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English essay writing template. There are such mistakes. What types of essays exist in English

Writing an essay in English is a standard task on the exam. It is for this work that the most points are awarded, because. The task itself is not easy. Even in their native language, not everyone will be able to competently and consistently express their thoughts on a particular topic. What can I say if you have to do it in English.

So what is an essay? An essay is a short essay, the purpose of which is to convey individual impressions and thoughts on a specific issue. It is such a creative task as writing an essay that makes it possible to characterize you as a person, to show your worldview, your knowledge, your potential.

As you already understood, to write an essay in English, you need a fairly high level of language proficiency, and since. this task can be called creative, you must learn to express your point of view and develop a given thought. This art is quite possible to master, especially if you follow the plan, which we will discuss below. I will give you a couple of very useful tips for writing an essay in English, which will help you more than once.

Essay structure

An essay in English should include three semantic parts: introduction, main part and conclusion.

Introduction

In the introduction, you should clearly identify the key topic-problem, which in fact you will discuss further. That is, to begin with, you must inform the topic of the essay by paraphrasing it using keyword synonyms. You must show that you understand and comprehend the topic.

It is also necessary to indicate that there are opposing views on this issue, and indicate exactly what position you take. In this case, it is best to use impersonal constructions to emphasize objectivity.

The introduction may contain some commentary on the topic. This could be the definition of a key concept or your explanation of how you understand the topic. You can list which aspects of the topic you will consider and why.

So, a well-written introduction should give a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhat will be discussed in the main part. To beautifully and correctly formulate it, use the following phrases, which indicate the direction of your thoughts:

Now I would like to express my point of view on the problem of …
This essay deals with ... - This essay deals with ...
This essay will examine ... - This essay explores ...
This essay will analyze ... - This essay will analyze ...
Many people think ... but others do not agree - Many people think that ..., but others do not agree
Let us consider what the advantages and disadvantages of ... are - Consider what the advantages and disadvantages of ...
Let's consider some pros and cons of it − Let's consider some pros and cons of (this)
Let us start by considering the facts − Let's start by considering the facts
Let us start by considering pros and cons of it − Let's start by considering the pros and cons of (this)
It is generally agreed today that …

You can also use expressions that define your work plan:

The essay is divided into three main sections - The essay is divided into three main sections
The third part compares ... - The third part compares ...
Finally, some conclusions will be drawn as to ... - At the end, certain conclusions will be drawn about ...

Main part

In the main part, you should also give a few opposing opinions that differ from your personal opinion, and tell why you do not agree with them. Everything should be reasoned and supported by examples.

All information in the body should be logically divided (i.e. the text is divided into paragraphs). You must think carefully about the structure of your essay and correctly bring the main part to the conclusion.

The following phrases can be used in the main body when reflecting on a problem and arguing your point of view:

To begin with ... - Let's start with the fact that ...
You can ... - You can (You can) ...
Firstly, ... / Secondly, ... / Finally, ... - Firstly, ... / Secondly, ... / Finally, ...
The first thing that needs to be said is ... - First of all, it should be said that ...
One argument in support of ... - One of the arguments in support of ...
One should note here that ... - It should be noted here that ...
First and foremost ... - First of all ...
It is often said that ... - It is often said that ...
It is true that ... / clear that ... / noticeable that ...
The second reason for ... - The second reason ...
Another good thing about … is that … - Another positive thing about … is that …
For the great majority of people ... - For the vast majority of people ...
We live in a world in which ... - We live in a world in which ...
It is a well-known fact that ...
It is undeniable that… − It cannot be denied that…
A number of key issues arise from the statement. For instance, … - This statement raises a number of key issues. For example, …
First of all, let us try to understand ... - First of all, let's try to understand ...
One of the most striking features of this problem is … − One of the most striking features of this problem is …
What is more, … - Moreover, …
The public in general tends to believe that ... − The public in general tends to believe that ...
Besides, ... because it is ... - Besides, ... because ...
Doubtless, … - Undoubtedly, …
It is (very) clear from these observations that ... - It is (absolutely) clear from these observations that ...
One cannot deny that ... - One cannot deny that ...
Another way of looking at this question is to ... - To look at this problem from the other side, one must ...
On the other hand, we can observe that ... - On the other hand, we can observe that ...
If on the one hand it can be said that ... the same is not true for ...
The other side of the coin is, however, that ... - However, on the other hand, ...
One should, however, not forget that ... - Nevertheless, one should not forget that ...
One should, nevertheless, consider the problem from another angle
On the other hand, … − On the other hand, …
Although ... - Although ...
Besides, … - In addition, …
Moreover, … − Moreover, …
Nevertheless, one should accept that ... - Nevertheless, it should be recognized that ...
Furthermore, one should not forget that ... - In addition, one should not forget that ...
In addition to ... - In addition to ...
However, we also agree that ... - However, we also agree that ...

Phrases expressing personal opinion:

In my opinion this subject is very controversial - In my opinion, this issue is controversial
In my view … - In my opinion, …
To my mind … - In my opinion, …
To my way of thinking … - In my opinion, …
Personally I believe that ... - Personally, I believe that ...
I feel strongly that ... - I firmly believe that ...
It seems to me that ... - It seems to me that ...
As far as I am concerned ... - As for me, ...

You can support your opinion with the opinion of some experts:

Experts believe that ... - Experts believe that ...
… say that … − … say that …
... suggest that ... - ... suggest that ...
… are convinced that … − … are convinced that …
… point out that … − … note that …
... emphasize that ... − ... emphasize that ...
Perhaps we should also point out the fact that ... - Perhaps we should also point out the fact that ...
According to some experts … − According to some experts, …
One must admit that ... − It must be admitted that ...
It would be unfair not to mention that fact that ... - It would be unfair not to mention the fact that ...
Which seems to confirm the idea that ... - Which, apparently, confirms the idea (that) that ...
We cannot ignore the fact that ... - We cannot ignore the fact that ...
From these facts, one may conclude that ... - From these facts, one can conclude that ...
One cannot possibly accept the fact that ... - It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that ...
The most common argument against this is that ... - The most common argument against this is that ...
Thus, ... / Therefore, ... - Thus, ... / Therefore ...

Conclusion

The conclusion is the final part of your essay. In conclusion, you must summarize the arguments expressed, that is, draw a conclusion and confirm your point of view. Depending on the topic of the essay, it may be appropriate to give a solid or streamlined answer to the question asked by the topic. Or, you can clarify the perspectives and implications of a given problem.

In conclusion, you must express your opinion, which is supported by the arguments considered earlier. In conclusion, it is usually appropriate to list the main ideas of the essay. In this case, you need to turn to the introduction and draw parallels. But do not repeat word for word, use a different wording.

In the conclusion, there may be a question leading to further reflection, a quote, a bright spectacular image (of course, if it is appropriate). Alternatively, in conclusion, you can offer a solution to the problem under discussion, make a forecast of the results or consequences, call for action.

The conclusion is the most important part of the essay. After all, it is in the conclusion that the whole value of your work lies, where you sum up your reasoning. In it, you demonstrate how seriously you approached the consideration of a given topic and how much you are generally capable of independently reasoning and drawing conclusions.

You will be helped by special phrases that will help you consistently express your thoughts:

In conclusion ... - In conclusion ...
On the whole ... - In general ...
To conclude ... - In conclusion ...
To sum up ... - Thus ...
All in all … − In general …
All things considered ... - Considering all the circumstances ...
Finally ... - Ultimately ... (In conclusion ...)
Lastly… - In conclusion…
In conclusion, I can say that although ... - In conclusion, I can say that, although ...
Taking everything into consideration…
Taking everything into account ... - Taking everything into account ...
So it’s up to everybody to decide whether … or not −
The arguments we have presented ... suggest that ... / prove that ... / would indicate that ...
To draw the conclusion, one can say that … − Summing up, we can say that …
From these arguments one must ... / could ... / might ... conclude that ...

If you have already written the main part of the essay, then drawing up a conclusion should not be difficult. At the same time, I would like to list the most gross mistakes that simply cannot be made in the conclusion of the essay:

1. You can not put forward completely new ideas in the conclusion. It's just not logical. If they are really important, they should be included in the main body.

2. Never use an abusive tone. You must be confident in your statements. Don't use phrases like:

I may not be an expert
At least this is my opinion - At least I think so

3. Do not focus on too small and insignificant details. Your task is to summarize and draw conclusions.

4. In no case should you refute the significance of the previous arguments from the main part.

Volume of partitions

The volume of each of the sections may vary depending on the task and the topic of the essay. In any case, at least half of your essay should be the main body. The following ratio can serve as a general idea of the volume of each section:

Introduction - 10 - 25% of the total volume
The main part - 50 - 80% of the total volume
Conclusion - 10 - 25% of the total volume

Useful introductory phrases

Moreover… − Moreover…
Most of all ... - Most of all ...
It is important to note that ... − It is important to note that ...
It is important to remember that ...
An important point is that ...
At the moment, ... - At the moment, ...
In conclusion, ... - In conclusion, ...
After all, … − In the end, …
In any case, ... / Anyway, ... / Either way, ...
Actually, ... - Actually, ...
Firstly, … - Firstly, …
Instead of ... - Instead of ...
In the first place, ... - First of all, ...
From time to time, … − From time to time, …
As a result of ... - As a result ...
Indeed, … - Indeed, …
In order to ... - In order to ...
I must admit, ... - I must admit, ...
In other words, … − In other words, …
It makes sense (to) … − It makes sense …
It seems that ...
In short, ... / In a nutshell, ...
Besides, … - In addition, …
Luckily, ... / Fortunately, ... - Fortunately ...
Unfortunately, … - Unfortunately, …
In addition, … − In addition, …
By the way, ... - By the way, ... / By the way, ...
I should ... / I had better ... - I should ...
It may seem that ...
Finally, ... - Finally, ...
In fact, ... / Actually, ... - In fact, ...
As far as I know, ... - As far as I know ...
As far as I can judge, ... - As far as I can tell, ...
It doesn't matter that ...
It is not surprising that ... / It is no great surprise that ... − It is not surprising that ...
But other than that, ... - But other than that ...
However, ... - However, ... / Nevertheless, ...
It turned out that ... - It turned out that ...
Frankly speaking, ... / To tell the truth, ... - Frankly speaking, ... / Honestly, ...
In my opinion, ... - In my opinion, ...
To tell the truth, … − In truth, …
As a matter of fact, ... - As a matter of fact, ...
First of all, ... / Above all, ... - First of all, ...
It is self-evident that ... - It goes without saying that ...
It goes without saying that… - It goes without saying that…
It should be noted that ... - It should be noted that ...
I advise you (to) ... - I advise you ...
On the one hand, …, on the other hand, … − On the one hand, …, on the other hand, …
Also, ... - Also ...
As well as ... - As well as ...
Meanwhile, ... / Meantime, ... - In the meantime, ...
It is well known that ...
As for ... / Concerning ... - As for ...
It can mean that ...
I would rather ... - I would rather ...
I would like to ...
I think, ... / I believe, ... / I guess, ... - I think ... / I believe ... / I believe ...

In order not to worry about the clarity of your essay, you must have a clear plan and a deep understanding of the material. Try to use simple phrases, without abstruse expressions. This way you can avoid a lot of mistakes in English. While not overusing complex expressions, you should also avoid abbreviations or slang.

Be aware of the difference between written and spoken language. Use as many adjectives and adverbs as possible to make your essay colorful and expressive. In general, you should state the main ideas and problems of your essay clearly and clearly so that the reader can follow the course of your thought without being distracted by unnecessary reasoning.

Ideally, you should strive for a complete absence of grammatical and spelling errors. The general structure, division into paragraphs, punctuation - everything must be done correctly to help the reader feel your reasoning. Here are some tips for writing an essay:

1. Use Academic Writing

Avoid very categorical judgments and generalizations.
If possible, avoid personal pronouns.
Prove what has been said with quotes and data, indicating the source.
Observe gender equality: when talking about an abstract person, use person instead of man. It is also better to use the pronoun they instead of he or she.
Try to use phrases that are based on a noun rather than a verb. For example, instead of "Crime was increasing rapidly and the police were becoming concerned", write "The rapid increase in crime was causing concern among the police".

2. Don't use colloquial elements

Always use the full form instead of don't, they're, it's, etc.
Eliminate slang and colloquial expressions. For example: kid, a lot of/lots of, cool.
Don't deviate from the topic.
Instead of phrasal verbs (get away with, get off, put in), use one-word synonyms.
Avoid overly general words (all, get, thing). Be precise and specific.
Do not abuse exclamation marks, parentheses, avoid direct questions.

3. Strive to give the text objectivity

The use of impersonal constructions is encouraged (It is believed that ., it can be argued that ...).
Use the passive voice if it is not necessary to indicate the performer of the action (Experiment had been conducted).
Use non-categorical verbs (suggest, claim, suppose).
To avoid personal judgments, but to show your attitude to the issue, you can use adverbs: apparently, ideally, arguably, unexpectedly, strangely.
To soften the categoricalness, use the modal verbs could, would, may, might.
To avoid generalizations, use qualifying adverbs: some, a minority of, several, many, a few.

4. Connectivity of the text

In order for your essay to be pleasant to read, in addition to the fact that the thoughts in it must be expressed sequentially, the transition from one thought to another should be smooth, one should seem to follow from the other. You must keep the text coherent and guide the reader. The introductory and connecting phrases discussed above will help you with this. they can perform various functions. For example.

Dear readers!

The purpose of this article is to help you develop or improve your essay writing skills in accordance with the requirements for the exam. I suggest that you first familiarize yourself with these requirements, and then with the structure of the essay and the technology for writing it.

In part C2 of the exam, you will be given an essay writing plan that you need to follow in order to get the highest possible score, i.e. - 14.

According to the explanations for the demo version of the Unified State Examination in English 2014, on the official website, task C2 is fully completed if you have shown excellent command of written English according to the following five criteria:

Solving a communicative problem, i.e. the content reflects all aspects specified in the assignment; the style of speech is chosen correctly (neutral style is observed). Maximum - 3 points.
The text is organized as correctly as possible, i.e. the statement is logical, the structure of the text corresponds to the proposed plan; the means of logical connection are used correctly; the text is divided into paragraphs. Maximum - 3 points.
Excellent vocabulary was demonstrated, i.e. the vocabulary used corresponds to the set communicative task; there are practically no violations in the use of vocabulary. Maximum - 3 points.
The correct grammar is used, i.e. grammatical structures are used in accordance with the set communicative task. There are practically no errors (1-2 minor errors are allowed). Maximum - 3 points.
Demonstrated excellent knowledge of spelling and punctuation, i.e. spelling errors are practically absent; The text is divided into sentences with correct punctuation. Maximum - 2 points.

The essay must be a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 275 words. It is important to learn how to write the right amount of words! If you write less than 180 words, then the task is not subject to verification and is estimated at 0 points. If you write more than 275 words, then "only that part of the work that corresponds to the required volume is subject to verification." In other words, everything superfluous will be separated by a line and will not be checked. And if there is no completeness in what was removed in the first 275 words, then the communicative task will not be solved and the maximum score (3) for this criterion will not be given to you. The organization of the text will also be not quite correct, which will also lead to a decrease in points in the second evaluation criterion. You will lose 1 or 2 points.

How to count words? The answer is given in the annex to the demo version of the Unified State Examination in 2014: “When determining the compliance of the volume of the submitted work with the above requirements, all words are read, from the first word to the last, including auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, particles. In a personal letter, the address, date, signature are also counted. Wherein:

contracted (short) forms can "t, didn" t, isn "t, I" m, etc. are counted as one word;
numerals expressed in numbers, i.e. 1, 25, 2009, 126 204 etc. count as one word;
numerals expressed in numbers, together with the symbol for percentages, i.e. 25%, 100%, etc. are counted as one word;
numerals expressed in words are counted as words;
compound words such as good-looking, well-bred, English-speaking, twenty-five count as one word;
abbreviations (for example: USA, e-mail, TV, CD-ROM) count as one word.”

Well, now let's talk about the structure of the essay. You will be offered the following plan:

Use the following plan:

make an introduction (state the problem);
express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion;
express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion;
explain why you don't agree with the opposing opinion;
make a conclusion restating your position.

Thus, we see that this is the so-called opinion essay. It involves the statement by the author of a certain idea and defending it. You can defend your opinion:

by argumentation - but this is usually not enough for the exam;
by arguing and refuting the opinions of opponents, which is required in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the essay plan.

In other words, refuting the opinion of opponents, one must first be able to explain why they think so.

Let's take a closer look at each paragraph of the essay plan. Each paragraph is equal to 1 paragraph. Let's say the essay topic is: "Do athletes deserve their high salaries?"

1. First paragraph.

"Make an introduction (state the problem)" - "Introduction".

Two sentences suffice here, because the body of the essay will be voluminous. You can appeal to the reader, urging him to think about the problem of the essay. For example: "Have you ever wondered whether sportsmen's huge salaries should be paid to them?" Or you can simply state the problem: "The issue of high salaries paid to professional athletes has been the subject of a heated debate lately."

Here are some other useful phrases for introducing the topic in the introduction:

"It is common knowledge that ..." - "Everyone knows that ...".
"The / issue / question of ... has always aroused heated / sharp problem disputes / debates / discussions / controversy" - "The problem ... has always caused a lively debate."
“The sight of smb Ving*… is familiar to everyone. But have you ever wondered whether…?” “The sight (of someone doing something) is familiar to everyone. But have you ever wondered… did…?”
“Our modern world is unthinkable / unimaginable / inconceivable without… However, there are plenty of people who believe that it is not necessary / doubt the necessity / importance / use / benefit / good of…” - “Our modern world is unimaginable without… However, there are a lot of people who don't think it's important/question the importance….
"Let's speculate what makes them think so" - "Let's think about what makes them think so."
“There has been a dispute on… Let's speculate who is right: to proponents / defendants / fans of… who claim that… or the opponents / adversaries, who believe in…” (something) who claim that… or opponents who believe in…”.
“…has become an integral / inalienable / imprescriptible part of our life. Let's speculate, however, what stands behind it" - "... has become an integral part of our lives. However, let's think about what's behind it."
"New technology and advances in ... have raised ethical dilemmas" - "New technologies and advances in ... have led to a dilemma that affects the ethical side of this issue."
“…gaining increasing popularity today, many still dispute / doubt / challenge / bring into question / cast doubt on its use for the society” ".
“It is often difficult to decide which position to take whenever there is a debate regarding a choice between… and…”
"Development in... seems to have had an adversary effect on..." - "Development in... seems to have had the opposite effect on...".

*Ving - Participle I = actual participle in Russian. For example: reading - reading, being - being, earning a big salary - earning a big salary.

In our case, we could write the following in the introduction: “The world has often heard about million dollars’ prizes awarded to sports champions. At the same time there has been a dispute on whether athletes should receive such high salaries at all.”

2. Second paragraph.

"Express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion" - "Your opinion."

Here, in the first paragraph of the main part, you first need to state your opinion and give its justification. It is advisable to give at least 2 arguments with supporting sentences. In total, ideally, you will get 4 sentences for 2 arguments with their support, or 6 sentences for 3 arguments and their complementary proposals.

For example:

“I personally favor high salaries in sports, providing they are earned honestly. (1) Indeed, sportsmen dedicate their whole life to break records and win golden medals. Far from anyone could stand such heavy loads that professional athletes endure on a regular basis.

(2) Secondly, being a professional sportsman is an art of its own, since only talent together with hard work can bring prominent results; and as outstanding persons, champions should be rewarded adequately.

(3) Moreover, high salaries are usually paid to sportsmen by private organizations or governments who expect to get even bigger benefits later. The athlete wins gold to the team attracting further investments into it, or advertises a company’s product.”

Below I offer examples of phrases that introduce an opinion. It can be either yours, or someone else's opinion, or the opinion of the opposite side. Therefore, the pronouns in these phrases can be different.

“I think / I believe / I consider that…” - “I believe / I believe that…”.
"Some opponents of ... might argue / contend that ..." - "Some opponents ... may argue that ...".
"They assume / suppose ..." - "They assume ...".
"I am convinced that ..." - "I am convinced that ...".
"I don't share the above-given view" - "I do not share the above opinion."
"You would probably agree with me that ..." - "You will most likely agree with me that ...".
“To my mind… / In my opinion… / It seems to me that…” - “In my opinion… / It seems to me that…”.
"They look upon it as ..." - "They look at it as ...".
"I can't but agree that ..." - "I cannot but agree that ...".
“They are in favor* of… / They approve of… / They favor…” - “They are for… / They approve…”.
“I am against… / I don't approve of… / I don't support the idea of… / I personally frown on… ... "
“It is said / believed that…” - “It is believed that…”.
"...is believed to V1**" - "It is believed that someone is doing something ...".
“It goes without saying that…” - “It goes without saying that…”.

* to favor - American spelling; respectively, to favor - British. When writing a letter and essay, you must follow either ONLY the British or ONLY the American version, i.e. ensure uniformity. Otherwise, you may lose points.

** to V1 = indefinite / initial form of the verb (infinitive), for example: to live, to cause, to lead to, to result in. In this expression, the subject performs the action expressed by the indefinite form of the verb. For example: "Sport is believed to take away health and free time" - "It is believed that sport takes away health and free time."

3. Third paragraph.

“Express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion” - “Opinion of opponents”.

In the next paragraph of the body of the essay, you need to give the opinion of opponents and explain why they think so. It is enough to use 2 arguments, each of which is expressed by two applications. Here again, the table of phrases that introduce an opinion, given above, may come in handy.

For example:

“A lot of people think that athletes’ salaries are really overrated. Firstly, in their opinion, many sportsmen take doping. So their results may not reflect exceptional efforts. Secondly, opponents of high salaries in sport claim that there are occupations which are more important for our society, like scientists, for example, whose achievements help progress.”

4. Fourth paragraph.

"Explain why you don't agree with the opposing opinion" - "Refutation of the opinion of opponents."

In the next paragraph of the main part, it is necessary to refute the conviction of opponents. This is the most difficult part of the essay. Because it is always easier to come up with arguments "for" or "against", but to find in them incorrectness, irrelevance or inconsistency is another effort of your logic. In some cases, you need to try to be tactful, recognizing the relevance or regularity of the opposition's opinion. But at the same time, one must be able to find the weaknesses of the point of view under consideration and provide additional information that fills in the gaps in their logical sufficiency.

In our case with athletes, the doping argument sounds quite weighty, but it has a logical weakness - doping control is forgotten, as well as sacrificing one's free time, as in the case of scientists. Therefore, this argument can be refuted as follows:

“That may be true, but isn’t there doping control which is aimed at disqualifying cheating athletes? As for scientists, yes, they deserve high incomes for their inventions, but sportsmen, not less than scientists, devote all their free time to get outstanding results, sacrificing rest, health and private life.”

Here are other phrases that can be used when refuting or questioning the opinions of opponents:

“To a certain extent, it is right, but isn’t there…? / don't smb V1? /…” - “To some extent it is, but doesn’t it exist…? / isn't (someone doesn't do something)."
“To a certain extent, it is right, but we shouldn’t forget that… / we consider should the fact that… / we shouldn’t underestimate… / one shouldn’t disregard… / one should take into account…” - “ To some extent this is true, but we must not forget that ... / we must take into account the fact that ... / we must not underestimate ... / we must not neglect ... / we must take into account ... ".
"However veracious it sounds, I wouldn't agree with the above mentioned idea" - "However true it may sound, I would not agree with the idea mentioned above."
"Defenders of… may be applauded for seeking to V1, but what they propose would in fact seriously damage / decrease / threaten, etc." “You can applaud the defenders…for their attempts (to do something), but what they are proposing is actually seriously harming/reducing/threatening….”
"However, I disagree with these contentions" - "However, I do not agree (sleep) with these points of view."
“While… could lessen / worsen / decrease, etc… this is a small loss that could be offset by…”
“However, this idea cannot go further than being an immature claim because / since…” - “However, this idea cannot be anything but a superficial statement, because…”.
“This point has merit on the surface and could be acceptable to an extent. Yet, serious doubts can be raised against this view when one considers…” - “This view has some advantages on the surface and can be accepted to some extent. At the same time, this idea can be called into question when we consider…”.

5. Last paragraph.

"Make a conclusion restating your position" - "Conclusion".

Here you need to give your opinion, but in other words, thus stating it again. It is more professional to state a generalization or make an additional observation in the conclusion. Be sure to try to avoid repeating phrases that have already been written. According to the specification of FIPI control and measuring materials in 2014, “if more than 30% of the answer is unproductive (i.e. textually matches the published source), then 0 points are given according to the criterion“ Solving a communicative problem ”, and, accordingly, the entire task scores 0 points. Therefore, it is not recommended to repeat the words in the task. Express your main idea in different words. How to do it?

In our case, it might sound like this:

“All in all, sports stars really deserve their huge incomes due to the uniqueness and social value of their achievements. Evidently, it is the feature of a market economy where famous personalities of sportsmen are in demand being used to promote goods.”

Here we have characterized the profession of athletes in terms of their value to society, i.e. they looked at it not from the side of the athlete himself or his manager, but from the side of society.

Other phrases for writing a conclusion can be as follows:

"To conclude / sum up, / in conclusion ..." - "In conclusion ...".
"All in all ..." - "In general ...".
"All things considered ..." - "Given all of the above ...".
“Taking everything into account… / Taking all this into account / consideration…” - “Considering all this…”.
“…is a controversial issue, so it is up to a person whether to V1 or to V’1. Yet, I am convinced that ... "-" ... a controversial issue, so everyone here must decide personally (to do something or not to do something). And yet I am convinced that…”
“Although numerous skeptics frown on… our society need(s)…”
“But to all who… I have only one response: we cannot afford to wait / ignore / neglect / disregard…”

Here's what we ended up with:

“The world has often heard about million dollars’ prizes awarded to Olympic champions. At the same time there has been a dispute on whether athletes should receive such high salaries at all.

I personally favor high salaries in sports. Indeed, sportsmen dedicate their whole life to break records and win golden medals. Far from anyone could stand such heavy loads that professional athletes endure permanently. Secondly, being a professional sportsman is an art of its own, since only talent together with hard work can bring prominent results; and as outstanding persons, champions should be rewarded adequately. Moreover, high salaries are usually paid to sportsmen by private organizations or governments who expect to get even bigger benefits later. The athlete wins gold to the team attracting further investments into it, or advertises a company’s product.

A lot of people however think that athletes’ salaries are really overrated. Firstly, in their opinion, many sportsmen take doping. So their results may not reflect exceptional efforts. Secondly, opponents of high salaries in sport claim that there are occupations which are more important for our society, like scientists, for example, whose achievements help progress.

That may be true, but isn't there doping control which is aimed at disqualifying cheating athletes? As for scientists, yes, they deserve high incomes for their inventions, but sportsmen, not less than scientists, devote all their free time to get outstanding results, sacrificing rest, health and private life.

All in all, fortunes are earned in sports unquestionably due to the uniqueness and social value of their achievements. Evidently, it is the feature of a market economy where famous personalities of sportsmen are used to promote goods.”

Only 275 words.

So, we examined the requirements for writing an essay in the USE in English, as well as the features of the content of each of the paragraphs of the essay, sorted out their communicative features. Simply put, we realized how to write an essay. But what exactly to write specifically in each individual topic is another question that will be covered in the article “How to learn to generate thoughts when writing the exam in English and other languages and how to maximize the baggage of pre-prepared thoughts.”

This summer, a scandal broke out related to the USE in English: 1.5 thousand schoolchildren from the Sverdlovsk region, Primorye and Buryatia wrote an essay with zero points. Many of them were winners of Olympiads in foreign languages and studied in gymnasium classes. We asked Skyeng methodologist and GEF developer Daria Grebenyuk to talk about the essay format and give some tips on how to prepare for it.

Why are the regions dissatisfied?

Parents of schoolchildren insist that the reason for poor results is the different level of difficulty of tasks for Moscow and for other regions. They are sure that the Muscovites got easier topics. On this occasion, they even created a petition addressed to the president demanding that the grades of children be reviewed. As Natalia Riis, the author of the petition, told Kommersant, “now it turns out that Moscow is writing an essay about friendship, and the Urals is writing about digital literacy.”

At the same time, the FIPI (an institution that develops USE tasks) does not want to support the petition - they say that the students were poorly prepared and did the tasks incorrectly. For example, they arbitrarily simplified the topic “Early choice of a profession is the key to success” to a laconic “My future profession”. According to the representative of the FIPI, students do this in order to "reproduce the topic learned by heart instead of their own opinion and their own reasoning." State Duma deputy from the Sverdlovsk region Alexei Balyberdin asked the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Olga Vasilyeva to figure out what was the matter and who was right - FIPI or parents.

Some regions did indeed perform poorly in essays. In the Novosibirsk region, almost 56% of those who took the test received zero points, in the Kemerovo region and in Buryatia - 35%. They coped better in Irkutsk and Rostov - there the percentage of those who wrote zero is less than 10. In the whole country, 40% of schoolchildren did not cope with the essay.

How to write an essay in the exam in English?

Essay - a task of an increased level of complexity (corresponds to B2, the threshold advanced level of Intermediate). This is a discussion on the proposed topic, in which there are five structural parts:

- Introduction(introduction), where the problem is indicated;
- the position of the student and two or three arguments in support of it;
- the formulation of an alternative point of view and one or two arguments in its favor;
- an explanation of the student why he does not agree with these arguments;
- conclusion(conclusion), which summarizes the main position of the student.

Ideally, the essay is divided into five paragraphs. The student must correctly use the means of logical connection - such introductory words and phrases as in my opinion(in my opinion), however(nevertheless), in conclusion(in conclusion) and others. Pay attention to punctuation: write each sentence with a capital letter and end it with a period. Use question and exclamation marks only where appropriate.

And, of course, follow all the grammatical rules. For one or two minor errors, points will not be reduced, but it is better to strive for the ideal. The vocabulary that the student chooses must also correspond to the topic, the style of presentation and be diverse - as far as level B2 suggests.

The student did just that. Why are points reduced?

1. The content is not fully relevant to the topic

The most important criterion is the solution of the communicative problem. If the content does not correspond to the topic of the essay, then even perfect grammar, excellent lexical constructions and sustained volume will not help. Relatively speaking, if you see the Produkty store, go inside and see spare parts on the shelves, even if they are beautiful and expensively packaged, this is at least strange.

Let's say you have a topic friendship, and you write about a trip to your grandmother and how you had a wonderful time with friends. Like the word " friends” sounded, but this has nothing to do with the topic. This year there was a terrible topic in the Sverdlovsk region - “ Digital literacy is the key to success in any occupation” (“Digital literacy is the key to success in any profession”), but it was disclosed incorrectly. The USE participants wrote about what gadgets and technologies teenagers now use, but they had to express their attitude to the use of information technologies in the world.

2. Essay is larger or smaller than specified in the assignment

Another reason why you can fail the work is not meeting the criteria for the number of words. Remember, the optimal number of words for an essay is from 200 to 250. If the student wrote too much, the verifier cuts off the excess from the bottom and takes into account only those words that are included in the volume. Lack of volume also leads to loss of points.

Examinees do not always count words correctly. For example, some people think: a word written with a hyphen counts as two (in fact, it doesn't). Another example: the phrase " it is”, experts, of course, will consider this as two words, but they will consider it a mistake: they will decide that you do not know how to use the generally accepted abbreviation it's. And this, by the way, is already one word, not two. Here's what counts as one word:

Auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, particles;
- short forms can't, didn't, isn't, I "m and so on;
- numerals expressed in numbers (25, 2018, 126 204);
- numerals with percentages (25%);
- compound words such as good looking, well-bred, English speaking, twenty-five;
- abbreviations ( USA, TV).

3. The student does not pay attention to the design

This year, one of my students got nervous and wrote an essay on the back of the form. A personal letter and an essay are tasks with an open type of answers (they are checked by living people), but in any case, the forms that the student submits are first processed by the computer. If we do not respect the fields, an automatic check will detect violations. You can not score on technical requirements and write as God puts on the soul.

And how then is it better to prepare for an essay?

1. Start preparing for the exam with him

The first thing you need to work on is not listening, not grammar, but an essay. Firstly, it will help you see all the problem areas: what is wrong with grammar, vocabulary, punctuation. Secondly, this is the most difficult thing in the exam - the earlier you start, the more likely you are to prepare better.

2. Learn to express your thoughts - and only then hone the structure

To begin with, you should not adjust yourself to the framework of the exam - it's better to just learn how to express your thoughts. Take any topic and write, and then check if it is disclosed. Do you like what you wrote, do you understand the idea of your text. Then you can take an excellent textbook by Radislav Milrud (which describes four types of essays) and practice writing an essay according to the given parameters.

3. Calculate time

When training, be sure to put a phone with a timer next to it. It is naive to believe that, having come to the exam, you will be able to meet the time the first time. Many write an essay on a draft, but do not have time to transfer it to the official form. This means that the task failed, it is pointless to file an appeal in this case. I would allow 10-15 minutes to transfer the essay to a clean copy, and five more to count the words.

4. Always be mindful of alternative opinions

Often, students in an essay indicate only positive arguments or, conversely, only negative ones. But we must definitely consider the problem from two sides. To make it clearer, here is a topical example: “I am a pensioner and I support an increase in the retirement age. I want to work, I signed up for the Sobyanin program “Moscow Longevity”. But my neighbor Nyura Petrovna is 67 years old, and she is falling apart, she is even too lazy to go down from the third floor - in general, she is categorically against it.

In the end, you must definitely emphasize what you stand for - for Sobyanin or for Nyura Petrovna. Like, of course, I respect the opinion of my neighbor, but in general I am an active pensioner, I love my country, I am ready to die at work. Everything is wonderful, rye is earing, milk yields have increased.

You can start actively preparing for the exam in English right now - for this, Skyeng has developed. Classes are held on an interactive online platform at any convenient time. And the teacher will help you find gaps in the language and get rid of them (but in such a way that you won’t be bored). Sign up.

Data assignments on the topic “English. USE. Essay in English» are taken from various sources and are offered in addition to the presentation to the textbook. The volume of the essay in English is 200-250 words. The time to complete the task is 40 minutes.

English language. Essay. Topics for preparation (task C2)

Dear visitors of the site, this section will be improved and finalized. Thank you for being with us!

1.1. Essay on the topic: Art. graffiti

Some people think that graffiti is another form of expressing art; others think graffiti is a vandalism. What is your opinion?

1.2. Essay on the topic: Art. Theater and Cinema

Comment on the following Statement.

When cinema was invented some people predicted that theater would not last very long but it still exists, attracts large audiences and is not likely to disappear. What is your opinion?

List of English words on the topic: Art. SOON!