Video summary

IELTS Discussion Essay: Useful Academic Expressions

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / concepts

  • The lesson focuses on useful academic expressions for an IELTS Writing Task 2 discussion essay, specifically to discuss other people’s opinions (not only your own opinion).
  • For a discussion essay, the writer must support two different sides of an argument.
  • Most of the expressions shown are academic and often use passive structures to sound more formal and increase band potential.
  • The instructor also highlights two expressions to avoid because they are too informal or not academic for IELTS essays.

Key methodology / instruction list (as presented)

When writing a discussion essay (IELTS Task 2)

  • Support two different sides of the argument (write about what “other people think” on each side).
  • Use academic expressions to introduce and attribute opinions.
  • Prefer simple tense and sometimes passive tense.
  • Demonstrate flexibility by varying wording and grammar throughout the essay (e.g., swapping adverbs of frequency or adjusting passive phrasing).

Expressions and how they’re used (main set)

The instructor walks through multiple ways to attribute opinions, often with similar meaning but different structures.

Side 1 / introducing an opinion (attribution)

  • “Many people believe that …”
  • “It is commonly believed that …”
    • Notes: uses the passive; “commonly” = many people.
    • Can be varied to: “It is frequently believed that …”, “It is often believed that …”
  • “Some people think that …”
  • “It is often thought that …”
    • Notes: another passive option.
  • “It is considered by many that …”
    • Notes: passive version of attributing.
  • “Many argue that …”
  • “It is argued by some that …”
  • “On the one hand …”
    • Used to introduce one side of the argument.

Side 2 / introducing the opposing opinion

  • “On the other hand …”
    • Used to introduce the other side of the argument.
  • “Some people support the opinion that …”
    • Another academic option for attribution.

Common pattern the instructor emphasizes

Many expressions use:

  • Attribution words (believe, think, argue, consider, support, considered/argued/thought)
  • Often in a passive structure to sound formal (e.g., “It is commonly believed that …”, “It is often thought that …”).

Expressions explicitly recommended to avoid

Two expressions are flagged as inappropriate for IELTS discussion essays:

  • “It is …”
    • The instructor indicates one is “not very academic,” used more for speaking rather than essays.
  • “Many students love to use this …” / an idiom
    • Described as informal, not typically used in academic IELTS writing.

(The exact idiom text is not clearly included in the subtitles.)

Speakers / sources featured

  • One speaker/instructor (the video’s teacher/host teaching IELTS Task 2 expressions).
  • No other sources or speakers are mentioned.

Original video