📝 Effective examples in IELTS Writing Task 2 📝

I always teach a class on examples as there seems to be some huge misunderstanding as to what examples are for. As with everything else in an IELTS essay, examples have to serve a purpose and that purpose is supporting your argument.

Some arguments need more support than others. Yesterday, I gave my students a paragraph without any examples and asked to add them where necessary. One student added two. Which one is effective and which one isn't?❓

📝 Claim: Making sugar-rich foods and drinks more expensive is effective in reducing people's consumption of sugar

📝 "Second, to keep the familiar products sweet but cheap, the manufacturers will adjust to the regulations. One adjustment they might make is the reduction of the actual sugar content in their products or of the product size. 1️⃣ For example, chocolates and ice-creams might be made smaller in size. Another measure might be substituting sugar with healthier alternatives which add the saccharine taste but are significantly less harmful. 2️⃣ Stevia is one such ingredient as it is both natural and sweet. Whatever steps are taken, be it these two or similar ones, they will all result in a reduced sugar intake among the population, which means the goal of the price regulation will be accomplished."

The first example is useless - it adds nothing to the argument. The reader is capable of understanding the concept of a smaller product size without an example.

The second argument, however, is begging for an example as the reader might not know what those healthier alternatives are. I would also write "stevia plant extract" rather than just "stevia" because I suspect some people might not know what stevia is. 🌱

And then all hell broke loose when we started discussing if agave is a good example of a healthier alternative to sugar... Is it?