TOEFL essay question Choose a point of view and support that view: 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. Restatement & Thesis: People have two options when deciding where to eat. They can prepare meals and eat at home or they can go out to stands or restaurants. I prefer to go out to eat because the food is more varied and interesting, it is less work for me and it saves time. Analysis: The restatement mentions the two types of options people have for eating and tells which one the author prefers. In addition, it gives three reasons for that preference. These three reasons will make up the three main idea paragraphs in the body of the essay. TOEFL essay question . Describe something.: Is it better for children to participate in team sports or individual sports? Why? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Restatement & Thesis: It is better for children to participate in team sports rather than individual sports. In team sports, children learn how to cooperate. They learn good sportsmanship and how to rely on their teammates. These are important lessons that will benefit children throughout their lives. Analysis: The first sentence clearly states the authors opinion. This is followed by three reasons for the opinion. Finally, the author mentions life lessons. In the essay, the three reasons will make up the three main idea paragraphs in the body of the essay. In addition, the author will mention how each main idea is useful throughout life. TOEFL essay question Compare two points of view and tell which one you agree with.: 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. Restatement & Thesis: There are many good reasons to live in a big city and an equal number of good reasons to live in a small town. I, myself, prefer to live in a small town because it is more personal and homey; it is easier to get around in and it is safer than a big city. Analysis: The first statement says that both a city and town have positive aspects. The next sentence tells the authors preference and reasons for that preference. These reasons will make up the body of the essay. 1) Introduction I do strongly support the idea that ...

 We can find that some people hold the idea of A meanwhile others prefer to B. From my point of view, it is more advisable to choose A rather than B. I do completely agree with the statement... There are a lot of reasons for the choice and I would like to put them in the following way Although "XYZ" has its advantages, in my point of view, ... There reasons are as follows As far as I am concerned, I prefer the latter for the following argument Some people argue as if it were a general truth that.but there are numerous reasons why I hold no confidence on them, such as / and I would explore only a few primary ones here. Some people prefer to A, others believe B Nowadays some may hold the opinion that As far as I am concerned, I agree/disagree My arguments for this point are listed as follows In my point of view, N or Gerund A is as important as, if not more important than, N or gerund B. Before reaching a conclusion, Before giving my opinion, I think it is necessary to take a glance al the arguments of both sides. In a modern society, people face the dilemma of whether to choose A or B While both A and B may have their advantages and disadvantages The advantages of A outweigh the disadvantages of People differ greatly in their attitudes towards this problem. Some people hold the opinion that Others, on the contrary, maintain that 2) Body To begin with, ... The most persuasive point is that Secondly... The third advantage of "XYZ" is also the most important reason. One important aspect of "XYZ" is ... Another equally important thing about "XYZ" is ... First, ... Second, ... Third, ... One reason for supporting "XYZ" is Last but not least, ... In a "EFD" perspective, ... Additionally, ... Above all advantages there is only one disadvantage. It is that ... But it does not matter for me. Although I agree that there maybe a couple of advantages of B, I feel that the disadvantages are more obvious. Such as Although B has some advantages, it also has many drawbacks such as Certainly, B has its own advantages, such as In order to see this point clearly, let us to see an example.. As a proverb says, Everything has two sides where there is a will there is a way 3) Conclusion In conclusion, ... 2

 From all those reasons above, ... So based on all the above mentioned point, I think it is better to . .. To sum up, ... All in all, as far as I am concerned, I agree to say that . .. Recognizing the fact that should drive us to conclude that Taking into account of all these factors, we may reach the conclusion that.. Therefore from what we have disscused, we may safely come to the conclusion the choosing A is a rather wise decision. SUMMARY OF RELATIONSHIP WORDS: CAUSE AND EFFECT, OPPOSITIONS, CONDITION CAUSE AND EFFECT: Adverb clause: Because; Since; Now that; As; As long as; So (that) Transitions: Therefore; Consequently Conjunctions: So; for Prepositions: Because of; Due to OPPOSITION Adverb clauses: Even though; Although; Though; Whereas; While Transitions: Nevertheless; Nonetheless; However; On the other hand Conjunctions: But(anyway); Yet(still) Prepositions: Despite; In spite of CONDITION Adverb clause: If; unless; only if; even if; whether or not; in case (that); in the event (that); providing (that). Transitions Otherwise Conjunction: Or (else) Prepositions: In case of, in the event of GIVING EXAMPLES For example; for instance; such as CONTINUING THE SAME IDEA Transitions: Furthermore; moreover; in addition Prepositions: 3

In addition to; besideS Stating your opinion Set phrases In my opinion According to me In my view To me From my point of view It is my opinion that I believe I think It seems to me that It appears that In my opinion, university students must attend classes. According to me, one must change with the times. To me, there is nothing more important than good health. It is my opinion that one learns by example. It seems to me that a good neighbor is one who respects your privacy. It appears that all the information one needs is available on computer. Verbs Agree Believe Guess Hope Imagine Infer Realize Suppose Think Understand All in all All things considered Altogether As a rule Basically By and large Essentially For the most part Generally In general On the whole Overall

All in all, it is better to learn from a teacher than on your own. As a rule, it is better for students to wear uniform to school. For the most part, countries are more alike than different. On the whole, higher education should be available for all. Adverbials Seemingly Conceivably Possibly Perhaps Maybe Probably Presumably Certainly Almost Doubtless No doubt Definitely Daily exercise definitely should be a part of every school day. Doubtless, helping a child to learn to read is important. Seemingly, playing games can teach us about life. Almost In a way More or less Practically For all intents an purposes Up to a point Adjectives Certain Convinced Positive Sure Time Before After Since Next During At the same time Then Always While 5

Often Sometime Meanwhile Degree Most important Less important Basically First Second Subordinate Primarily Secondary Comparison and contrast To compare Similar to Correspondingly As Common in Similarly Resemble Just as Than Like, alike Almost the same as In a like manner Also Either/or At the same time In the same way Neither/nor To contrast differ from nevertheless more than although however even do unlike while yet otherwise different from in contrast to but still 6

less than on the other hand instead

Cause and effect So For this reason Since Thus As a result Due to Consequently Because, because of Although

Explanation In other words As Such as To clarify Like For instance To explain That is To illustrate To paraphrase For example Adding more information In addition moreover besides similarly furthermore also as well as whats more