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Hi Ryan,
I am going through your IELTS videos and they are very helpful.
I just want to ask you that should I use personal pronounce if essay is asked like do you agree or disagree or give your opinion?
In my practice I have been writing in thesis sentence like I agree, I believe, I support viewpoint... but you advice not to use it and in your one essay video the question was do you agree? and you answered like it is agreed that...
Please try to solve my query.

I too have the same question!

Hiren wrote:Hi Ryan,
I am going through your IELTS videos and they are very helpful.
I just want to ask you that should I use personal pronounce if essay is asked like do you agree or disagree or give your opinion?
In my practice I have been writing in thesis sentence like I agree, I believe, I support viewpoint... but you advice not to use it and in your one essay video the question was do you agree? and you answered like it is agreed that...
Please try to solve my query.

Hi Hiren,

Please excuse the delay.

Students should avoid personal pronouns to increase the academic tone of their writing. The only instances I recommend you use personal pronouns are:

1 - Your essay questions explicitly asks you to recount personal experiences.
2 - Your essay question has a very personal tone. For example: "What characteristics are found in good leaders? Do you possess these characteristics?" (Students very rarely tell me they face these question types.)
3 - You cannot think of an example in your supporting paragraph and need to resort to a personal experience.

If your essay question is simply "do you agree or disagree", respond with "it is agreed that..." or "it is disagreed that...". Avoid using personal language throughout the rest of the essay.

I hope that helps.
Ryan