In this video I'm going to show you how to create the perfect body paragraphs in IELTS writing task 2. This is important because the body of the essay is actually the most important part of the essay. It's more important than the introduction and the conclusion. Why is the body so important? Well, the body of the essay is where you demonstrate to the examiner your ability to engage with the task appropriately. It shows him that you're able to construct an argument or develop a discussion. And this is where you achieve marks for task response, which is 25% of your mark. It's also a place where you can use a range of vocabulary related to a specific topic and use this vocabulary with flexibility and precision. It's also the place where you can use a range of grammar for specific purposes and use this grammar with accuracy. Finally, it's in this area where you can most fully demonstrate your ability to link ideas, link explanations and link examples cohesively. Thus achieving marks for coherence and cohesion, another 25% of your score. Because the body is so important, we need to spend twice as much time on each body paragraph as we do on the introduction and conclusion. So while you should only be spending five minutes on the introduction and five minutes on the conclusion, five minutes on the plan and five minutes on checking your work, you should be spending 10 minutes on each body paragraph. So 20 minutes, half of the entire time limit should be spent on each body paragraph. So how do we create a perfect body paragraph? Well, we should start by thinking of writing between four and six sentences. Five tends to be the magic number and we have five sentences on the screen in front of us. Each of these sentences does a different thing. They each have a specific purpose. You can see these here. Now the first sentence is always going to be a topic sentence. This will contain your general idea for the paragraph. It's very important that this sentence is nice, clear, concise, not too long, very clearly shows what you're going to be talking about in the paragraph. You can see this here. One problem in big cities is the lack of green spaces in a problem and solution essay. Very, very clear. Now you can follow this sentence with any of the following sentences except the solution. You can follow it with a supporting sentence, also known as an explaining sentence. You can follow it with an example. You can follow it with a result. Most of the time you're going to follow it with an example or a support in either order. So here we see an example. An example of a lack of green spaces. For example, in the city where I live, we only have one small building, one small park, sorry, which is itself surrounded by concrete buildings. We follow this with a supporting sentence. Why is this a problem? Well, this is an issue because city citizens need green areas in order to relax. And the plants and trees also help to filter the air. As this is a problem and solution paragraph, we need to follow this with a solution to solve this problem city authorities must invest more in building parks and gardens. And then the results of that solution. It's often nice to finish a paragraph with a result because the results will link itself to the first sentence creating a very, very clear central topic. Really important for coherence and cohesion if you want to score a band seven or above. So as a result, the people who live in cities will suffer from less stress and breathe cleaner and safer air. As I said, we can do these in any sort of order. Here's another formula where we've gone topic sentence, supporting sentence, example, alternative, which I'm going to explain. And then another example or supporting sentence. So the topic sentence in an advantages and disadvantages essay. One of the most significant benefits of air travel is speed, very clear speed, advantage, air travel speed. The supporting sentence where we're just giving a little bit more information. Most aircraft nowadays are able to travel faster than any other mode of transport. And they do not have to deal with the same obstacles as on land. Follow that with an example, a nice tangible concrete clear example to illustrate this speed. Notice the cohesive device to illustrate this speed. A journey from London to New York by air takes just 10 hours. Now the alternative is where we look at the opposite or the contrast to further support our point. How can we show how fast air travel is? Well, we can contrast it with a slower form of transport like boat. So in contrast, traveling across the Atlantic by sea takes several days. So very clear contrast. And support that a little bit more may be a result. Evidently, traveling by plane is far more than convenient than traveling by any other means. Another example here where we sort of do an extra topic. For example, here we're looking at drawbacks of air travel. However, air travel does have a drawback in air pollution. Very clear air pollution. There's our topic. The power required for a plane to take off and fly to its destination causes a huge amount of fuel to be burned. There's our supporting sentence. Why is there so much air pollution? Well, this is why. An example of how much damage this does. It is believed that 13 million flights are taken each year. And this creates a huge strain on the environment. 13 million flights. A very, very clear example. Now we follow that up with another topic sentence which links back to the first one. Quite similar. So we're talking about drawbacks. And here's another drawback. Furthermore, aeroplanes require airports and airports often cause a lot of stress for locals. An example of this. For example, the sound pollution airports leak can prevent local families from sleeping properly. So using a mixture of supporting sentences, example sentences, result sentences, alternative sentences, after the original topic sentence create a very well developed, well supported, extended, relevant paragraph for task two. So some general tips for when you're writing your body paragraphs. First of all, make sure to begin all your body paragraphs with a topic sentence. These sentences should be short, simple and to the point. They should not leave the examiner thinking that it's going for too long or being a little bit confused. They need to be as clear as possible, clearer than any of the other sentences. Try to keep the paragraph four to six sentences long, ideally about five sentences. That should take you to just over 250 words. Now when you write a discussion opinion essay, make sure to begin the body with the side you disagree with, unless it's an opinion essay and then you do not need to balance your opinion. For problem and solution essays, use the same formula twice. Three sentences about the problem, two sentences about the solution, solution and result. Finally, try to keep paragraphs based on one central topic, whether it's advantages or disadvantages, one supporting point for your opinion and then another supporting point for your opinion.