[WRITING | LESSON 10]

LESSON 10. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

READING 1 |
You are going to read an article in which four people talk about their lifestyles. For questions 1–10, choose from the
people (A–D). The people may be chosen more than once.
This is your life
Four more personal accounts in our series on different lifestyles
(1) A. Colin Dobson: television and stage actor C. Janie Collins: farm vet
Normally I get out of bed around midday. I’ll I used to have a dog and we’d go running together
sometimes go for a run after I get up, though it’s not really most mornings, but I gave him to my mum in the end. I
my idea of fun. I’m not a fitness fan, but I realize it’s (40) tend to be out all day visiting farms and it wasn’t fair to
(5) important. leave him alone. So now I don’t get as much exercise as I’d
When I’m not rehearsing or on tour, afternoons like to.
usually involve reading scripts or learning lines. My wife I love my job, especially the variety and not knowing
and two sons are also actors, so at home there are usually what you’ll be doing from one day to the next. But being a
scripts lying all over the place. It’s a bit of a mess, I’m (45) vet – any type of vet – is not what people think. It’s not all
(10) ashamed to say. I’m passionate about history, and if I’m cuddly lambs and cute little pigs. We have to do some
working away from home, I spend the afternoons in pretty unpleasant things sometimes, things which would
museums or historic buildings. I always get to the theatre put you off working with animals for life.
at the last minute, which annoys my co-actors, but I don’t My mum wants to know when I’m going to settle
like arriving anywhere early. (50) down with someone, but there’s no room for a dog in my
(15) After a performance I eat and spend a few hours life, so I don’t see how I’ll be able to fit marriage in.
unwinding, so bedtime is often two or three in the D. Mark Fudge: fisherman
morning. I always fall asleep as soon as my head hits the My flat overlooks the port, so it’s just a short walk to
pillow. the Ellie May. That’s our boat, the place I think of as home.
B. Jodie Miller: potter (55) I get lonely if I’m away from her for longer than a week or
(20) Before I started renting the workshop at the open-air so – the crew is like a family to me.
museum, I would crawl out of bed in the morning, get I’m one of four deckhands, which means that the first
dressed and go straight into the garage, which I’d mate – the second in command after the captain – gets us
converted into a studio. Now I get the train and a bus, so I to do cleaning and maintenance work as well as pulling in
have to get up early and my morning routine is dull and (60) the nets, then washing, salting, icing and storing the fish.
(25) conventional, the same one that’s played out in millions of We work hard – six hours on, six hours off, six hours on,
households. six hours off – every day for seven weeks. It’s tough, but I
On the plus side, though, I get to meet lots of people: can’t see myself in any other profession. There’s nothing
there are the museum visitors that come into the else I’d rather do.
workshop every day to watch me working, the other (65)
(30) craftspeople – the broom maker, the blacksmith or the
glassblower – and I also give classes. Working at home
was a solitary business and I hated the fact that I would
often go for days without speaking to anyone.
I get lots of requests for personalized mugs, and
(35) evenings are spent packaging up orders to send out the
(36) next day. I often get to bed later than I would like.
Which person?
admits to having an untidy house? 1
could not imagine doing any other type of work? 2
likes the unpredictable nature of their work? 3
is not particularly keen on taking exercise? 4
says they start the day like many other people? 5
does not have to go far to get to their place of work? 6
never has any trouble getting to sleep? 7
used to feel lonely while working? 8
says that people have the wrong idea about their work? 9
would prefer to go to bed earlier on many occasions? 10

READING 2 |

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 [WRITING | LESSON 10]
You are going to read an extract from an article about a trip to study the bottlenose whale. Six sentences have been
removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (11-16). There is one extra
sentence you do not need to use.
Bottlenose whales: deep-sea divers of the North Atlantic
Douglas Chadwick joined the crew of the research boat the ‘Balaena’
(1) I have joined the crew of the Balaena, a 15-metre research boat, and we are now a few kilometres off the east coast of Cana
Gully. Gully means 'narrow channel’, but this it is more like a drowned Grand Canyon, about ten kilometres across and, in places
bottom of the sea. The Gully, with its abundant fish, is home to a dozen kinds of cetaceans.
We have come in search of bottlenose whales. Hal Whitehead, a whale expert, and his crew are here to study the behavi
hoping to see at least one today, but I am prepared to be disappointed. I've been told that, as a rule, the first things you see are s
out of their heads, which are visible from a distance. 11 _________________.
Already some three metres long at birth, northern bottlenoses continue to grow in size until the age of twenty, when the
between five and seven tonnes, roughly the same as African elephants. 12 _________________. ‘These are probably among the
(15) planet, and we hardly know a thing about them,' says Hal Whitehead.
It is very quiet and all we can hear is the creak of the ship's masts as it sways. Suddenly, breaths like great sighs sound th
smallest one swims for the boat and a larger companion cuts it off. Then they rejoin the others to float like swollen logs a short d
I can see them well. They have small fins but big, domed heads with imposing foreheads above narrow, protruding jaws.
water now, all pointing our way. 14 _________________. We are being studied by northern bottlenose whales, which is only fair, sinc
(20) If the bottlenoses don't swim too fast, we can keep up and observe them. Their movements are accompanied by grun
blowholes. Every so often, one repeatedly lifts its tail to give the water a resounding slap. This display may function as yet anoth
The biggest question is what goes on when these animals are not on the surface, which is most of the time. To find out,
recorder (TDR) to a whale's skin. The TDR stayed on for four-and-a-half hours and surfaced with the first solid data ever obtai
kingdom. 16 _________________. This revelation seems to prove Hal Whitehead's theory that the world's deepest diver is the bottlen
(25) other beaked whales yet to be studied.

(30)

(32)

A When you come closer, though, you may find that they E The same holds for leaping skyward and making a huge
have submerged on a long dive, presumably in search of splash, though they may do this just for fun.
food.

B On one of its dives, the bottlenose had reached a depth of F Beyond these basic facts, little is known about the lives of
nine-hundred metres. northern bottlenoses.

C These animals aren’t just watching us, they are scanning G These strange noises come from four creatures, twenty to
us with rapid clicking noises just above the range of thirty feet long, which have risen from the depths.
human hearing.

D Whale hunting reduced the population by at least seventy

per cent, and the species remains depleted today.

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 [WRITING | LESSON 10]
WRITING | Putting it all together
Standard Five-Paragraph essay outline format
Many employees may work at home using modern technology. Some people claim that it can benefit only
workers, not the employers. Do you agree or disagree?
1. Introduction
a. Hooks/General statement The spread of telecommunication technology, one of which the Internet
b. Background information made substantial contributions, has made teleworking possible. Discussions
c. Preview of the main points of the essay center on whether this trend will solely help employees and not employers.
d. Thesis statement I disagree with this, since teleworking provides for higher productivity and
(c and d) is reversible cost reduction for both parties, while the employers even enjoy an
additional boost in talent recruitment.

2. Body
a. Paragraph 1 Firstly, home-working boosts staff motivation. Due to its uniformity and
i. Topic sentence strict regulation, offices often do not account for individual freedom, causing
ii. Supporting details (at least and unnecessary stress to the employees. By working at home, workers can
explanation and an example) manage their time according to their working styles and strike a balance
iii. Tie-up between work and rest. Similarly important is that, without the presence of
b. Paragraph 2 their immediate supervisors, they are liberated from pressure and
i. Topic sentence discomfort. This new-found freedom promotes work outputs, which profit
ii. Supporting details (at least and employers.
explanation and an example)
iii. Tie-up Secondly, the shift from office-based to teleworking also helps save a great
c. Paragraph 3 deal of costs. In most cases, the operation and maintenance of a working
i. Topic sentence environment for hundreds of employees entails exorbitant costs. Thus,
ii. Supporting details (at least and online working enables upper management to save money on power and
explanation and an example) wireless networks while also avoiding the burden of on-going infrastructure
iii. Tie-up upgrades. In the same spirit, this change in working space significantly
reduces transportation and lunch expenses for employees. These financial
resources being saved, the company and employees can invest in whichever
working capacity they find fit.

Thirdly, by allowing workers to work from home, firms may broaden the
base of recruiting, capitalizing on rich human capital. Personal constraints
such as childcare duties or physical disabilities limit talents’ job
opportunities across the globe. Physical distance exacerbates this, denying
them of their dream occupations and potential employers of qualified
recruits who are capable of valuable contribution. Home-working resolves
this, allowing employees to perform their jobs at ease, and thus gives
employers more options in human resource use.

3. Conclusion
a. Restate the thesis statement In conclusion, I believe that the integration of online-working benefits both
b. Summarize main points firms and employees. The new working mode allows businesses to attain
c. Concluding remarks higher productivity and cost efficiency while enabling employers to hire
from a broader pool of candidates. Certain measures, however, should be
promoted to facilitate undesirable consequences that might come out of this
switch.
1. Introduction
a. Hooks/General statement: catches the audience’s attention. Students can use quotes, interesting facts
and figures, jokes or anecdotes, etc.
b. Background information: provide some information you think might be necessary for the readers of
the essay, may be a definition of a term (mentioned in the prompt) or the cause of the phenomenon
(in discussion)
c. Preview of the main points of the essay: outline the main point (that will be written in the body
paragraphs)
d. Thesis statement affirms the main idea of the essay
2. Body
a. Topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph
b. Supporting details defend or strengthen the topic sentence. Supporting details can include
explanation, facts, examples, and expert opinions about a specific subject.
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 [WRITING | LESSON 10]
c. Tie-up/Impact of the example: If your example includes statistics or facts, you have to show the
readers the connection between the example and the reasoning/topic sentences
3. Conclusion
a. Restate the thesis statement: Paraphrase the thesis statement
b. Summarize main points: Paraphrase topic sentences in one short, focused sentence
c. Concluding remarks: Use suggestions, predictions, or opinions that tie up with the introduction.
d.
A little dos and don’t in IELTS Writing
Don’ts Do
1. Use … or etc. when writing a list of examples.
2. Use question marks in academic writing People would wonder it will be effective
“But does this really work?” Introduction
3. Use exclamation marks
4. Phrases like “more and more”, “bigger and bigger”, Introduction
“greater and greater” are informal.
5. Words like “things” and “stuff” are vague and informal.
“Patience is the thing that most employers look for in
employees these days.”
6. Use FANBOYS to start a sentence
7. Be too specific or general in the topic sentences.
“The Pippin cafeteria is a nice place” (general)
“The Pippin cafeteria is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday. (specific)
8. Respond to the prompt with a national perspectives
“Commuting is an important expense for workers in Vietnam”
9. Use contractions (shouldn’t, can’t, mustn’t)
10. Use too much pronouns (you, we, I, us)

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