Opinion compositions can present themselves in different ways and with different formats in an exam task:
- Write a newspaper article expressing your opinion about the current controversy with …
- Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper stating your views about the situation of …
- Your school is organizing a composition competition about the topic of…
- You have decided to post an entry in an internet forum about the problem of …
- Write a diary entry with your views on … so that future generations find it easier to understand the problem.
The first thing we must bear in mind is that our written document must have a clear structure. A standard paragraph layout in this type of task would include four paragraphs:
Introduction to the topic
What some people think about this issue
Your opinion on the issue
Conclusion
Remember that in an essay, it is important that the introduction engages the reader’s attention. It should introduce the topic, but should not include the specific points that we are going to mention in the body of the text.
A good introductory paragraph describes the present situation and gives supporting evidence. It should refer to the statement or question you have been asked to discuss. This can often be done in the form of a rhetoric question which the rest of the paragraphs should answer.
For example, for the topic “More and more people are getting addicted to text-messaging in today’s world” the introduction could be:
Being able to send short, written messages with mobile phones or ipads has clearly advanced communication in many aspects, but do you know anyone who spends over an hour a day texting their friends? Or anyone who neglects their work or studies to check their phone for text messages? If the answer is yes, the chances are that these people are textaholics.
The paragraphs where we present what some people think about the problem and our own opinion must also have a clear structure, with a topic sentence and two or three supporting sentences.
Topic sentence: What the paragraph is about. It is usually the first sentence in the paragraph.
Supporting sentences: We expand the topic sentence by giving (an) example(s) and/or giving reasons/consequences or explaining the idea in the topic sentence.
For example, for the topic ‘People who take unnecessary risks should not receive free health care' the paragraph where we state some people’s opinion could look like this:
Topic sentence: I've heard it said that people who take unnecessary risks should not receive this free health care.
Supporting sentences: For example, people who participate in risky activities such as skiing are more likely to have an accident. It has been suggested that these people should pay for any medical treatment they require.
Some typical phrases to introduce what some people think are
I’ve heard it said that
It has been suggested that
Some people think that
It’s sometimes said that
Some people argue
It is often claimed that
Some typical phrases to introduce your opinion are
Personally
In my opinion
I feel that
I believe that
In my view
To refute opposite arguments
This may have been true in the past, but nowadays,…
There are a number of flaws in this argument
This is simply not the case
The conclusion should briefly sum up the arguments we have made without repeating –as far as possible- the same words, and can include our personal opinion, which should follow logically from the arguments presented.
With information from English Result upper-intermediate, Oxford University Press, New Headway Advanced, Oxford University Press and Straighforward Advanced, MacMillan
