In some countries, many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past.

Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Answer:

Living alone has become far more normal than it was in the past in some countries. In my opinion, while this trend of living alone has some positive aspects, it also has some negative consequences in equal measure as discussed in this essay.

On the one hand , living alone is beneficial in number of ways. From personal point of view, individuals who live alone become more independent and self -reliant than those who live with their family members. This means that all of the tasks for instance, cleaning, washing, groceries and home budget are managed by individuals on their own.All of these are the valuable life skills to achieve , which can be attained only through living alone. If personal hygiene is taken into consideration, living alone will be advantageous for the persons because it can save them from contagious diseases. To illustrate, diseases like pulmonary TB, AIDS, malaria, cholera and hepatitis; all of which are spread by coming in contact with the affected individuals. The person who lives alone can thus eliminate such viral and bacterial diseases as well as be more self sufficient.

On the contrary, the trend of one person household has several drawbacks. Firstly, instead of producing feelings of independence, a sense of isolation, depression and frustration have been generated among people residing alone. They miss out on the emotional support and friendly conversations which they can share while living together with their family members, relatives or flatmates. Secondly, this trend of living alone has raised the property prices to a peak level leading to a massive burden on economy. Hence, it can be said that both a sense of being alone and raised property prices may result if this trend of living alone will keep on rising.

To conclude, although living alone provides individuals with confidence of managing household chores all by themselves, it is also detrimental at the same time in terms of isolation and causing substantial burden on the property business that will affect the economy adversely.

Comments/Feedback:

I suppose this is a GT question. TA – you deal with the topic well but I feel you need to give a context for what you are writing about. Where I am “personal hygiene ” would not be a major concern and property prices are rising but for different reasons. You are “opting out” by not having a clear opinion// CC – it’s as if paragraph 2 & 3 were written by different people. I was considering 9 while reading para 2 but changed my mind when I saw “On the contrary,” which doesn’t feel ‘right’. Then you use the basic/lazy “firstly/secondly/hence”// LR – “the affected individuals” prevents you getting 9// G – I was wondering if I could give 8 even though it is weakness but then I came across ” if this trend of living alone will keep on rising.”

So, I’d say:

//TA – 7 (6 because you don’t present a clear position?)

// CC – 7

// LR – 8

// G – 7

//Overall = 7.0