals in their daily life. On the one hand, being in fashion is a costly endeavor and creates a certain type of prejudice, but on the other hand, it also results in acceptance and self-esteem. Whenever possible, it is beneficial to dress the part.