Writing Task 2: Two-Part (Direct) Question Essay: Question 10
Syllabus W.task2
Recent surveys in several countries indicate that fewer adults are taking part in organised team sports such as football, basketball or hockey than in previous decades, even though most still say they value physical exercise.
Why is participation in team sports declining among adults? Is this a positive or negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes
Task Response
The introduction states a specific, plausible cause (scheduling inflexibility) and a clear stance (negative for communities) within a single sentence, directly addressing the prompt’s own detail that adults still value exercise even as team sport declines. Both body paragraphs are anchored in the same developed example, Daniel and his former club, which lets the “why” and the “positive or negative” answers build on each other rather than sitting as two disconnected arguments.
Coherence & Cohesion
The transition “As for whether this shift is desirable” clearly marks the move from cause to evaluation, and referring back to “the five-a-side club Daniel left” links the second body paragraph explicitly to the first. The concessive opening “While solo exercise undeniably offers convenience…” acknowledges the opposing point before returning to the stated position, which strengthens rather than weakens the argument.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise and topic-appropriate (“irregular working patterns”, “structured social contact”, “community belonging”, “quietly displaced”), and repetition of “team” and “sport” is avoided through variation such as “five-a-side league”, “solo fitness options” and “field a team”.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The essay demonstrates a wide, accurate range of structures: a semicolon linking two related clauses, a non-defining relative clause, a passive-adjacent participle phrase (“guided by a fitness app”), and concessive subordination, all without grammatical error.