Use environmental terms precisely enough to make a specific argument, rather than decorating a general one.
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Environment essays fail from vagueness, not from lack of concern. Each of these terms names something specific.
Pollution is a very serious problem. It is destroying nature and we must protect the environment for future generations.
Grammatically fine. Genuinely felt. Band 6 — because it could have been written without knowing anything at all about the topic.
The fix is not stronger feeling. It is naming which environmental problem you mean.
A single landscape with each term labelling the exact thing it names.
Each word points at one thing. Using the wrong one points at the wrong problem.
A collocation drill on the partnerships these terms have settled into.
Terms
Definitions
Three decisions about whether the technical term earns its place.
One
What is happening: the soil has not disappeared, but it is no longer fertile enough to farm.
Candidates: depletion / degradation
The expert chooses:
Because:
Two
What is happening: a forest is cleared and replanted with a single species of tree.
Candidates: reduced biodiversity / deforestation
The expert chooses:
Because:
Three
What you mean: dirty air in cities, harming people's lungs. Nothing more specific.
Candidates: environmental degradation / air pollution
The expert chooses:
Because:
Six gaps across a Task 2 paragraph, each pointing at one specific problem.
How should governments respond to environmental pressure?
The most measurable target is carbon output. Cutting industrial is the one intervention whose effect can be verified year on year.
Groundwater presents a different problem: aquifers in several regions are being drawn down faster than rainfall replaces them, and this is effectively irreversible on a human timescale.
Farmland raises a third issue again. The land is not disappearing, but decades of intensive use have produced soil severe enough to cut yields.
Clearing forest for single-species plantations restores tree cover while permanently reducing , since variety cannot be replanted the way trees can.
Investing in sources such as wind and solar addresses supply, though it does not by itself make consumption — a resource that replenishes can still be used faster than it recovers.
Write a claim precise enough that it could be wrong — and have the terms checked.
Task 2 prompt: Some people think individuals should be responsible for reducing environmental damage. Others think this is a matter for governments.
The test: could someone disagree with your sentence on factual grounds? If not, it is probably too general to score.
Two sentences. At least two terms from this sprint.
If you cannot narrow it, the sentence is probably too general.