opinion essay bbc learning english

An opinion essay

Look at the essay and do the exercises to improve your writing skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise first. Then do the other exercises.

Preparation

Check your understanding: multiple selection

Check your writing: matching - useful words and phrases.

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Vocabulary Exercises A1

English Vocabulary Exercises for A1 with Answers.

Vocabulary Exercises A2

English Vocabulary Exercises for A2 with Answers.

Vocabulary Exercises B1

English Vocabulary Exercises for B1 with Answers.

Vocabulary Exercises B2

English Vocabulary Exercises for B2 with Answers.

FULL Grammar Exercises

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Verbs and Tenses Exercises

English Verbs and Tenses Exercises with Answers and Explanations

Grammar Exercises A1

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Grammar Exercises A2

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Grammar Exercises B1

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Grammar Exercises B2

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Listening Exercises Beginner

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Listening Exercises A1

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Listening Exercises A2

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Listening Exercises B1

English Listening Exercises for B1 with Answers

Listening Exercises B2

English Listening Exercises for B2 with Answers

Listening Tests A1

Practice Listening Tests for A1 with Answers & Transcripts

Listening Tests A2

Practice Listening Tests for A2 with Answers & Transcripts

Listening Tests B1

Practice Listening Tests for B1 with Answers & Transcripts

Listening Tests B2

Practice Listening Tests for B2 with Answers & Transcripts

Word Skills Exercises A1

English Word Skills Exercises for A1 with Answers

Word Skills Exercises A2

English Word Skills Exercises for A2 with Answers

Word Skills Exercises B1

English Word Skills Exercises for B1 with Answers

Word Skills Exercises B2

English Word Skills Exercises for B2 with Answers

Reading Exercises Beginner

English Reading Exercises for Beginner with Answers

Reading Exercises A1

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Reading ExercisesC A2

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Speaking Exercises A1

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Speaking Exercises B1

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Speaking Exercises B2

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Writing Exercises A1

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Writing Exercises A2

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Writing Exercises B1

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Writing Exercises B2

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Business Listening A1

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Business Listening B1

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Article Level 1

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Listening Practice Through Dictation with Transcripts

English Writing Exercises for B2 – An opinion essay

• English Writing Exercises for B2

Preparation

‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.’ This saying means that a real friend is there for you in times of trouble. Write an essay in which you give your own opinion of this view, taking into consideration the way we make friends these days and situations where you can recognise real friends.

1. Read the task above. How many elements are there to cover?

Three elements:

1 Give your opinion of the view

2 Describe how we make friends these days

3 List situations where you can recognise real friends

2. Read the essay. In which paragraphs does the writer cover each element of the task?

[ A ]   I find that the saying ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’ is a true one and I wholeheartedly agree with it. I do think that a true friend is one who is always there for you, no matter what.

[ B ]   In the internet age, people are more sociable than ever. It’s easy to make lots of friends online because no one makes any demands on you. Not that it isn’t good to have a wide circle of people to socialise with. Nevertheless, it is said that most of us can count our number of true friends on the fingers of one hand, and I personally think that it is in times of trouble that you find out who your real friends are.

[ C ]   I have known my closest friend Mina since primary school and she remains the nicest, gentlest person I know. We rarely have arguments. Not that we agree on everything, but we generally have a caring and supportive relationship. When my mum was very ill in hospital, she was the truest friend of all. She never once complained that I was bad company, like one or two of my other friends, and I could always talk to her about all my fears. This type of situation really shows you who your friends are.

[ D ]   So, in my view, although you may have lots of friends to have fun with, make sure you have at least one close friend who can support you when you need it most.

Element 1 A    Element 2 B    Element 3 C

Writing Strategy

Use a variety of grammatical structures and vocabulary instead of simple sentences. This will make your essay more interesting and more effective.

3. Read the Writing Strategy and underline an example of each of the structures below in the essay.

1   contrasting clause with but and although

2   an example of another linker

3   an example of preparatory it

4   a sentence starting with Not that …

5   an example of do / did for emphasis

1   Not that we agree on everything, but we generally have a caring and supportive relationship. (para C), … although you may have lots of friends to have fun with, make sure you have at least one close friend … (Para D)

2   Nevertheless (Para B)

3   It is said … (Para B)

4   Not that it isn’t good to have a wide circle of people to socialise with. (Para B)

5   I do think that a true friend is one who is always there for you … (Para A)

4. Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first.

1   She’s a good friend, but she can be a bit moody.

     Although …………………………………

2   People say that you must be a good friend to have a good friend.

     It …………………………………

3   Having true friends is important.

4   I tried talking to him, but he didn’t understand what I was saying.

     I tried talking to him, not that …………………………………

5   I try hard, but she won’t be friends with me.

     I try hard. However, …………………………………

1    Although she’s a good friend, she can be a bit moody.

2    It is said that you must be a good friend to have a good friend.

3   It is important to have true friends.

4   I tried talking to him, not that he understood what I was saying.

5    I try hard. However, she won’t be friends with me.

5. Rewrite the sentences using do/did for emphasis.

1   I liked her.

      ……………………………………..

2   ‘Why didn’t you tell him I was here?’ ‘I told him!’

3   Although she’s twice my age, we have a lot in common.

4   I think he is a good friend.

5   ‘You don’t support me enough.’ ‘I support you!’

      ……………………………………..

1   I did like her.

2   ‘Why didn’t you tell him I was here?’ ‘I did tell him!’

3   Although she’s twice my age, we do have a lot in common.

4   I do think he is a good friend.

5   ‘You don’t support me enough.’ ‘I do support you!’

Writing Guide

There is a saying ‘Age is no barrier to friendship.’ Write an essay in which you give your opinion of this view, taking into consideration the generation gap and different life experience.

6. Read the task above. Make some notes for your opinion and personal description.

7. Write your essay.

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Liverpool Sends a Message to Far-Right Rioters: Not Here

The city in northern England has a long history of protest. That tradition continued this week, with counterprotesters delivering a firm rejection of anti-immigrant violence.

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By Megan Specia

Photographs by Andrew Testa

Reporting from Liverpool, England

The residents of the southeast Liverpool neighborhood of Edge Hill had spent Wednesday preparing for trouble.

Parents were called to pick up children early from nursery school. Shop owners pulled their shutters down over glass storefronts. And in the semidetached brick houses on and around Overbury Street, where generations of the same families have lived alongside newer arrivals, locals pulled their curtains as evening approached.

What they feared was another night of the anti-immigrant violence that had rocked the country in the week since a deadly stabbing attack nearby in Southport that was falsely rumored as being carried out by a migrant.

What they got, instead, was a night of near celebration by people opposed to the racism and anti-immigrant sentiments that drove the week of rioting in cities and towns across Britain.

People in Liverpool had been especially unnerved since an online list of what were said to be new far-right targets for protests included a local charity that works with asylum seekers. Neighbors texted neighbors to head to the streets to counter any racist rioters. Local unions and leaders of neighborhood mosques also put out the word, as did a nationwide collective called “Stand Up to Racism.”

So as helicopters circled overhead on Wednesday night, and police officers on horseback patrolled the streets, young women handed out snacks and water bottles in front of the boarded-up windows of the targeted charity. Another group set up a makeshift first aid area across the street in case of emergency, given the unbridled violence of the past riots. And a white-haired man with a long beard propped a megaphone next to a speaker on his metal walker and played peace songs.

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