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Should governments spend more money on improving roads and highways, or should governments spend more money on improving public transportation (buses, trains, and subways)? Why? Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.

Should governments spend more money on improving roads and highways, or should governments spend more money on improving public transportation (buses, trains, and subways)? Why? Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.

All means of transportation should be kept in good conditions. However, I believe it would be most beneficial for a country or city, if its government spent more money on improving public transportation. This would result insubstantial standard of living improvements. The volume of cars and trucks hitting the highways is dramatically rising every year. As a result, the number of traffic jams, accidents and carbon monoxide emissions are doing too. All these factors have a detrimental effect on our quality of life. Expanding subway lines and railroads and developing an effective plan to combine buses and subways routes, would eventually lead to a reduction in pollution levels, less traffic jams and less stress for the people. If subway lines reached every corner of a city, people would not need to use their cars to commute. Less cars on the road, means less carbon monoxide emissions into the atmosphere; therefore, the air we breathe would be more pure. Less cars also means less traffic jams, which translates into less stress for drivers and better living conditions.   Not every country has a well developed railroad system. Consequently, they have to rely on trucks and buses for ground transportation of passengers and freight. Expanding and upgrading railroad systems will result in fewer trucks and buses on the highways. Removing this kind of traffic from the highways and encouraging the use of trains, would be another way to reduce congestion on the freeways. The reduction of traffic represents less maintenance costs for the government. This surplus of money could be used for other purposes. For example, a forest recovery program or a national campaign against pollution. Highways, roads and public transportation all require maintenance funds, but I think it is more important to think about the future and how to make our countries or cities better places to live in. Improving public transportation, will help reduce traffic jams, accidents and air pollution. A safer, healthier and more enjoyable place to live a waits for us in the future.

What are some important qualities of a good supervisor (boss)? Use specific details and examples to explain why these qualities are important.

What are some important qualities of a good supervisor (boss)? Use specific details and examples to explain why these qualities are important.

It's surely not so easy to be a good supervisor because you have to manage so many things and to deal with a lot of people, including your employees. In my opinion, the most important qualities a good supervisor should have are discretion, finesse and impartiality.  

Since a supervisor is usually responsible for a company, project, or business, etc., he will certainly meet many difficulties and problems and require him to make correct decisions. If a supervisor has not discretion and hesitate to solve the problems, he, of course, can't deal with them well, and he maybe lose some chances of business or cause greater damage because of his hesitation. Besides discretion, I think a good supervisor should have finesse and impartiality. Usually a supervisor will supervise several employees. It is common there is some conflict of interest among the employees. How to make the employees get along with one another well is a task for a good supervisor. Generally speaking, if a supervisor treats his employees impartially, he can reduce or avoid the conflict of interest among the employees and make them work hard. Jinny was a supervisor in my company, when there was a chance of promotion in her department, she gave the chance to a employee who worked very hard, not to her relative who also worked in her department. All employees said nothing bad about the promotion but respected her. As a supervisor, a person has to not only do his work well, but also manage his company or team well. In order to be a good supervisor, the most important qualities he should have are discretion, finesse and impartiality. 

Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with a teacher. Others think that it is always better to have a teacher. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons to develop your essay.

Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with a teacher. Others think that it is always better to have a teacher. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons to develop your essay.

I support the view that teachers should be a part of the learning process. Below are several beneficial reasons for which I feel that teachers are needed in while learning. Below are also some of the problems that come up without their presence. Primarily teachers are there for guidance in a particular field or subject. They give you a systematic and better way to approach a subject. A teacher normally teaches a subject in which he or she has expertise in. Hence that person has made a study of the subject and can guide you in order to help you approach the subject in a better way. This guidance may be in the form of giving you names of reference books or giving you notes. Without a teacher it would be extremely cumbersome to go through large libraries for a certain topic. Besides this the teacher could provide you help with any sort of problem that you come across while studying. The teacher could provide you strategies that help you solve a problem. Without a teacher, this problem would take up a lot of your valuable time or remain unsolved. Teachers can also point out when you are going wrong. They point out our mistakes and suggest ways for us to correct them. In the end it does depend on the individual person to finally getting down to learn a subject. The actual studying has to be done by the individual. But the learning process can be made much simpler with the proper and continuous guidance of teachers. Hence it better to learn with the help of a teacher rather than learning by yourself. 

It has recently been announced that a new restaurant may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

It has recently been announced that a new restaurant may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

When thinking about a place where people can gather and talk, I feel it a great thing for the community. A restaurant, to me, is a great idea for my neighborhood. Not only it a place that everyone can go to on special occasions, but also it is good that people around my neighborhood have new kind of food; since there is only one restaurant around my neighborhood. I really like this plan because it really gives people a different restaurant to go to and another place where new food can be found. Around my neighborhood, there is only one Chinese restaurant for many years. I, myself, was tired of Chinese food and really wanted another menu. One of my friends said no to me immediately when I asked him to go to the Chinese restaurant. People around my neighborhood like changes. Last week, a new shopping mall was opened and on the newspaper survey of how people think about the new shopping place, everyone agreed that they liked it. A new restaurant, to me, will be welcomed by my community. A place where people around neighborhood can go to socialize with good food is very important. The new ideas of the restaurant will give my neighbors another place to come for business, special occasion, and much more. As I mentioned earlier, the Chinese foods are very bland and almost everyone  

hates it ; the new restaurant may have a different menu that can give everyone a fresh taste. The new restaurant is perfect for my neighborhood, which likes changes and loves to go to place to talk and to eat tasty food. This restaurant will take part to bring people together as a family and as a community. The more people go to the restaurant, the more exciting and fun the place will become. The restaurant may has many success and can leads to more commercial building to be built. 

Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion, what are the qualities of a good neighbor? Use specific details and examples in your answer.

Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion, what are the qualities of a good neighbor? Use specific details and examples in your answer.

From the very beginning of the development of the society people live in small groups. This helps them to face any problem easier .In my opinion a neighbor must be first and foremost a good friend, secondly a person with good manners and finally a sober-minded one. I will prove the importance of these qualities one by one so you could understand my position. The importance of a neighbor to be also a good friend can be proved by the following example. This week, one of my neighbors was hit by a car. When this happened I was staying at the balcony with my father, so we rushed out of the house and took our neighbor to the hospital. If we came ten minutes later she would had died. That's why I think a neighbor must be a good friend that would always help you. If you have a neighbor with good manners, being neighbors becomes a pleasure for both of you. A day begins batter if you get a "Good morning" from a smiling and nice person. And finally, if your neighbor is a wise person you can always get a good advice from him; he can always help you with to solve some difficult problem. In conclusion, a neighbor must be an example of a man from a developed society, because only then he can represent all the qualities mentioned above. 

Some people believe that university students should be required to attend classes. Others believe that going to classes should be optional for students. Which point of view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to explain your answer.

Some people believe that university students should be required to attend classes. Others believe that going to classes should be optional for students. Which point of view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to explain your answer. 

Optional attendance to classes at universities has been an increasingly popular way for students to study for several years in quite a few countries. However, it has not yet had its intended results as it had been hoped. In fact, today, this system seems to be one of the reasons for the corruption of  

University education. In my opinion, compulsory attendance is better than having no requirement to attend all the lessons on-campus. There are two points of view to this question. First, one side will say that university students are adults and should be able to manage their time as they see fit. This point of view says that sometimes, in today’s busy world, people need flexibility to manage their lives. For example, many single parents who are trying to earn their college degrees will sometimes need to skip a class because of the demands of their other responsibilities. However, I believe that the great majority of college students are young and single, and have few responsibilities, and that they need the discipline and structure of a system that requires attendance. Young people who have just gone off to college are notorious for the excesses to which they enjoy their freedom. There are many negative situations caused by the free-attendance system. The most harmful one is the economic waste for both universities and students. Many students who do not attend classes regularly are likely to suffer decreased performance on their exams and therefore waste their time in college. They, generally, do not feel panic because of the failures or restudying the same subjects for the second time. However, this sometimes costs a fortune to both parents and the government that have created tax-funded subsidies for education for each student every year. Not only are the university fees wasted, but also the money for accommodations and other spending are also wasted. On the other hand, students who are required to attend classes regularly have no time to waste in pubs or clubs. Nor can they spend these young years, which are more valuable to them to learn and think than any other period in their lives, on gambling or drinking. I do not mean they are only to study without any break or entertainment. Their social life is as necessary as studying during the hard academic years, yet, the amount of each should be  balanced well. More spare time than necessary encourages the young to ignore studying and classes. Thus, neither the universities nor the students do their best if the students have too much freedom not to study. To sum up, many teenagers are not able to think sensibly to decide when to study and when to enjoy with friends. A scheduled chart of classes which have a huge number of options that are necessary to identify the best fitting one for each student, will help them to construct an ideal campus life including leisure activities. In addition, this will stop the waste of time and money and is likely to reevaluate the higher education system in several years. In short, I believe that the majority of college students are too young to manage their time responsibly and that universities should therefore impose strict rules on attendance. 

Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

People may have two choices to eat, either they go out to fast food stands or restaurants, or they prepare food at home, whatever is suitable to them. In my case I prefer to go out to eat, as it is easy to do, it saves my time, and I can try a variety of interesting foods from different countries. Being a working person, with all day long office work and a long commute, it becomes difficult to do all preparation for making food. For me easy way to get   food is restaurant, where I can get prepared food at home or office by just ordering on phone, Along with that another comfort is, that whenever I have to eat together with my so many friends, I can always go to a restaurant, otherwise it's difficult to prepare food at home for so many people and don't get time to talk and having fun. So I always find it a easier way to eat out, apart from that It make my other outdoor activities possible because I don't have to bother about food wherever I go, to any fun place or theater or traveling, restaurants are always there throughout city and it becomes easy every time to get food whenever and whenever I need according to other activities. Besides that, I can save a lot of time by getting food from restaurant. For example, I don't have to go out for vegetables and grocery shopping, I don't need to clean, cut and fry food and do a lot kitchen work, doing dishes etc., instead I can get fresh food delivered in minutes. Along with that when I eat at restaurant I have more time to do other things like reading, watching TV, and listening music, going out theatre, or having fun with friends, that don't make me tired or feel bored and I feel refreshed for next day work, so by going to restaurant, I can manage a lot more activities instead preparing food. In addition, in restaurant I get a variety of food choice, I can have taste of different regions, for example Indian restaurant I can get varied food from North Indian to South Indian Punjabi, Bengali, Madrasi, Maharashtrian, etc. at one place. Likewise, I can taste worldwide food variety like pasta dishes in Italian restaurant, tortilla and Barito dishes in Mexican, pizza, and burger items in American, noodles in Chinese, etc. and can enjoy various vegetarian, non vegetarian dishes which are specialty of different countries. Not only that, in restaurant the food is served with beautiful garnishing, that tempts for eating and is worth of paying. I find it very interesting to experience varied food indifferent restaurants. To conclude I am fond of going stands and restaurants for eating that is suitable for me because of convenient, quick and variety of tasty food, which I enjoy very much and make my routine easier and interesting.

Many people visit museums when they travel to new places. Why do you think people visit museums? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Many people visit museums when they travel to new places. Why do you think people visit museums? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 

Traveling to new places is a universal phenomenon. Museums are a most important part of the itinerary for the traveler who seeks valuable insights into the culture, heritage and history of the place that he has traveled to. Museums are a convenient option for all tourists. Even tourists, who have come primarily for adventure sports, natural phenomenon and shopping, can make time to see museums rather than poring through books on the history, demographics, art and tradition of the place. A museum visit may be over in the matter of a couple of hours, but gaining information from other sources could involve a much longer time. So people go to museums because they want to take in some important facts as quickly as possible and then, maybe, reserve the rest of the time for leisure pursuits. Museums contain many artifacts that have stood the test of time for centuries and millennia on end and thus, museums are the only place one can go to see such artifacts. One example I would like to present in this regard is that of the ‘Victoria Memorial in my city- Calcutta (now Kolkata).  This museum contains the very dress that Queen Victoria wore to her coronation. If one were genuinely interested in viewing rare and old artifacts like this, the option one has is to go to museums. So people also go to museums because they can see several old and valuable things. Lastly, I believe that museums are the reflection of the culture, art, religion, tradition and heritage of an area. Thus, they provide a clear, unbiased and real picture of the culture of an area. This is probably the most common reason for people visiting museums while traveling. One example I would like to offer in this regard is that of the Nehru Museum in my city. It has several floors that are dedicated solely to Hindu Mythology and the great epic Ramayan is also enacted in a series of miniature exhibits. This is the best place for travelers to go if they would like to learn a little about our culture. So, the strongest reason for my belief is that museums are the true reflection of a place and this is the major reason that travelers flock to museums of areas that they visit. Thus, for all the above reasons, I would like to reiterate my belief that museums enjoy patronage from travelers due to the fact that they have much to offer for the traveler. 

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Universities should give the same amount of money to their students’ sports activities as they give to their university libraries. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Universities should give the same amount of money to their students’ sports activities as they give to their university libraries. Use specific reasons and   examples to support your opinion.

Some people claim that universities should give the same sum of money to their students' sports activities as to their university libraries. They point out that universities should attract more students to exercise, because a healthy body can make a student bear the heavy studies. On the other hand, most people, like me, strongly disagree with it. In the following paragraphs, I will explain some main reasons. In the first place, an obvious advantage to spend more money on libraries is that enormous libraries can help us save a huge amount of money, paper resource and the time to seek study materials from a far bookstore. As we all known, the prices of books are more expensive than before, while we have to read more books to catch up with the high-tech era. Moreover, now many students are still too poor to go to school, therefore libraries become the cheapest places to provide useful knowledge for them. Just imagine these poor persons can enjoy a varieties of books in a comfortable environment with enough light and a quiet study atmosphere. How happy they are! Secondly, another reason why I disagree is that the chief goal of university education is to teach students working skills. Obviously, libraries provide more useful information to students than sports activities do. For example, more and more libraries are also equipped with computers which can encourage students to surf the Net to widen their horizons. Without the Internet, there will be less chances to make friend with the foreigners and catch the latest worldwide information. On the contrary, sports activities are just limited in a small area and a few of friends in some degree. However, I do not deny that sports activities can provide chances to develop some good characteristics, such as cooperation. But frankly speaking, it is a bit wasteful to spend too much money on sports activities, when we can attain enough free exercises, such as running, which gain the same advantages as well. Furthermore, students are easily obsessed by the activities and overlook their studies. For instant, I once used so much study time to play basketball that I failed to go up to the next grade. Although I earned some awards of basketball matches at that time, I feel very regret. In fact, numerous students have the similar stories because of the attraction of the sports activities. In conclusion, I firmly disagree with the idea that universities should give the same sum of money to their students' sports activities as they give to their university libraries. Nevertheless we are sure that both universities libraries and proper sports activities are valuable. Anyway, to avoid students playing overtime and ignoring their homework should be concerned. Is it wise to spend more money on universities libraries?

“When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” Do you agree or disagree with the quotation above? Use specific reasons and examples to explain your position.

“When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success.” Do you agree or disagree with the quotation above? Use specific reasons and examples to explain your position.

I fully agree with the claim that there is no correlation between success and luck. Moreover, I understand success to refer to one’s ability to achieve the predominant part of his goals in his life time, which in turn leads to a correlation between success and income since the accomplishment of such a natural goal as to provide a good future for your loved ones demands the means. What is the simplest and most lawful way to earn enough to consider you a successful person? To receive a good education and to find a good job. Both receiving an education and making a career presuppose one’s readiness to work hard, and success without hard work is simply not possible for the vast majority of the world's population. The reasons and examples listed below will strengthen my point of view. First of all, considering an education and a career as key factors of success, one will choose to pursue a degree from a college or a university. One wishing to be admitted to the university will have to take several tests. It is doubtful that someone will be so lucky that knowing nothing, he could pass the test with a high score. A low score means failure, and that test taker will not likely be admitted. Therefore, in order to be successful, one should prepare for the tests and work hard, because a good education will provide him with a good job and an opportunity to accomplish some of his goals and dreams. In my lifetime, I have never met a person who could graduate from a college without working hard. Secondly, it is impossible to make a career if one is indolent and lacking knowledge, at least in developed countries. Luck plays no role in achieving this success. Even if someone was unbelievably lucky enough to become a manager not being qualified enough, he will be asked to resign in the near future because of his inability due to lack of knowledge and experience to make right decisions. For instance, I used to work for a very small company owned by a friend. This company was later closed because of bankruptcy. The cause of bankruptcy was wrong strategies and decisions made by the owner. After the failure, he went to a university and worked for another company so that he could obtain experience and become a successful businessman. Nowadays, he considers himself a successful person because he had turned into reality his two biggest dreams of  producing consumer goods of high quality and making charitable donations to needy people. In sum, as long as someone understands success as an ability to turn into reality some of his dreams and goals, he will have to work hard because he will need money. And his chances to earn that money will remarkably increase if he could graduate from a college and make a career. All of these things are simply not possible without hard work. Luck has no place in such a scheme of events.

Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which place would you prefer to live in? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which place would you prefer to live in? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Where people live is an extremely important aspect of their lives. Some prefer the hustle and bustle of the city whereas many prefer the quiet life of a small town. I, for one, would much prefer to live in the city rather than the small town due to many essential features that cities have and towns do not. Firstly, cities in my country have all the modern facilities that are needed to get along in this world. The health care systems in cities in my country are excellent but are absent in small towns. The city is the center for trade and thus, excellent shopping options are available in the city but are absent in towns where one has extremely limited options. Lastly, communications in the city are excellent. Internet, e-mail, international phone calls are available everywhere but in towns in my country, people have yet to hear of Internet and e-mail. Secondly, the city has more energy than the town. I get galvanized into action by the bustle I see everywhere. Everyone seems to be busy and this inspires me to work even harder to achieve my goals. The immense industry that cities spawn are testament to the fact that they are economic hubs of  the country. Lastly, job and study opportunities are available in cities to a much larger extent than in towns. All the ‘wanted’ ads in national newspapers in my country seem to originate in the city. All the best colleges and universities in the country are in the cities. If one, like me, really wants to make his future bright, then there is no alternative to studying or working in the city. Many people support living in towns due to the clean environment and the idyllic life. However, I feel that the idyllic life is not for me. I need to get out, to experience and to compete in order to realize my dreams. People also feel that cities are too polluted but in recent times we have seen that tough regulations have made the city much cleaner and so, this argument too can be thrown out of the window. Thus, I hope that I have been able to convince you that the city is a better place to live in from my point of view. Due to all the above reasons, I would like to recommend to all progressive individuals like me that they live in the city and take advantage of all that the city has to offer.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television has destroyed communication among friends and family. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television has destroyed communication among friends and family. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Television is undoubtedly one of the most powerful means of communication in the history of humankind, rivaled only by such other forms of communication as the Internet, the telephone, movies, and, of course, simple, low-tech speech. Television, with its wide availability and rich media with image and sound, is difficult to ignore and even seductive in its appeal. Television is as much a part of our lives as are our meals, work, or school; studies consistently show that the average American child spends almost as much time watching television as she does in school. Furthermore, because television is so rich in its media, it often requires our full attention or is more attraction to us than are our daily lives. Naturally, the more time one spends watching television, the less time she has with her family and friends. Thus, we can clearly see why some have claimed that television has been harmful for communication among family and friends. However, I believe that, while television has been somewhat harmful in its effects, it has hardly "destroyed" communication among family and friends for most people, although for some, this may be true. Most people much prefer spending time with their families and friends to spending time watching television. Television is of course an important part of many people's lives, but most people would gladly choose family and friends over television were they given the choice. Furthermore, most educated people are aware of the deleterious effects of too much television and either avoid excessive time watching television, or actually do not enjoy it. I, for example, after a long day at work, would much rather spend time talking with my wife and playing with my children than I would watching some unrealistic portrayal of life on television. For me and my family, our time together is precious and beautiful, and could never be replaced or hurt by television. Furthermore, the effect of television is simply not so great that it could be said to have "destroyed" communication among family and friends. Granting that communication among family and friends in industrialized countries has decreased in recent years, it might be tempting to blame this problem on television since its rise roughly coincided with the decrease in time we spend with our families. However, I believe this situation is more likely due to increased pressures relating from work, school, and the economy. In my case, for example, I find that my pressures from work are so great that I must often sacrifice time at home so that I can meet the challenges of running my own business. Many of my friends are in similar situations--my best friend, for example, has just finished law school, which took about sixty hours a week of his time. In a word, people nowadays have very little time for anything, but television is not the cause--it is increased desire to succeed. In some situations, however, television has surely contributed to a decrease in communication among family members. In my childhood in the countryside, I often saw parents and children watching television for hours on end, rarely speaking with one another. It seemed for them that television was a way to

escape from their sad, miserable existence. However, even in this case, I would say that television merely contributed to the bad situation, but did not cause it; were television not existent, surely these people would have found other escapes, alcohol or gambling, for example. In other words, people always find a way to do what they want to do. In short, I do not believe that television has destroyed or even harmed interpersonal communication among most people. Most people realize that television is merely a temporary diversion and do not use it to replace interpersonal communication. I believe that the damage attributed to television is greatly exaggerated and that such damage is most likely attributable to other more powerful social factors. 

TOEFL Essay Writing Topics

TOEFL Essay Writing Topics

It is generally considered that practice is one of the best ways of TOEFL essay writing improvement. You should keep in mind that the more you would practice, the easier it will be for you to write your TOEFL essays. It is quite possible to have as much practice as you wish by using the following TOEFL essay topics, which are proposed below. • A good teacher is a strict teacher. • A job, which requires a lot of thinking, is much more difficult than a job, which does not require any thinking. • All animals should be free and not kept in zoos. • An intelligent person can be considered the one, who is educated. • A person always acts in his/her self interest. • A successful life is a happy life. • Boys are most influenced by their fathers, while girls are most influenced by their mothers. • Cars should be banned from the centers of the large cities. • Computers have made people’s lives much more complicated. • Education should become free for everybody, governments should pay for colleges and universities. • Extraverts come out to be better leaders in comparison with introverts. • Far not everything that we learn, is contained in books. • Governments of some countries should limit foreign imports in order to provide protection for jobs. • It is always important to try to keep up with the latest fashions. • It is always better and more useful to learn from one’s own experience, rather than from some book. • It is always better to have loved at least once in one’s life and lost, than not to have loved at all. • It is better to have a few close friends, than to have many acquaintances. • It is better to live in some small town, rather than in a big city. • It is better to learn by yourself, than with a teacher. • It is better to look for any information in the library, rather than on the Internet. • It is better to work for someone than to work for yourself. • It is extremely important to be actively involved in one’s community life. • It is much more important to study science and technology, rather than arts and humanities. • It is much more useful for a child to grow up in a countryside, rather than in a big city. • It is not acceptable to use animals to test any new drugs or medical treatments. • It is not important to be aware of what a politician does in his/her personal life. • It is not possible to buy happiness for money. • It is not possible to eliminate poverty. • It is not possible to get rid of the violence completely. • It is not possible to measure someone’s level of intelligence with the help of a written test. • It is only possible to achieve success through discipline and hard work. • It is quite acceptable for parents to apply some physical force to discipline their kids. • It is quite possible to get to know much about a person’s character by the way he or she gets dressed. • It is rather impolite to criticize other people. • It is very important and useful to know how to play at least one musical instrument. • Learning new things is always fun. • Life is much easier nowadays, than it was hundreds of years ago. • Magazines, newspapers and television pay too much attention to the lives of famous people. • Medical care should be free for every person. • Military service should become compulsory. • Modern movies and television influence the way we live and behave negatively. • Money is the best way to motivate people. • Our best teachers are our parents. • People have too much free time nowadays. • People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing. • People, who are poor, have more difficult lives than those, who are rich. • People, who immigrate to some country should be forced to learn the language of that country. • Police officers should not be allowed to carry guns. • Practically all politicians are corrupt. • Religion should not be taught in public schools. • Scientific and technological advances are good and useful. • Some people have too much money. • Students, who study at universities, are to be required to attend all their classes. • Television violence is one of the main contributors to the violence in our society. • The best jobs are the ones, which pay a lot of money. • There are cases when making a bad decision is better than making no decision at all. • There are cases, when lie is acceptable. • There is no luck involved in success, everything depends purely on how hard a person would work. • There is nothing bad in working while attending school. • There should be no minimum age for drinking alcohol. • Watching television is a mere waste of precious time. • Women come out to be better teachers than men.

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Introduction

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Introduction

It is always necessary to keep in mind that the introduction is really not only the first; it is also the most important paragraph of your TOEFL essay. This is why it is extremely important to make a good impression in it. In case you fail to start out well, it may be very difficult to convince your reader, which is in a given case the TOEFL assessor, to take your writing seriously later on. Here are the facts you are to keep in mind about your essay introduction: • Introduction is the first paragraph of the essay; • Introduction is usually to be 3 to 5 sentences long; • Introduction should introduce the topic of your essay; • It is necessary to express your opinion clearly in the introduction; • Every introduction is to have a strong thesis statement. It is extremely important that all introductions are to meet these five criteria, mentioned above. Remember, if it happened so that your introduction is missing at least one of them, it can be considered as being a weak one. Every introduction consists of the following steps:  Step one: beginning the introduction Your introduction should begin with a general statement about the topic of your TOEFL essay. It is necessary to explain what the essay is going to be about in it, which helps to make your reader mentally prepared for the following arguments. Although, you should also remember that your opinion should not be expressed in this sentence, because it is only a general statement about the topic of your essay. Here comes a good example of a typical first sentence: Many communities debate whether or not police officers should carry guns. You see that there is no opinion of the writer, provided in this sentence, there is only a general statement about the topic of the essay. Step two: developing the introduction After your first sentence is written, the time of your introduction development comes. It is possible to do with the help of a few more general statements about the topic of the essay. One of the ways to do it is to discuss both sides of the argument. Here comes the example of how it can be done: There are situations, when guns help to protect the police officer, as well as the public; therefore, from the other point of view, guns can result in serious injuries and even death. When you explain both sides of the argument, the thing, which is called contrasting, you show your reader that you have though about the issue in the most careful way. It is also important to be aware of the fact, that in case if you are going to contrast both sides of the argument, you should better start with the side of the argument, you do not agree with. It is considered to be more natural in English, in addition, you essay introduction will develop in a logical order toward the thesis statement. Step three: writing the thesis statement After you have developed your essay introduction, it is time to write your thesis statement. This is considered to be the last sentence in you first paragraph. In addition, it is also the most important sentence in the entire essay, because it usually plays two roles: • It provides a direct answer to the question of your essay; • The reader gets to know your opinion. Taking into consideration the introduction, provided as an example, here what the thesis statement can look like: No police officer should ever carry a gun with him. The thesis statement here is rather simple and it is direct; it provides the answer to the question of the essay, as well as it tells the reader exactly what the author’s opinion is. It should also be mentioned without a sign of an exaggeration, that thesis statement is the most important sentence of the essay. Moreover, in case if the reader has some difficulty understanding the essay, he/she usually returns to the thesis statement in order to get reminded what the essay is about. There is no need to say that a bad thesis statement usually results in a bad essay.  Step four: putting it all together Here is the complete introduction to out essay: Many communities debate whether or not police officers should carry guns. There are situations, when guns help to protect the police officer, as well as the public; therefore, from the other point of view, guns can result in serious injuries and even death. No police officer should ever carry a gun with him. In our first sentence the introduction is begun with a general statement about the topic of the essay. After that, in the second sentence, two possible sides of the argument are contrasted. And, finally, the last sentence is called the thesis statement, because it is it, which provides an answer to the question of the essay, as well as gives the author’s opinion.

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Conclusion

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Conclusion

The conclusion is called the last paragraph of your TOEFL essay. The thesis is restated and all the main points are summarized in the conclusion. 
It should be pointed out that the conclusion is considered to be the easiest part to write. Still, it has some criteria to be kept to. These criteria are the following ones:
• The conclusion is the last paragraph of the essay;
• The conclusion usually consists of three or four sentences;
• The conclusion restates the thesis of the essay;
• The conclusion summarizes all the main points of the essay.

In case if thesis statement is not restated and the main points of the essay are not summarized in the last part of it, it can be considered that the conclusion is bad. 
In order to be able to write a good conclusion, it is necessary to take a look at four important sentences of the essay. These sentences are the thesis statement and three topic sentences.

So, the first thing you are to do is to take a look at your thesis statement. It is the following one:

 No police officer should ever carry a gun with him.
After that you should look at your three topic sentences:

 There exists too much violence in the nowadays world already;
 Police officers usually do not need any guns, especially for protection;
 Any kind of violence is a bad thing.
And the last thing to write a good conclusion is to put all these points together into one single paragraph, starting with the thesis statement. It would be good to add some transitional phrases, as in conclusion, to conclude, to summarize, finally, etc. 

 In conclusion, police officer should ever carry a gun with him. The main reason of it is that there exists too much violence in the nowadays world already. Besides, police officers usually do not need any guns, especially for protection and any kind of violence is a bad thing.

And, finally, you may take a look at the completed TOEFL essay. Here it comes:

Many communities debate whether or not police officers should carry guns. There are situations, when guns help to protect the police officer, as well as the public; therefore, from the other point of view, guns can result in serious injuries and even death. No police officer should ever carry a gun with him.
First of all, there exists too much violence in the nowadays world already. In addition to the previous point, police officers usually do not need any guns, especially for protection. To finish up with, any kind of violence is a bad thing.
In addition to the points, mentioned above, in the majority of cases police officers do not need guns. For example, my friend’s father has been a police officer for more than 25 years, and there was no time he had to use his gun. In fact, he considers that the great majority of people, who break the law, are not armed in any way. Thus, there is often simply no need for police officers to carry guns with them.
To finish up with, any kind of violence is a bad thing. Someone has told me that a car thief was caught by the policemen, and after they caught him, they simply shoot him, although he was not armed at all, he just said there was a gun with him.
In conclusion, police officer should never carry a gun with him. The main reason of it is that there exists too much violence in the nowadays world already. Besides, police officers usually do not need any guns, especially for protection and any kind of violence is a bad thing.

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Body

How to Write a TOEFL Essay Body

The body is really considered to be the meat and bones of any essay, and your TOEFL essay will not be exclusion as well. The body of the essay is called everything that comes between the introduction and the conclusion. Here are some basic rules of what your body is to consist of: • The body should be about 2 paragraphs long; • There is to be a topic sentence in each paragraph of your body; • There are to be 3 to 5 supporting ideas in each paragraph of your body; • The aim of the body is to support the thesis statement, which is provided by you in the introduction. As for the paragraphs of the body of the essay, you have already got to know that each paragraph of the body of your TOEFL essay should support your thesis statement, which is provided by you in the introduction. It should also be pointed out that each paragraph should be of the same structure, and it is to consist of one topic sentence, which is followed by 3 to 5 supporting ideas. In case someone does not understand what the topic sentence or supporting ideas are, he / she here are the examples of them, provided below: The topic sentence is how the first sentence of each paragraph called. This sentence has two aims: first of all it gives one reason to support the thesis statement and it also tells the reader what the rest of the paragraph will be about. Supporting ideas is called everything, which comes in the paragraph after the topic sentence. Supporting ideas has received its name because it is used to “support” the topic sentence of the paragraph. Practically everything can become your supporting idea, for example some story from your life, some philosophical argument, some personal experience of yours or of any other person, and even some statistical information. Therefore, there exists one important thing – it is that supporting idea explains why you consider the topic sentences to be true.

Common Spelling Mistakes in TOEFL iBT Essays

Common Spelling Mistakes in TOEFL iBT Essays

You will become able to improve your TOEFL iBT writing score, when you get to know about these common spelling mistakes and if you manage to avoid any of them. It is considered to be quite a wide – known fact that spelling is an extremely hard work in English. Therefore, there is good news as well – it is that you should not get worried too much about it, because everyone, including native speakers of English, has problems with spelling and makes spelling mistakes from time to time. From the point of view of theory, your TOEFL essay is expected to be simply perfect and, of course, it is to be free of any possible misspelling. As for the reality, it is clear that we all are living beings and we all can make different kinds of mistakes. Therefore, when a person is getting ready for his / her TOEFL iBT, it is much advisable to spend as much of his / her time as possible improving the reading, writing, speaking skills, as well as grammar. It should also be pointed out that there is a list of words, which should never be misspelled on the TOEFL essay, because in case if any of them is spelled incorrectly, this is considered to be a signal to the assessor that the applicant does not know English well enough. Here is the list of some of these words:  AccountYou should remember about the spelling rules of this word just as well as you do about the money in your bank account. Never write it with only one “c”: “account”.  BelieveYou should believe that lots of students make mistakes when spelling this word. They can write it either “belive” or “beleive”.  EveryEverybody is to keep in mind that the word “every” can not be written like “evry”.  IntelligentNobody would look intelligent enough, in case if he / she write this word like “inteligent”. It is always necessary to remember about double “l” in it.  ProcessNo doubt that it can be extremely difficult to learn something new. And there are cases when the learning process can take twice or even more as long as people expect. And it is also necessary to remember about not writing this word like “proces”, because it requires double “s” at the end of it.  Really If a student is really intelligent, he / she will always keep in mind that the word “really”, just as well as the abovementioned word “intelligent” are to be spelled with double “l” in the middle of them. And it is not acceptable to write this word as “realy”.  Responsible Any really responsible student will always keep in mind never to write “responsable”. In case if you wish to pass your TOEFL successfully, you should really be responsible and write this word with “i” instead of “a”.  Spelling You should never boast that you are rather good at “speling”. One of the signs of a good speller is this word, being written with double “l”.  Their Try not to write “ther”, as well as not to confuse this word with the word “there”. You should keep in mind that this is truly considered to be one of the most widespread mistakes.  Yourself It is greatly advisable and even necessary to keep reminding yourself that this word is not to be written like “your-self”. Remember also about such pronouns as “myself”, “herself”, “himself”, and so on.  Wherever No matter where you are, this word is not to be written like “whereever”

10 Tips to Improve Your TOEFL Essays

10 Tips to Improve Your TOEFL Essays

Follow this advice and you will be able to see a big improvement in your TOEFL writing scores. It is not a secret for anyone that there exist lots of different ways to improve your TOEFL writing, in addition it should also be noted that many of them do not involve any studying at all. And here is the list of the most useful of them: 1. Answer the question directly It is quite possible that you may know English grammar perfectly and that your ideas may be one of the best. Still, in case if you fail to answer the TOEFL question, nothing mentioned above would matter. If you see that the question asks you for your own point of view, you are to write about what you think and never ever about the opinion of other people. However, if you read the question which is about what other people think or do, there is no need to write about yourself. 2. Express your thoughts with the help of short and simple sentence You may have noticed that famous writers can easily express their complex ideas in some extremely simple way. In case if you feel yourself being able to do so, you will demonstrate strong writing skills. Besides, remember that short and simple sentences usually result in fewer grammatical mistakes. 3. Give your essays a beginning, which is called the introduction, a middle, which is called the body and an end, which is called the conclusion In order to be able to do this correctly, you should get to know about the TOEFL essay structure. It is a must that your essay consisted of an introduction, a body and a conclusion. In addition, with the help of this essay structure it will be easier for you to organize all your thoughts and ideas and you will make them easier for your readers to understand. 4. Have a thesis statement It is generally considered that the thesis statement is the most important sentence in the entire essay. This is how the last sentence of the first paragraph, which also has the name the introduction, is called. This is used to tell the reader exactly what the author’s point of view about the problem, discussed in the essay, is. In case if someone does not write a thesis statement, it will be considered as one of his / her biggest mistakes, which are only possible to make. 5. Use topic sentences The first sentence of each paragraph of the body of the essay is called the topic sentence. It is usually used to play double role: first of all it gives the reader a summary of what will be in the paragraph and it also gives one reason that supports the author’s thesis statement. 6. Get to know and use the conditionals like first, second and third widely In case if you learn the conditionals, it can possibly become even more helpful for you than studying all these complex tenses of the English grammar. Conditionals are considered to be especially useful when you are going to express your opinion and provides reasons – these are two things, which are a must in for any TOEFL independent writing task. Therefore, it is also necessary to point out that each conditional has somewhat different meaning. Everything depends on what the reality, possibility and time is. Before using them in your TOEFL essay, you are to get to know how to use conditional and practice them as much as possible. The reason of it is using the conditionals in an incorrect way is considered to be one of the most widespread mistakes, present in TOEFL essays. 7. You should never begin a sentence with a conjunctionSuch words as and, because, but, etc. are called conjunctions. In English conjunctions are used purely to connect sentences, and a sentence never begins with them. 8. Get to learn hot to use the comma in English correctly In case if you use commas in a correct way, this will bring your writing to life. There is the good news: lots of languages use the comma. And as for the bad news, the rules of how the comma is used are usually different from one language to another. In order to write your TOEFL essay successfully, you will have to be aware of the rules of using commas in English, because it will make your writing much easier to understand and you will be able to get more scores. 9. Use the active voiceYou have probably known already that there are two “voices”, used in English grammar: they are active voice and passive voice. And here they come:  Active voice: Children plant the trees.  Passive voice: The trees are planted by children. Therefore, it is necessary to keep in mind that the active voice is considered to be much stronger than the passive voice. This is why it is greatly advisable to use the active voice as much as possible while writing your TOEFL essay. 10. Use transitional words and phrasesIt should be pointed out that it becomes much easier to understand someone’s writing, if it goes with different transitional words and phrases. It is quite possible and easy to connect ideas and present then to the reader in a logical order. Here come several examples of transitional words and phrases: in addition…, in conclusion…, moreover..., in closing…, more importantly…, first of all…, etc.