Writing Opinion Paragraphs

Respuesta correcta: B) In my view, the school should start classes ten minutes later.

• A) Classes at our school currently begin at seven forty-five.This reports a verifiable time, so it is a fact and it commits the writer to nothing.
• B) In my view, the school should start classes ten minutes later.Correct. 'In my view' frames the sentence as a judgement, and the proposal it makes is narrow enough for a single paragraph to argue.
• C) There are many reasons to think about the school timetable.This promises reasons without taking a position, so the reader still does not know the writer's view.
• D) Some students and other people disagree about starting times.This reports that opinions exist in the community, which is not the same as stating one.

Respuesta correcta: C) Later classes would help, because students who work night shifts need more sleep.

• A) Later classes would help, because a school is a place where students study.This explains what a school is, which is true of every school and justifies nothing.
• B) Later classes would help, which is what some students already say.This reports who holds the opinion rather than giving a reason, so the claim is still unsupported.
• C) Later classes would help, because students who work night shifts need more sleep.Correct. The reason names a group that the later start would genuinely benefit, so it explains the claim instead of repeating it.
• D) Later classes would help, because later classes would help.The clause restates the claim with different words, which is circular reasoning rather than support.

Respuesta correcta: A) Admittedly the earlier start gives families more time in the morning, but it costs students an hour of sleep.

• A) Admittedly the earlier start gives families more time in the morning, but it costs students an hour of sleep.Correct. 'Admittedly' grants the opposing argument and 'but' turns the sentence back against it, which is a concession followed by a rebuttal.
• B) The earlier start gives families more time, so the earlier start should stay.This agrees with the opposing point and ends there, so nothing of the writer's own case survives.
• C) The earlier start is often discussed, and the discussion is often long.This describes how much the topic is discussed instead of taking any position on it.
• D) The earlier start is not fair, and the earlier start is not popular.Two flat assertions joined by and concede nothing and support nothing.

Respuesta correcta: D) In our school survey of three hundred students, sixty per cent reported using a phone in bed.

• A) Everyone knows that too many students use their phones at night.'Everyone knows' is not evidence, and the claim cannot be checked against any source.
• B) Phone use at night is a very bad and really serious problem.This stacks adjectives instead of data, so the strength of the feeling replaces the strength of the argument.
• C) Phones have become more common in recent years than they used to be.This may well be true, but no source or figure is offered, so it supports nothing on its own.
• D) In our school survey of three hundred students, sixty per cent reported using a phone in bed.Correct. It names a sample size, a method and a figure, so a reader can check the claim instead of taking it on trust.

Respuesta correcta: B) Replace 'perhaps it might possibly be argued that recycling helps' with 'recycling reduces the rubbish sent to landfill'.

• A) Add three more hedges so the opinion sounds less strong to the reader.More hedging weakens the position further, so the reader ends less sure of what the writer thinks.
• B) Replace 'perhaps it might possibly be argued that recycling helps' with 'recycling reduces the rubbish sent to landfill'.Correct. The revision replaces a chain of hedges with a direct claim and leaves the topic of the claim intact.
• C) Delete the opinion and leave only the facts about landfill figures.Removing the opinion turns the paragraph into a report, which is a different genre from the one assigned.
• D) Repeat the hedged sentence twice so the meaning becomes clearer.Repeating an unclear sentence does not clarify it; the reader now has the same vague claim in duplicate.

Respuesta correcta: A) Thesis, reasons with evidence, a concession, and a restatement of the position.

• A) Thesis, reasons with evidence, a concession, and a restatement of the position.Correct. The paragraph states its position, supports it, deals fairly with the other side and then closes by returning to its own claim.
• B) A restatement of the position, the thesis, then a second restatement and finally the reasons.This announces the conclusion before the argument exists, so the reader meets the claim three times and the evidence only at the end.
• C) Reasons first, evidence last, and the thesis in the middle after the second reason.Placing the thesis after the reasons leaves the opening sentences without a stated position to support.
• D) The concession, then a summary of other essays, then the thesis, then one reason.Opening with the opposing side and summarising other writers' work buries the writer's own claim and displaces the evidence.

Respuesta correcta: C) For these reasons, the council should add two evening buses before expanding the parking area.

• A) The council should add two evening buses before expanding the parking area.This repeats the recommendation from earlier in the paragraph without linking it back to the reasons given.
• B) That is all I think about public transport for today, thank you for reading.A sign-off in a paragraph is informal and adds no weight to the argument the paragraph has built.
• C) For these reasons, the council should add two evening buses before expanding the parking area.Correct. It names the reasons with 'for these reasons' and returns to a concrete action the council can take, which closes the argument instead of repeating it.
• D) In conclusion, this paragraph has been about buses and about parking areas.The sentence names the topics rather than the outcome, so the reader learns what the paragraph covered but not what it argued.

Respuesta correcta: D) Some families rely on the early bus because no other service reaches their district, which is a real difficulty; even so, the current timings leave most students too short of sleep.

• A) People who like the early bus obviously do not care about their own health.It attributes bad motives to the opposing side instead of reporting its reasoning, which makes the paragraph unfair.
• B) There is no serious argument in favour of the early bus, apart from the one just mentioned.Calling the argument unserious dismisses it without engaging it, so the reader learns nothing about the other position.
• C) The early bus is cheaper, cheaper and cheaper, and anyway nobody asked about it.Repeating one point and adding that nobody asked replaces an argument with a dismissal of the audience.
• D) Some families rely on the early bus because no other service reaches their district, which is a real difficulty; even so, the current timings leave most students too short of sleep.Correct. It states the opposing case accurately and then explains why the writer still disagrees, which is the difference between a concession and a caricature.

Respuesta correcta: A) The writer must give at least one reason and one piece of evidence for the position taken.

• A) The writer must give at least one reason and one piece of evidence for the position taken.Correct. This describes an obligation on the writer that can be checked, whereas a preference describes only what someone happens to enjoy.
• B) The writer must use a pen rather than a keyboard when drafting a paragraph.Nothing about drafting a paragraph requires a pen; this is an invented rule with no basis in the genre.
• C) The writer must begin every paragraph with the word 'however'.No single word is required at the start, so this states a convention that does not exist.
• D) The writer must finish the paragraph within exactly forty words.A word limit of forty is imposed by no rule of the task and is not a requirement of opinion paragraphs.

Respuesta correcta: B) A comparison of attendance records at two schools, one with uniforms and one without, showed no measurable difference.

• A) It is obvious that uniforms stop every kind of bullying in every school.The absolute quantifiers claim more than any evidence could support, so a reader is right to doubt the sentence.
• B) A comparison of attendance records at two schools, one with uniforms and one without, showed no measurable difference.Correct. It introduces a real comparison with data, so a reader can weigh the claim instead of taking it on the writer's word.
• C) Everyone in my family has always thought that uniforms look very smart.One family's experience is not evidence about schools in general, however sincere it is.
• D) Some people say uniforms reduce bullying, which is what the newspapers report.This names unnamed sources without figures or findings, so the claim stays untested.

Respuesta correcta: C) The reason offers no evidence and 'everyone agrees' hides who, if anyone, actually holds that view.

• A) The paragraph is too short to be accepted, and no paragraph should be longer than one sentence.No rule sets a length here; the defect lies in the reasoning rather than in the number of sentences.
• B) The opinion is expressed in the passive voice, which is never allowed in an opinion paragraph.The opinion is stated in the active voice, and there is no such ban on the passive in this genre.
• C) The reason offers no evidence and 'everyone agrees' hides who, if anyone, actually holds that view.Correct. It names both faults: an unsupported reason and an appeal to an unnamed majority that the writer has not checked.
• D) The word 'abolished' is informal, and the topic of uniforms cannot appear in an opinion paragraph.Abolish is a standard formal word, and uniforms are entirely suited to an opinion paragraph.

Respuesta correcta: A) I find long classes tiring, although some students prefer two shorter periods.

• A) I find long classes tiring, although some students prefer two shorter periods.Correct. The first clause limits the claim to the writer's own experience and the second clause notes that other students differ.
• B) Long classes tire everybody, and no student anywhere prefers two short periods.It generalises the writer's feeling to everybody and denies the experience of others without any evidence.
• C) I find long classes tiring, so the timetable must be changed for the whole school.The personal feeling is fine, but drawing a school-wide conclusion from it repeats the same generalisation.
• D) Only my classmates and I dislike long classes, so nobody else in the country does.Restricting the claim to one class and then excluding everyone else is an unsupported claim about the whole country.

Respuesta correcta: D) The library should extend its opening hours so that students can study after class.

• A) The library extended its opening hours last September.The past simple reports what happened and recommends nothing at all.
• B) The library might have extended its opening hours last September.This is a speculation about the past, which neither reports nor recommends anything.
• C) The library would have extended its opening hours if the council had agreed.This describes an unreal past situation and carries no recommendation about the present.
• D) The library should extend its opening hours so that students can study after class.Correct. 'Should' presents the action as advisable and the clause after 'so that' supplies the reason.

Respuesta correcta: A) Studies of adult learners show that screen time alone does not predict results, so the claim is too broad.

• A) Studies of adult learners show that screen time alone does not predict results, so the claim is too broad.Correct. It cites the limits of what the evidence shows, so the reader can judge how far the argument can be pushed.
• B) Any study that disagrees with this paragraph must have been paid to lie about screens.It answers contrary findings with an accusation instead of addressing them, which weakens the argument.
• C) The paragraph is long enough, and only long paragraphs can ever be convincing.Length is not evidence, and the claim about paragraph length is not a limitation of the argument itself.
• D) Screens have been discussed for many years, and that is the whole of the matter.Saying a topic has been discussed reports no limitation of the claim and closes the question without answering it.

Respuesta correcta: C) The salad bar is cheaper than the sandwich counter; for two dollars a student can eat there every day.

• A) The salad bar is cheaper, and the cafeteria has several counters.The second clause adds a true but irrelevant detail, so nothing supports the claim about price.
• B) For example, prices in cafeterias are prices that cafeterias charge.This restates the idea of a price instead of showing a real one, so no example is given.
• C) The salad bar is cheaper than the sandwich counter; for two dollars a student can eat there every day.Correct. The semicolon ties one case with figures to the claim, so the example demonstrates the price difference rather than merely repeating it.
• D) The salad bar is cheaper for example purposes only in my own opinion.The phrase for example purposes carries no example at all and the sentence ends on the writer's preference.

Respuesta correcta: B) According to the school's head teacher, longer lessons would help every student.

• A) Longer lessons would help every student, as anyone can see.This states the opinion as a general truth and adds an empty claim that it is self-evident.
• B) According to the school's head teacher, longer lessons would help every student.Correct. 'According to' marks the claim as the teacher's judgement, so the writer's own voice stays separate from the position reported.
• C) Longer lessons help, and it is clear that the head teacher thinks so too.The opinion is asserted first in the writer's voice, so the attribution does not frame it as someone else's view.
• D) It is often said that longer lessons would help every student.The vague passive 'it is often said' names no one, so the reader cannot judge whose opinion this is.

Respuesta correcta: D) Volunteering at the shelter is rewarding because the animals are cared for by students.

• A) Volunteering at the shelter is rewarding although the animals are cared for by students.'Although' introduces a concession, so the second clause works against the first rather than explaining it.
• B) Volunteering at the shelter is rewarding but the animals are cared for by students.'But' signals contrast, so the reader expects the second clause to oppose the first.
• C) Volunteering at the shelter is rewarding so the animals are cared for by students.'So' marks a result, which reverses the logical direction: the care of the animals is the result, not the reason.
• D) Volunteering at the shelter is rewarding because the animals are cared for by students.Correct. 'Because' introduces the reason that explains why the volunteering is rewarding.

Respuesta correcta: A) The library opened two extra hours in March, which is a clearly unnecessary waste of money.

• A) The library opened two extra hours in March, which is a clearly unnecessary waste of money.Correct. The first clause reports a verifiable change and the second adds the writer's judgement about it, so both appear in one sentence.
• B) The library opened two extra hours in March because of the request from the students.Both clauses report what happened and why, so this sentence contains no judgement from the writer.
• C) Two extra hours in a week, added for some students in particular, is the kind of number that matters.The vagueness here is a stylistic weakness, but there is no verifiable fact to report in the first place.
• D) It would be better if the library added two extra hours instead of only one.This is a single conditional proposal and makes no report of anything that has already happened.

Respuesta correcta: C) I used to argue that the policy was pointless; the attendance figures now show that it was working.

• A) The policy was pointless, although the attendance figures show that it was working.Although reports an objection the writer anticipates, not a change in what the writer believed.
• B) The policy is pointless, and the attendance figures show that it was working.Two opposing claims sit side by side without any signal that the writer has abandoned one of them.
• C) I used to argue that the policy was pointless; the attendance figures now show that it was working.Correct. The contrast between 'used to argue' and 'now show' marks a change of position, and the evidence is named as the reason for it.
• D) The policy was pointless; the attendance figures show that it was working, and both are matters of fact.Both claims are treated as equally valid facts, so nothing indicates a reversal of the writer's position.

Respuesta correcta: B) Although the current timetable is cheaper to run, the cost of sleep for two hundred students is harder to defend.

• A) The current timetable is very old and it is obviously a bad thing that some people like.Calling the timetable old is a fact, but dismissing those who like it replaces argument with an insult.
• B) Although the current timetable is cheaper to run, the cost of sleep for two hundred students is harder to defend.Correct. It concedes the opposing cost, then argues the point on its own terms with a specific group affected, which is what the weak paragraph lacks.
• C) Everyone knows the timetable must change, and anyone who disagrees is not paying attention.An appeal to an unnamed majority plus an accusation replaces both evidence and fair representation.
• D) Timetables, changes, schools and classes are all topics that people argue about.Listing the topic's nouns adds nothing to the case and leaves the writer's own position unstated.