IELTS · English · Writing Cohesion — Spot the Weak Link

Exercise and reference answers

Questions

1. Statement parts

   1. Firstly,
   2. the
   3. graph
   4. shows
   5. growth.
   6. On
   7. the
   8. contrary,
   9. I
   10. love
   11. ice
   12. cream
   13. .

   Correction

   (off-topic shift — keep writing about the graph)

   Incorrect part

   love

2. Statement parts

   1. The
   2. data
   3. clearly
   4. shows
   5. an
   6. increase.
   7. However,
   8. clearly
   9. it
   10. increased
   11. .

   Correction

   (redundant — 'however' contradicts 'clearly')

   Incorrect part

   clearly

3. Statement parts

   1. In
   2. conclusion,
   3. I
   4. disagree
   5. with
   6. the
   7. statement.
   8. In
   9. conclusion,
   10. also,
   11. I
   12. support
   13. it
   14. .

   Correction

   (contradictory conclusions — pick one)

   Incorrect part

   In

4. Statement parts

   1. Firstly,
   2. tourism
   3. helps
   4. the
   5. economy.
   6. Firstly,
   7. it
   8. also
   9. creates
   10. jobs
   11. .

   Correction

   Secondly (not 'Firstly' again)

   Incorrect part

   Firstly,

Instructions

Tap the word that breaks essay cohesion.