IELTS writing practice 1

Topic：In many countries today, people in cities either live alone or in small family units, rather than in large, extended family groups. Is this a positive or negative trend?

Nowadays many countries are witnessing a gradual transformation of city inhabitants’ inclination to live from in joint families to in nuclear families or even on their own. This trend is by and large positive because a decrease in the size of family tends to reduce unnecessary family conflicts and means more freedom to some extent, but it goes too far to live alone, which may lead to much inconvenience to our life, especially when trouble comes.

One evident advantage of nuclear families, compared to large families, is the convenience and easiness to reach an agreement on various household affairs. In general, more people involved in a process of decision are always followed by more requirements to consider and fulfil, rendering the process more complicated and the result less likely to satisfy everyone, and so is it on family affairs. Those who are seldom satisfied are certainly unhappy or even feel slighted, which, therefore, buries the seed of family conflicts with the accumulation of unhappiness. For instance, cooking a meal, very simple daily work, can be a burden for the chef in consideration of different flavours that members in a large family are fond of respectively. On the contrary, a family of small size can easily reach an agreement and thus avoid such conflicts. From the perspective of individuals, it means more freedom to make a decision from tiny to huge with less people concerned. As a result, there is less unnecessary tension between family members and everyone has enough freedom to choose the way of their lives.

Although living alone can bring most freedom without constraints from family, life can be tough without the harbour of love. When we are tired, family will sincerely comfort us. When we are ill, family will keep us company day and night. When we fail in work, family will encourage and support us all the time. Consider that when suffering from a sudden disease with nobody around, how desperate we will be in that case!

In conclusion, to live in a nuclear family is a positive trend not only well balancing both personal freedom and family love, but also mitigating family conflicts due to large size of family.