Data assignments on the topic “English language. Unified State Exam. Essay on English" taken from various sources and offered to complement the textbook presentation
The volume of the essay in English is 200-250 words.
The task completion time is 40 minutes.
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Some people think that graffiti is another form of expressing art; others think that graffiti is a vandalism.
What is your opinion?
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!
Comment on the following statement.
Some people think that you can master the language only if you study it abroad, in the native speaking environment; others believe that you can become fluent in a foreign language without ever visiting the country.
What can you say about learning languages in a native speaking environment?
Comment on the following statement.
Some people believe that when you experience travel to other places, you new things and learn from the m. Other people argue that most people who go on holiday to other countries just lie on the beach and don’t experience the local culture at all.
Do you think that young people learn anything by traveling to other places?
Comment on the following statement.
The future of education – books or computers? What is your opinion? Are computers going to replace printed books in the future?
Comment on the following statement.
It’s reported that billions of dollars are spent on space exploration projects every year. Some people believe that this money should be used to solve problems on Earth.
What is your opinion? What problems should humanity solve first of all?
List of English words on the topic: Space Exploration. SOON!
Comment on the following statement.
My parents say the way they lived in the past was much quieter. However, I believe that young people are given a lot more life opportunities nowadays.
What is your opinion? Which way of life will be more satisfying for generations future?
Comment on the following statement.
Life in a big city is attractive to many people. But others consider it tiresome and tiring. What can you say about living in a big city?
List of English words on the topic: City and Country Life. SOON!
Comment on the following statement.
In many countries, reality TV shows about the lives and behavior of ordinary people have become very popular. Some people say that these programs are bad and that other kinds of programs are much better.
Comment on the following statement.
According to a number of surveys young people can’t imagine their life without modern electronic technologies. Some of them can become dependent on them, which may have a negative effect on their mind.
Do you share this point of view?
List of English words on the topic: Modern Technologies. SOON!
Comment on the following statement.
In the hectic world of today, people are searching for more ways of keeping fit and healthy. Some people prefer to go on Some exotic diets. However, some experts are against this.
What can you about going on a diet?
Comment on the following statement.
Some people think that extreme sports help to build character.
What is your opinion?
List of English words on the topic: Extreme Sports. SOON!
Comment on the following statement.
Some people think that cars should be banned from the centers of big cities. What is your opinion?
Comment on the following statement.
Some people prefer to eat out. However, many people still like to cook meals at home.
What is your opinion about having meals at home?
List of English words
The ability to write an essay requires a fairly high level of knowledge of the language. And few people master this art. We will give you some very useful tips on writing an essay or composition in English, which will come in handy more than once in your life.
It's difficult, but start early. The sooner you start thinking about your essay topic, the more time you will have to collect material. When your brain is set to think about a question, the information seems to come to your attention.
The same thing happens when you learn a new word: it begins to seem that it appears in the text more often. The point is that you become more receptive to a certain type of information by paying more attention to it.
The best place to start is to sketch out what you know about the essay topic: you may know even more than you thought. This will give you ideas on what direction to go next. To be intentional, make a plan and formulate a preliminary set of questions. When you start studying the material, you will have new, more specific questions, and you will be able to look for answers to them.
Even the most experienced writer at the beginning of work on a new work is sometimes overcome by feelings of indecision and fear. But, as they say, the main thing is not desire or ability: just start writing. It doesn't matter where you start: the main thing is not to stop writing and don't worry about style and spelling for the time being. Make preliminary sketches of the main ideas of the story and after that proceed to designing the structure of your future creation.
If you write on a computer, it will not be difficult for you to swap fragments of what you have written, grouping them differently. If you prefer paper and pen, leave a line or two between bullet points so you can add more later.
You can even take scissors and cut the sheet into strips to make this process easier. Try to organize your future essay in order of developing the main idea. If as a result you get the “golden three”: beginning (introduction), middle (the main part of the essay) and ending (conclusion), then you did everything right.
The introduction should contain some commentary on the topic of the essay—perhaps defining key concepts or explaining how you understand the question. This section should also list which aspects of the topic you will be covering and why.
Remember that an essay is not a novel, so you need to choose only a few main arguments that develop the topic. The introduction should give a clear idea of what will be discussed next, and the teacher should see that you are answering a specific set of questions.
So, a good introduction should:
Note: For those who find it easier to navigate not by the number of words, but by the number of characters, the following formula will be useful: one English word on average is taken for 6 characters (including spaces), that is, an essay of 500 words approximately contains 3000 characters with spaces.
Begin your essay with a key phrase that will indicate the direction of your answer. For example:
Use the same or similar wording as the essay topic. If the question sounds like “Discuss recent developments in communication technology,” then in the introduction you can write: “This essay will consider recent developments in the field of communication technology...” (“In this The essay will examine modern developments in the field of communication technology..."). Be more specific: don't leave the reader any room for doubt.
You can also use these words and expressions to highlight your work plan, for example:
The body should explain each of the arguments using examples and illustrations. Information must be clearly divided logically (to do this, the text is divided into paragraphs). You need to think about the structure of the essay and make sure that the main body leads logically to the conclusion.
The conclusion should summarize the ideas expressed. Here it is necessary to answer the question formulated in the essay topic. Or, depending on the topic, indicate the prospects or consequences of the problem being considered.
This section is also where you can formulate related topics that are worthy of further thought and express personal views - if they are supported by the arguments you made earlier.
A good conclusion is:
However, there are points that should be avoided in the conclusion of an essay:
According to many teachers, the conclusion is the most important part of an essay. In it, you demonstrate that you have a good command of the material and have thoughtfully approached the consideration of the problem. Don't worry if the conclusion forces you to rewrite other parts of the text. This is actually a good sign!
As general idea You can use the following formula to determine the length of each section (this is a recommendation, but not a hard and fast rule):
Do not overuse complex words and expressions, but avoid slang and abbreviations. In general, try to keep your writing short. simple sentences, diluting them with longer ones from time to time. The goal is to present the essence clearly and clearly, so that the reader can easily follow the train of thought and not be distracted by extraneous reasoning (also read about styles in English).
There is no need to say that there should be no grammatical or spelling errors in the essay - make every effort to do so. In addition, you need to remember that you are not writing for yourself, but for another person, so punctuation, division into sentences and paragraphs, general structure - all this should help the reader.
Each paragraph usually touches on one aspect of the main idea. Two paragraphs may cover different aspects, but be interconnected - for example, cause and effect, positive and negative aspects, state of affairs before or after.
Sometimes the first sentence of a paragraph is introductory, that is, it explains what will be discussed.
The logical transition from one paragraph to another sometimes causes serious difficulties for the author. To maintain the coherence of the text, it is necessary to guide the reader and give him signals. Introductory and connecting words that perform various functions can help with this. For example:
When you quote a book or other written source, or convey information in your own words, you must include the author's name and date of publication. You can do this as follows:
“Life hack”: You can dictate an essay yourself into a recording device and listen to it. Often this is how it is possible to detect inconsistencies in grammatical structures or inconsistencies in the logical flow of things.
Be sure to use spell check in text editor, but do not forget to proofread the text yourself. For example, Word sometimes misses some rather curious errors that can seriously spoil the impression of your written work. If you are not sure about something, look in the dictionary.
And one more useful trick: before finishing work, put it aside for a couple of hours (even better - for a day), so that you can return to it with a fresh look. This is another reason why you need to start writing your essay early, with enough time to spare.
The Cossacks, who in this picture are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan, could not imagine that their descendants in the 21st century would experience no less difficulties when writing an essay in English for the Unified State Exam.
How to get around all the pitfalls and write task 40 for the treasured 14 points– in my article!
Task 40 on the Unified State Exam in English is a task of an increased level of complexity and is officially called “an extended written statement with elements of reasoning (your opinion).” For the sake of brevity, our sister, in the article I will simply call this beast “essay” or “composition”.
Here's what it looks like:
| Comment on the following statement: |
| Making. |
| What is your opinion? Do you agree with this statement? Write 200-250 words. |
An essay is a tasty task because it can bring 14 points on the exam. And if I recommend writing straight to a draft in order to save time, it is better to plan out the essay and write it as a draft, and then transfer it to the answer form (you can download one here -).
From the demo version of the Unified State Exam 2019 from the FIPI website, it is clear that now the student can choose any of the two proposed essay topics!
To understand how to write need to, let's get acquainted with the assessment criteria for task 40 from the FIPI website.
As you can see, according to the criterion “solving a communication problem” you can get the maximum 3 points. I’ll decipher what they are given for:
Writing Plan essays are carefully given in the assignment itself (see above):
– 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
Word count required to obtain the maximum score is also indicated - “Write 200-250 words”. A deviation from the specified volume of 10% is acceptable. That is, you can write from 180 to 275 words. Achtung! Attention! If you write less than 180 words, the essay will not be checked - the expert will give 0 for solving a communicative task, and 0 for this item means 0 for the entire task. And the satisfied teacher checks one less essay. And if a student exceeds the threshold of 275 words, the expert will cross out the 250th word and simply won’t check further. That is, if there are counterarguments or conclusions left behind 250 words, they simply will not be counted and you will not see the maximum for this criterion.
About word count criteria. When determining whether the scope of the submitted work meets the above requirements, all words are considered, from the first word to the last, including auxiliary verbs, prepositions, articles, and particles. Wherein:
- numerals expressed in numbers, i.e. 1, 25, 2009, 126 204, etc., are counted as one word;
numerals, expressed in numbers, together with the symbol of percentages, i.e. 25%, 100%, etc. are counted as one word;
- numerals expressed in words are counted as words;
complex words such as good-looking, well-bred, English-speaking, twenty-five are counted as one word;
abbreviations, for example USA, e-mail, TV, CD-rom, are counted as one word.
Neutral style is met if task 40 contains no abbreviations (I’m sure/ doesn’t matter/ wasn’t stated) and colloquial vocabulary (it is stupid to think so/ this opinion sucks/ the people wearing such clothes are mad).
Even when writing an essay, I strongly advise you to avoid rhetorical questions (But have you ever wondered...?), because Ms. Verbitskaya’s opinion on their use is inconsistent - one year they can be used, another year they cannot be used. Also, I would not recommend writing a phrase that begins with Let’s.... It can be regarded as colloquial. Better safe than sorry.
One more note in the paragraph about the communicative task - about plagiarism. If more than 30% of the answer coincides with the published source, then 0 points are assigned according to the criterion “Solving a communicative problem”, and, accordingly, the entire task is assessed at 0 points. So there is no point in memorizing excerpts from topics; you will have to think on your own.
The maximum for this criterion is also 3 points. You can get them if:
It is clear that you need to write as many paragraphs as are in the plan ( five paragraphs!) and everyone must convey a thought corresponding to this point of the plan.
Below is more information about what to write in these five paragraphs and what means of logical communication use in them.
Introduction (paragraph No. 1)
The “correct” introduction consists of 2-3 sentences and paraphrases stated topic, and also shows the existence two opposing points of view on the problem.
Let's take the topic from the assignment above - Makinga good salary is more important than job satisfaction.
The introductory paragraph below paraphrases the theme ( career choice is one of the most important decisions in our life; it is essential to love what you do; whereas others focus on high salary while choosing a future profession) and indicates the existence of different points of view ( Some people believe that …, whereas other focus on …).
To join, I would recommend using the following tools: logical connection:
In the essay plan, in the second paragraph the student is asked to express his opinion and give 2-3 arguments in support of it. I would stop at two arguments in favor to fit into the required number of words. And the arguments “for” should be detailed - that is, we don’t just say “I think so,” but explain the point of view.
I also advise you to rush to prove not your point of view, but to defend a position for which you can come up with more arguments. At the training stage to plan the structure of an essay, it would be good to draw mind maps:
This thing will also come in handy during the exam. Helps to gather thoughts together before writing a draft.
In the topic about working for an idea or money, it was easier for me to find arguments about the superiority of the spiritual over the material:
Ligaments to express your opinion:
Ligaments to express arguments:
Opposite point of view (paragraph No. 3)
In paragraph 3 you need to state that there is an opposing point of view and support it arguments. There can be 1 or 2 of them (arguments) - it all depends on the number of pluses in the previous paragraph. I adhere to the rule “3 pluses in the 2nd paragraph - 1 minus in the third paragraph”, “2 pluses in the 2nd paragraph - 2 minuses in the 3rd”, otherwise you may not fit into the amount of words. Personally, I prefer the scheme in the evening - money, in the morning - chairs 2 arguments for - 2 arguments against.
Here's what I got with the opposite point of view.
Connectives for expression opposite opinion.
Counterarguments (paragraph No. 4)
This is one of the most problematic parts of the essay. The arguments “for” and “against” are invented; need more refute the arguments against, which were presented in paragraph 3. And do it neutrally. That is, write in the style of a troll from the forum: “Look, give him a good salary too!” You can’t sit on two chairs!” it is forbidden. =(
At the planning stage of drawing mind maps, you should think about which argument is best suited for counterargumentation and do not write it in the paragraph with your opinion, but save it “for dessert” - that is, for the fourth paragraph.
Let me emphasize once again that in the fourth paragraph we are precisely we refute the arguments of the third paragraph, and let's not come up with any more arguments“to the heap.” The opposite opinion in paragraph 3 talked about the importance of money to satisfy material needs and improve the standard of living. Let us object that pleasure from work and, as a result, professionalism are directly related to the size of the salary.
Connectives for expression counterarguments.
Conclusion (paragraph No. 5)
At the end of the hard-won essay, you need to do it again declare the problematic nature of the topic(indicate two points of view) and your opinion. It is important here not to repeat yourself in wording and thoughts.
In conclusion I would like to state that work occupies a great part of everyday routine. Evidently, it is more logical to choose an occupation you fancy over the one that brings in only money.
Expressions for the final paragraph:
Now that we’ve sorted out the plan for writing an essay, let’s move on to the grammatical, lexical and spelling and punctuation of the essay. The table below explains the criteria for evaluating these parameters:
Let's look at what errors are proudly called “Lexical”. This:
But you not only need to avoid making mistakes, you need to remember that vocabulary in the essay should correspond to the task. That is, if the essay is about food, all sorts of synonyms and expressions on the topic “food” should be used. The lexical composition of the essay should be varied. If the author uses simple words and expressions (I think, I need to say, It’s good/bad to) or repeats vocabulary, the wedding will not receive a maximum score for the “vocabulary” criterion. To get the coveted point, you need to use collocations (start doing – take up), phrasal verbs (meet friends – meet up), and tricky vocabulary (think – consider). For example, the essay given as an example is replete with set expressions ( fulfilling job, be of primary importance, sooner or later), it contains a phrasal verb ( bring in) and synonymous chains career-job-work-occupation/ love – be keen on – be fond of – fancy/ satisfying job – fulfilling job – favorite job/ high salary – material aspect – well-paid job.
When checking task 40, the expert puts a grammatical error in the margins if the error:
Also, if a student makes do with simple sentences, points are deducted. The essay welcomes complex structures, modal verbs, phrases with the passive/infinitive/participles, conditional sentences, the main thing is not to overdo it and “do not write everything beautiful at once”, to the detriment of the meaning. For example, in my essay, in addition to all sorts of complex sentences there are degrees of comparison ( the most important, higher), modal verbs ( can't, have to), passive ( are underpaid or underestimated), conditional sentence ( If a person is fond of his work, he will eventually become a professional in his area), construction with comparative adjectives ( The more money you have, the better life you can afford).
The following are considered spelling errors in an essay:
In the entire written part of the exam, the student can choose either the British or American spelling of the word - favorite / favorite, colour / color, drugstore / pharmacy, crisps / chips. And stick to the chosen option until the end. That is, if color is written in one sentence and favorite is written in another, such variability will be recorded as an error.
Now about punctuation. Forget about abbreviations in essays (don’t/wouldn’t/mustn’t) - they will take away points from you. They can and should be written in a letter to a friend (), but not in an essay.
And if the work is written “like a chicken with its paw” (hello to our Russian language teachers =)) - that is, there will be a lot of strikethroughs in it - the expert has the right to reduce the grade by half a point.
Makinga good salary is more important than job satisfaction.
It is common knowledge that career choice is one of the most important decisions in our life. Some people believe that it is essential to love what you do, whereas others focus on high salary while choosing a future profession.
In my opinion, a satisfying job is a better option. It fills life with positive emotions giving the energy to accomplish different tasks as we manage our daily routine. Another positive aspect of a fulfilling job is that your performance and, consequently, results are higher if you are keen on the task you are doing.
There are people who have the opposite opinion, for them the material aspect is of primary importance. The more money you have, the better life you can afford. Besides, money means opportunities – opportunities for better housing, education, entertainment and simply higher quality of life.
However veracious it sounds, I would not agree with the above mentioned idea. If people are fond of their work, they will eventually become professionals in a chosen area, and specialists are rarely underpaid or underestimated. A favorite job becomes well-paid sooner or later.
In conclusion, I would like to state that work occupies a great part of everyday routine. Evidently, it is more logical to choose an occupation you fancy over the one that brings in only money.
Attention! When you rewrite your answer on the exam form, do not forget to write the task number at the beginning - Task 40. Also, from this year you cannot write on the back of form 2 (that is, the one where you need to write the essay). If something doesn’t fit in you – and it won’t fit, I guarantee you that – ask for the next form. I advise you to ask for the next form in advance, because the exam assistants may run out of them, and searching for new ones may take some time, which is so important.
And organize your time so that during the exam you have time to rewrite the entire written task on the form. An essay written as a draft is not checked.
P.S. – If you are reading a topic for an exam and realize that you don’t know a word in the topic, don’t panic! Calm down and try to guess how this word can be translated.
I would advise preparing for task 40 when the student’s level corresponds to at least B1 (ideally B2, because it is stated as the key to success on the Unified State Exam).
With level B1, I start preparing for this task about 6 months before the exam - first we analyze the assessment criteria, then we read and analyze essays from previous years, and at the end we try to write our own essays.
For practice, I would recommend purchasing Khotuntseva’s book; it is the most useful of all the manuals that claim to help you prepare for the written part. The other books presented below are also good, but Khotuntseva’s book is the best.
I will leave here the essay assessment scheme that the expert uses when checking assignment 40.
It is useful to show this chart to the student during preparation and fill it out together, using it first to evaluate the essays of previous years, and then the student’s own essay.
Please note that this article is current for the Unified State Exam 2018. In subsequent years, the requirements for writing this assignment may change and my advice will no longer be relevant.
Materials used when writing this article from fipi.ru– the most reliable source for preparing for the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam. Anything you read on other sites may contain incorrect information - be careful! (Yes, I've seen a few of these sites with incorrect information and bad essay examples!)
I recommend looking at examples of examination essays with analysis in the article about.
The last task in the written part of the Unified State Exam in English is essay writing. The size of the essay should be 200-250 words, and its structure should be as follows: introduction (with a statement of the problem), own opinion (including 2-3 arguments), opposing opinion on the problem (including 1-2 arguments), reason for disagreement with the opposing opinion and conclusion. When completing this task you can use ready-made essays in English which are presented below.
List of ready-made essays
The assignment contains a certain statement. You need to write an opinion essay in which you express your own opinion regarding this statement (opinion essay).
The essay should be clearly structured and include the following parts (each starting with a new paragraph):
Below is a table with examples of introductory words and phrases.
| Paragraph | Offer | Sample | ||||
| 1. Introduction | Problem Identification | Nowadays, | the problem of … causes great argument and controversy. | |||
| In today's world, | ||||||
| the issue of … is considered to be a matter of common concern/the main concern of … | ||||||
| Comment on the issue | Some people believe that… while others think… | |||||
| On the one hand, … on the other hand … . | ||||||
| A rhetorical question | Where is the truth? | |||||
| Who is right? | ||||||
| 2. Expressing your own opinion | Thesis | In my opinion,… | ||||
| As for me, I believe that… | ||||||
| My personal view is that… | ||||||
| 1 argument | To begin with, | |||||
| To start with, | ||||||
| Firstly, | ||||||
| 2 argument | What is more, | |||||
| Furthermore, | ||||||
| Secondly, | ||||||
| 3 argument | Finally, | |||||
| Additionally, | ||||||
| thirdly, | ||||||
| 3. Expressing an opposing opinion | Thesis | However, there exists another point of view on this issue. | ||||
| Nevertheless, one can consider this problem from another angle. | ||||||
| 1 argument | First of all, | |||||
| The first thing to be considered is… | ||||||
| 2 argument | Another fact is that... | |||||
| Besides | ||||||
| 4. Disagreement with the opinions of opponents | Thesis + 1st counterargument | Despite my respect for this opinion, I cannot share it because … | ||||
| Nevertheless, I cannot agree with this statement, because… | ||||||
| 2nd counterargument | Moreover, one should not ignore the fact that… | |||||
| Finally... | ||||||
| 5. Conclusion | Conclusion | In conclusion, | I would like to say that | the problem of… is still to be discussed. | ||
| Taking into consideration all mentioned above, | It is impotant to understand… | |||||
| A comment | As far as I am concerned, the point is to… | |||||
Nowadays, the problem of … causes great argument and controversy. Some people believe that ... while others think ... . Who is right?
In my opinion,…. To begin with, … . What is more,… . Additionally,….
However, there exists another point of view on this issue. First of all, … . Besides...
Despite my respect for this opinion, I cannot share it because… . … .
In conclusion, I would like to say that the problem of … is still to be discussed. As far as I am concerned, the point is to…
In order to get a good adecation one should go abroad.
What is your opinion? Write 200–250 words. 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
Nowadays, the problem of studying abroad causes great argument and controversy. Some people think that one can get a better education only in another country, others believe that it is possible to study at home. Where is the truth?
In my opinion, studying abroad is more advantageous because one can gain useful experience. To begin with, it can have a positive impact on students’ self-discipline as youngsters become more proactive and acquire quickness in comprehension. Moreover, it gives them a chance to learn more about the culture of the other country and improve their language skills. Additionally, it is a splendid opportunity to make new friends.
However, there exists another point of view on this issue. First of all it is very expensive to study abroad. Moreover, one should not ignore the fact that, children have to adapt to many things, thus, it can be stressful for them.
Despite my respect for this opinion, I cannot share it because there are a lot of exchange programs wich are funded by government, therefore, students can study abroad for free. Besides, a person should learn to cope with stress if he or she would like to go the university to broaden their mind.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the problem of studying abroad is still to be discussed. I believe that one should analyze and compare all pros and cons before making a proper decision where to get an education.
It is imperative to keep within the specified volume: 200-250 words (a deviation of 10% in both directions is allowed, i.e. 180-275 words). If the essay contains ≤179 words, then the assignment will receive 0 points. If ≥276 words, then only the first 250 words are checked. Remember that 1 word is everything between two spaces. Hyphens (-) and apostrophes (’) are not spaces, so words like world’s, open-minded, UK count as one word. Practice writing letters on exam forms - this way you will learn to determine the number of words by eye and will spend less time counting them.
Abbreviations cannot be used (only full forms I am, cannot), as well as starting sentences with informal linking words well,also, but). Use impersonal verb forms ( one should). Rich lexicon and the variety of grammatical and syntactic structures demonstrates a high level of knowledge of the English language.
Give yourself 40 minutes to complete this task: 20 minutes for the draft, 15 minutes. for a clean copy and 5 min. for word counting and checking. Be sure to check your essay before submitting it!
Believe in yourself and everything will work out! Good luck!
