Sub-skill 3
Topic sentence, explanation, example, link. The topic sentence is written for you in every exercise — what you build is the three sentences that make it worth having. The failure this page is built to fix is the paragraph that says its claim four times in four different ways.
Official format and WeLearn strategy
Official format: IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 assesses how ideas are developed across a complete essay. TEEL is a WeLearn teaching structure, not an official template, and no assessment criterion counts sentences.
WeLearn strategy: We use TEEL so that each paragraph does argumentative work instead of restating a general claim in four different ways.
Review focus: Developing a body paragraph with a claim, a mechanism, evidence and a link back.
Explained answer: Read your paragraph and ask what each sentence adds. If two sentences make the same point, one of them is not doing its job.
Before TEEL
TEEL is the engine inside the paragraph. What the paragraph has to contain comes from the prompt, so decide that first.
Opinion
Body 1: Develop the first reason supporting the position.
Body 2: Develop a second reason, or concede and rebut the strongest opposing point.
Discussion
Body 1: Explain the first stated view and why people hold it.
Body 2: Explain the second stated view and connect it to the writer's judgement.
Problem & solution
Body 1: Analyse the requested causes or consequences rather than merely describing the topic.
Body 2: Develop feasible solutions and show how they address the preceding causes or problems.
Advantages & disadvantages
Body 1: Develop the most relevant advantage or group of related benefits.
Body 2: Develop the main disadvantage and, for an outweigh task, compare its significance with the benefits.
Direct questions
Body 1: Answer the first question directly.
Body 2: Answer the second question directly and maintain any stated evaluation.
Writing Task 2 Lego system
Addition: moreover, furthermore, in addition, likewise
Contrast: however, nevertheless, whereas, by contrast
Cause: because, since, as a result of, due to
Result: therefore, consequently, hence, as a result
Example: for example, for instance, such as, this can be seen in
Concession: although, even though, despite this, admittedly
Conclusion: overall, in conclusion, ultimately, for these reasons
General premise
When children spend most of their free time online, they have fewer opportunities to practise face-to-face communication.
Specific case
For example, a teenager who studies and socialises mainly through a screen may avoid group activities at school.
Logical conclusion
As a result, excessive screen time can weaken social confidence rather than simply change the medium of interaction.
Claim sentence
Presents the central point of the paragraph.
Public transport is a more efficient use of urban space than private cars.
Complex cause sentence
Explains why something happens using because, since, as or due to.
Because buses carry many passengers in limited space, they reduce congestion more effectively than road expansion.
Concession sentence
Acknowledges an objection without abandoning your position.
Although road construction may relieve traffic temporarily, it often encourages more car use in the long term.
Result sentence
Closes a logical chain with therefore, as a result or consequently.
Consequently, governments should prioritise mass transit when planning urban infrastructure.
Watch one
Both paragraphs answer the same prompt and make the same argument. One of them develops it.
Governments should invest more in public transport than in road construction. To what extent do you agree?
Public transport is more efficient than cars. When more people use buses and trains, there are fewer cars on the road. This means less traffic. For example, Singapore has a good transport system. This shows that public transport is better.
Public transport represents a dramatically more efficient use of urban infrastructure than private vehicles. A bus can move many commuters in the road space used by only a few cars, so shifting even part of a busy route to public transport frees capacity for journeys that still need the road. For example, when a suburban district gains a frequent rail connection, commuters who previously drove can reach the same workplaces without adding another car to the city centre. That measured shift is why sustained investment in mass transit delivers more usable road capacity per pound spent than building new roads does.
Public transport represents a dramatically more efficient use of urban infrastructure than private vehicles.
Names the one claim this paragraph will prove. A reader should be able to predict what the next three sentences are for.A bus can move many commuters in the road space used by only a few cars, so shifting even part of a busy route to public transport frees capacity for journeys that still need the road.
Explains the mechanism — how the claim actually works. Not another way of saying the claim.For example, when a suburban district gains a frequent rail connection, commuters who previously drove can reach the same workplaces without adding another car to the city centre.
One concrete illustration that makes the mechanism visible. It does not pretend to cite a study or statistic the writer cannot verify.That measured shift is why sustained investment in mass transit delivers more usable road capacity per pound spent than building new roads does.
Ties the evidence back to the essay's position. It closes the paragraph; it does not open a new topic.The claim moved from “more efficient” to “more efficient use of urban infrastructure” — efficient at what, and compared with what.
The explanation stopped restating the claim. It now shows how carrying more people in less road space can release capacity.
The example became a concrete scenario with a visible cause and effect. It illustrates the reasoning without inventing a study, authority or statistic.
The final sentence stopped being circular. “This shows public transport is better” proves nothing; the rewrite says what the evidence buys.
Five paragraphs across three question families. The model stays hidden until you have written all three blocks.
Governments should invest more in public transport than in roads. To what extent do you agree?
Public transport represents a dramatically more efficient use of urban infrastructure than private vehicle networks.
Still short: Explanation (20 more), Example (20 more), Link (15 more).
Critical reading
Three of the seven observations below are the things people say when a paragraph feels weak and they cannot say why. Telling them apart from the real defects is the skill.
Seven things people say about this paragraph. Four of them are real defects and three are not. Click the ones you think are real.
0 of 4 real defects found