Writing: An opinion essay

1Which of these things could refer to only children? 

They learn to share things.They fight with siblings.They can feel lonely.

 

2Read the first paragraph of the essay. Which sentence summarizes the writer’s opinion about only children? 

The writer thinks that children perform the same later in life, whether they have siblings or not.The writer thinks that even if only children perform well later in life, it's not ideal to be without siblings.The writer thinks that children with siblings perform better later in life.

3Complete the essay with the phrases in the box. 

MOVE
• My final point is that
• To my mind
• it's also important to note that
• in my opinion
• The main argument against
• I am convinced that

If population control means more one-child families, is that a disadvantage in life for the children themselves?

Interestingly, there is evidence that only children perform better than children with siblings in later life. Nevertheless, I want to show why, ¹ , only children are at a disadvantage overall, and that children would suffer from a policy of one-child families.

²  one-child families is that single children find it harder to realize they aren't the centre of the universe! An only child can become good at sharing things with friends, but perhaps that's because they know that when they get home, the sharing stops! One of my friends had no problem sharing as an only child, but when his parents had a second child later, he fought over everything.

³  only children often feel lonely, especially because many parents work long hours today. However, ⁴  things aren't always warm and friendly with siblings. Fighting is common, but learning to come to an agreement is a useful lesson in life. ⁵ , arguments with my friends are easy to deal with compared to the ones with my brother!

⁶  only children won't fully realize what they are missing until later in life. I believe I'll value my brother a lot in the future, and can see how much support my parents get from their brothers and sisters.

To conclude, I think that having siblings has many advantages and is the best preparation for life. I therefore believe that we should control population by limiting families to two children rather than one.

Unit 4 Writing guide

1.  Read the instructions.
2.  Write your answer in the Word document.
3.  Save your work.
4.  Upload your file.
5.  If you want to add a note for your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
6.  Select Submit to dropbox to send your work to your teacher.