At what age should parents allow children to begin making their own decisions? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
Sample Essay with Corrections
Expert Feedback
The essay effectively addresses the prompt by discussing the appropriate age for children to start making their own decisions, supported by relevant examples. Key strengths include a clear structure and relevant personal anecdotes that enhance the argument. However, critical areas for improvement include the need for a more explicit thesis statement and a clearer conclusion that succinctly summarizes the main points. Additionally, the use of cohesive devices could be improved for smoother transitions between ideas. Minor grammatical errors and repetitive phrases were corrected to enhance clarity and lexical variety. Suggestions for further improvements not implemented include incorporating more complex sentence structures and varying vocabulary to avoid repetition. The tone used is appropriate for an academic essay, maintaining a formal and reflective style throughout.
Detailed Scores
What this means:
The essay is generally well-organized, with a logical progression of ideas. Each paragraph focuses on a specific age range and the corresponding decision-making abilities. However, the use of cohesive devices could be improved; for instance, transitions between some ideas could be smoother to enhance overall flow.
How to improve:
- Use a clear paragraph structure
- Connect ideas with appropriate linking words
- Maintain logical progression
- Use referencing effectively
What this means:
The essay demonstrates a good range of grammatical structures, with mostly accurate usage. There are minor errors, such as 'this is good age' (should be 'this is a good age') and some awkward constructions, but these do not significantly impede understanding. More complex sentence structures could be employed to further enhance the score.
How to improve:
- Use complex sentence structures
- Maintain grammatical accuracy
- Use a variety of sentence patterns
- Check for common grammar errors
What this means:
The vocabulary used is appropriate and varied, with phrases like 'controlled way' and 'feel more confident' demonstrating a good range. However, there are some repetitive phrases, such as 'make their own decisions' and 'important decisions,' which could be replaced with synonyms to enhance lexical variety.
How to improve:
- Use a wider range of vocabulary
- Demonstrate awareness of collocations
- Avoid word repetition
- Use more sophisticated vocabulary accurately
What this means:
The essay addresses the prompt effectively by discussing the appropriate age for children to start making their own decisions, supported by relevant examples. However, it could benefit from a more explicit thesis statement and a clearer conclusion that summarizes the main points more succinctly.
How to improve:
- Address all parts of the task fully
- Support ideas with specific examples
- Develop each point thoroughly
- Stay relevant to the topic
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