Examples of such essays:

In some cities, the government has tried to reduce traffic. For instance, they imposed a congestion tax during rush hours. Do you think this development is positive or negative?

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) are the main sources in many countries, but in some countries the use of alternative sources of energy (wind energy and solar energy) are encouraged. To what extent do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Nowadays young people are admiring media and sports stars, even though they do not set a good example. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Positive Negative Development – is one of the opinion essays like Agree/Disagree
Like Agree/Disagree – the student has 2 options.

Let’s take the one of the examples we discussed earlier and discuss how to attempt these essays.

Completely One-Sided Essay

Nowadays young people are admiring media and sports stars, even though they do not set a good example. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Writing the introduction – 2 Sentences

Sentence1: Paraphrase the topic
It is commonly observed that the youth of today admire and follow celebrities like media and sports stars despite them not acting as good role models.
Sentence 2: Write your opinion. First, think of your points.

How Negative

  1. When youth see celebrities involved in bad habits alcohol or drugs either in real life or on the big screen/TV, they also feel like trying it.
  2. Impossible standards of beauty like zero figure. It lowers the confidence of youth and many of them go through eating disorders
  3. Overspending, as they feel like buying expensive products like the latest fashions, clothes promoted by celebrities. Might also lead to crime as youth sometimes commit small crimes like thefts and stealing to obtain such products.

No positive points, all negative – one-sided

Opinion: I strongly believe that this is a negative development.
Complete Introduction: It is commonly observed that the youth of today admire and follow celebrities like media and sports stars despite them not acting as good role models. I strongly believe that this is a negative development.

Writing the Body Paragraphs

Step 1: Write 3 body paragraphs with each paragraph representing different points.
Para 1: Point 1
Para 2: Point 2
Para 3: Point 3 and 4
Step 2: Begin Para 1 with a sentence telling the examiner that you are discussing the negatives.
Step 3: Use connectors between each point.
For example, in this case
For point 1: Firstly,
For point 2: The second negative is that
For point 3: Finally,

Body Paragraph 1:
Media and sports stars have a lot of negative effects on youth. Firstly, celebrities are often portrayed drinking or smoking in advertisements, TV shows and movies. Some stars post pictures of themselves partying and drinking on social media platforms. This normalizes and glamorizes behavior like smoking, binge drinking and illicit drug use, making youth feel that it’s appropriate to do the same. Experimenting with drugs and alcohol affects their health, behavior and grades.
Body Paragraph 2:
Secondly, some celebrities create impossible standards of beauty, as a result of which more and more young adults feel less confident and more dissatisfied with their looks. Teenagers are at a phase of their life where they undergo massive changes physically, mentally, and emotionally. As celebrities are becoming thinner and thinner, the self-confidence of their fans is lost, and they suffer from body displeasure. This causes young fans to strive to be unhealthily thin and stop eating altogether, which may prove fatal at times.
Body Paragraph 3:
Finally, sometimes celebrities ignore the public interest while endorsing the latest fashions and products. Thus, in a way, they promote trends that might be harmful to youth and society. For example, many celebrities promote sugary drinks or fast foods, even though they themselves don’t consume them. Sometimes, they promote costly fashions and gadgets and teenagers force their parents to buy these products. Some teens or youth also resort to petty crimes like stealing just to acquire these products and consequently destroy their whole life.

Conclusion

Step 1: Repeat your opinion, using different words.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that the increasing influence of celebrities on youth has several adverse consequences for them as well as the society.

Having negatives but overall positive (Partial Essay)

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) are the main sources in many countries, but in some countries the use of alternative sources of energy (wind energy and solar energy) are encouraged. To what extent do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Writing the introduction – 2 Sentences

Sentence 1: Paraphrase the topic
It is irrefutable that most of the countries depend on fossil fuels for energy generation, but it is also true that many countries are shifting towards renewable sources like wind, solar and tidal energy.
Sentence 2: Write your opinion. First, think of your points.

How Positive

  1. Renewable last forever, fossils overuse.
  2. Non-polluting
  3. Decrease imports as can be produced locally
  4. Less maintenance or operation costs.

How Negative

  1. High upfront cost
  2. Not as reliable- For example- Solar not at night

Opinion: Although there are few drawbacks of renewable energy, I believe the lowering dependence on fossil fuels is a positive development.
Complete Introduction: It is irrefutable that most of the countries depend on fossil fuels for energy generation, but it is also true that many countries are shifting towards renewable sources like wind, solar and tidal energy. Although there are few drawbacks of renewable energy, I believe the lowering dependence on fossil fuels is a positive development.

Writing the Body Paragraphs

Step 1: Write 3 body paragraphs with each paragraph representing different points.
2 Paragraphs: Main side – Positive
1 Paragraph: Opposite side – Negative
The order doesn’t matter.
Para 1: Point 1 & 2 (Positive)
Para 2: Point 3 & 4 (Negative)
Para 3: Point 1 & 2 (Negative)
Step 2: Begin Para 1 with a sentence telling the examiner that you are discussing the positives.
Begin Para 3 with a sentence telling the examiner that you are discussing the negatives.
Step 3: Use connectors between each point.
For example, in this case
For point 1: Firstly,
For point 2: The second positive is that
For point 3: In addition
For point 4: Finally,
Step 4: Use connector – like However, On the other hand when the tone changes from Positive to Negative – So beginning of Para 3
Step 5: Use connectors to connect negative points
For point 1: The main drawback
For point 2: Another drawback

Body Paragraph 1:
Firstly, alternate sources are renewable, while conventional sources like coal and oil are non-renewable. Fossils take millions of years to make and countries are using them at an alarming rate. This means that if people continue using them at the same rate, there will be nothing left for our future generations. The second advantage is that these non-conventional sources do not pollute the environment. It is well known that fossil fuels are a major contributor to greenhouse gases and consequently global warming.
Body Paragraph 2:
In addition, renewable energy sources reduce dependence on foreign energy imports as they can be produced locally. Thus, these sources can not only increase energy independence but also save valuable foreign exchange. Finally, these sources require less maintenance because they have fewer movable parts as compared to conventional energy sources.
Body Paragraph 3:
On the other hand, there are also a few drawbacks of renewable energy. The main drawback is the high upfront cost, which is considerably higher than conventional energy sources. Another major issue with them is that they are not as reliable as fossil fuel-based energy generation as they depend upon wind speed and hours of sunshine, which varies from day to day and season to season.

Conclusion

Step 1: Repeat your opinion, using different words.
Summing up, despite the problems associated with renewable energy, I consider the shift towards it to be beneficial on the whole.


More examples of discuss essays can be found here
Makkar IELTS academic essay book can be purchase here

6 thoughts on “Positive Negative Development Essay”

  1. can we write all positive ideas in two paragraphs?ie.,(pos idea 1+pos idea 2)–paragraph 1
    pos idea 3+pos idea 4)–paragraph 3
    conclusion

  2. I feel that they are very much helpful…watched the essay writing process of few more other educators but your method is the best & easy.It is helping me to write an essay with ease rather than frightening as I would earlier.Now I’m interested in writing more &more essays.Thank you very much mam…

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