Problem and solution essays: plastic in rivers and on beaches
You can answer both parts of a problem and solution question, with measures specific enough to convince the reader.
Pollution questions in Task 2 often come in two halves. One asks what problems something causes. The other asks what could be done about it.
Task Response, one of the four criteria, judges how fully you answer the question you were given. Here that means both halves, each explained with examples.
Warm-up
Which plan answers the question?
The question asks: What problems does this cause? What measures could be taken to reduce it? Read three plans for the two body paragraphs.
Which plan answers both questions?
How it works
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Plastic waste is polluting rivers and beaches in many parts of the world.
What problems does this cause?
What measures could be taken to reduce it?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Before you write
- 1Split the question
This one asks two things: the problems, then the measures. Each half gets its own body paragraph.
- 2Keep problems and causes apart
A problem is the harm done: animals die, beaches lose visitors. A cause is why it happens: bags are free, rubbish is not collected. This question asks for problems.
- 3Choose two of each
Two problems and two measures, each explained with an example, show more than a list of six. Pick the ones you can explain best.
- 4Make each measure specific
Say what exactly would happen, who would do it and why it would work. Governments should make laws says who, and nothing more.
- 5Put your answer in the introduction
End the introduction with one sentence that names the main problems and the measures you will recommend.
The essay in four paragraphs
The parts, in order
The situation in your own words, then one sentence naming the problems and the measures.
Two problems, each explained, with an example of who is harmed and how.
Two measures, each one concrete enough to picture, with the reason it would work.
The main problems and the best measures again, in new words.
One measure, two ways
The government should solve this problem by making strict laws about plastic.
Governments could add a small deposit to the price of every plastic bottle, paid back when the empty bottle is returned. A bottle that is worth money is less likely to end up in a river.
Watch me do one
I'll plan the plastic question in front of you. There are two questions, so there are two body paragraphs: problems first, then measures.
Problem one is wildlife. Birds, fish and turtles swallow plastic or get caught in it. Problem two is money. Dirty beaches keep tourists away, and seaside towns pay for the clean-ups.
Measure one is a deposit on plastic bottles. An empty bottle is then worth money, so people bring it back.
Measure two is regular rubbish collection in towns and villages along rivers. Where there is none, people dump waste by the water, and floods carry it to the sea.
Last check: each measure cuts the plastic behind both problems, and both halves of the question have a paragraph. Now I can write.
A model answer
Plastic waste is polluting rivers and beaches in many parts of the world. What problems does this cause? What measures could be taken to reduce it?
Plastic bottles, bags and food wrappers now wash up on beaches and collect along riverbanks in many countries. This pollution harms wildlife and costs coastal towns money, but it could be reduced if used plastic had a value and if rubbish were collected properly. The most serious problem is the harm done to animals. Sea birds, turtles and fish often swallow pieces of plastic, which they mistake for food, and an animal with a stomach full of plastic can starve. Others become trapped in bags or old fishing nets and die. Moreover, plastic does not rot. It slowly breaks into tiny pieces, and these have been found in fish and shellfish that people eat. A second problem is economic. Few tourists want to spend a day on a beach covered in rubbish, so seaside towns that depend on visitors lose income, and they must also pay for regular clean-ups. The most effective measure would be a deposit return scheme. A small amount is added to the price of every drink sold in a plastic bottle, and it is paid back when the empty bottle is returned to a shop. In countries that use such schemes, most bottles are returned, because an empty bottle is worth money. In addition, governments should make sure that rubbish is collected regularly in towns and villages near rivers. Where there is no collection service, households often have no choice but to dump their waste near the water, and the next flood carries it downstream to the sea. In conclusion, plastic pollution threatens wildlife and the income of coastal communities. Giving bottles a value and collecting rubbish properly would stop much of this waste before it reaches rivers and beaches.
- TaskThe introduction's last sentence answers both halves of the question.
- CoherenceA topic sentence that names the first problem, so the reader knows what the paragraph will show.
- VocabularyAn exact phrase for what the animals get wrong.
- CoherenceA short sentence that turns the paragraph to its second problem.
- GrammarTwo passives in one sentence. The scheme is the topic, and who does each action does not matter.
- TaskSays why the measure works, which is what makes it developed.
- TaskThe two measures again in new words, closing the answer given in the introduction.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
If you want a teacher's comments on a whole essay, Kriti and Christine, the Elite Knowledge tutors, mark essays in their classes.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Four questions on the essay's parts, then you plan and write part of an essay of your own.
Problem, cause or measure?
Match each idea to what it is.
A developed measure
Choose the sentence that gives a measure the examiner can follow.
Which measure is developed enough?
The measures paragraph
Choose the best first sentence for the paragraph about measures.
Which topic sentence is best?
Find the mistake
Measures are often written with a modal and the passive. One of these sentences gets the form wrong. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
Plan your own
Plan this new question as you would in the exam, in about five minutes. Short notes are fine.
Many people now buy new clothes often and throw away old ones after wearing them only a few times. What problems does this cause? What measures could be taken to reduce it?
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Write the measures paragraph
Now write the measures paragraph for the essay you planned: a topic sentence, then two specific measures.
Write the body paragraph about measures for: Many people now buy new clothes often and throw away old ones after wearing them only a few times. What problems does this cause? What measures could be taken to reduce it?
0 / 80 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
Be carried onto the shore by the sea. Bottles and bags wash up on the beach after every storm.
Think that one thing is something else. Turtles can mistake plastic bags for jellyfish.
Money you pay and get back when you return something. The deposit is paid back when you return the empty bottle.
Throw away carelessly, in the wrong place. Without a collection service, families dump rubbish by the river.
In the direction a river flows. The flood carried the rubbish downstream to the sea.
An effort to remove rubbish from a place. The town pays for a beach clean-up every spring.
Before you go
Split the question, and give each half its own body paragraph.
Keep problems apart from causes. A problem is the harm done, and a cause is the reason it happens.
Explain two problems and two measures, with an example or a reason for each.
Make every measure specific: what, who does it, and why it would work.
Next: Next, Academic candidates describe a process diagram: how a block of flats collects and reuses rainwater. General Training candidates go on to Unit 5, about health, which starts with the words for health and with countable and uncountable nouns.