IELTS Reading: Why fairy tales are really scary tales π§ββοΈπ»
I had a special request from Isabella on Instagram today ππ§π·. She asked me to look at a really difficult text (yes, this one's 9/10!).
It's an Academic Passage 3 and it follows the Reading Type 2 structure (discursive) which goes like this -
Title: asks a question (Why? The answer is not what everyone thinks).
1. Old theory: Everyone thinks fairy tales have endured because the STORIES give us WARNINGS about life e.g. Little Red Riding Hood.
2. New theory: Everyone is wrong. There's another reason.
3. Test to prove the old theory is wrong: Is the STORY important? 'NO'. Is the WARNING important? Answer: 'NO'.
4. Results of the test: The reason why fairy tales have endured is just that people enjoy scary stories.
5. Althernative theory (instantly proved wrong): The stories remain relevant because they're about women as victims.
6. Conclusion: Everyone likes scary stories because they build up our resistance to negative emotions, so the first theory is probably right.
You can find similar 'discursive' structures here:
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