A Tip for Reference and Paraphrased Sentence Questions

SENTENCES that ask you to identify a reference or the best paraphrase for a sentence are testing a similar skill. In both cases, you need to show that you understand what a particular sentence means.

The following strategy will help you pick the correct answer.


First, eliminate any answers that you know are incorrect. Take the remaining choices and place them one at a time into the sentence or paragraph. Does the answer make sense in the context of the sentence or paragraph? If it does not, it is not the correct answer.


For example, notice how this works with the following reference question:

The word they in paragraph 3 refers to:
a. people suffering from bipolar disorder.
b. symptoms of bipolar disorder.
c. family members of people with bipolar disorder.
d. people who have occasional mood swings.

Here's the sentence in which they is used:

They are often greatly relieved to learn that they suffer from a treatable medical condition.

It's clear that 'they' refers to people, not symptoms, so we can immediately rule out answer b. Now, we can begin the process of elimination by replacing 'they' with each of the remaining answers:

a. People who suffer from bipolar disorder are often greatly relieved to learn that they suffer from a treatable medical condition.
c. Family members of people with bipolar disorder are often greatly relieved to learn that they suffer from a treatable medical condition.
d. People who have occasional mood swings are often greatly relieved to learn that they suffer from a treatable medical condition.

This process makes it clear that a is the correct answer.

Vocabulary showing English fluency

How does vocabulary show you have a higher English fluency level? This can be an important characteristic if your responses on exams such as the TOEFL iBT, but you should keep certain things in mind.


1.) Should I memorize a lot of exotic or complicated words?

Absolutely not! Exams such as the TOEFL iBT are measuring the quality of your response. If you memorize a lot of exotic vocabulary and fail to use them correctly, you will be hurting your score rather than helping it. Focus on skills that will help make your response clear and easy to follow. I am not advocating that you do not spend any time on studying vocabulary, but the idea is to have a balance of all skills. You should also keep your audience in mind. If they do not understand your vocabulary, you will not be understood.

2.) I am worried about topics I do not understand. What about words from them?

This is part of your preparation. Before taking a TOEFL iBT exam, you should make sure that you are adequately prepared. Rather than reading topics from encyclopedias to try and learn as many academic topics as possible, concentrate on areas such as what you would hear in the news. Exams such as the TOEFL iBT do not require you to have special knowledge in specific subjects such as astronomy or chemistry, but the terminology you will hear in sources such as CBC, CNN, or other English news programs will give you a general background in almost all of the topics you will face. You should also concentrate on your vocabulary in context skills. If you can identify what the word is acting as in the sentence, you will be more likely to correctly guess its meaning even if you have not seen the word before.

3.) Can you give me a list of recommended words?

ESL Study Guide maintains many word lists for it members and even places some in the free section of the website. Feel free to browse the site and see what it available.


Finally, avoid sounding too simplistic. A broad vocabulary base will help you avoid sounding like a child or having a response that is too simple (ie, I am a student. I am from Korea.) and ensure that you are easily understood.



Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

TOEFL Essays - Conclusions

Independent Essays - Conclusions

Independent essays require three things in the conclusion to be complete:
Restate the thesis
Restate the reasons
Add any final emphasis

Restating the thesis

Your conclusion is the last chance to reinforce your argument. You have stated your thesis in the introduction and developed it through out your essay. Your conclusion serves to reinforce the effort you have put in to persuade the reader to see your point of view.

Remember: you do not have to specifically state your belief or premise, but it MUST be clearly implied to the reader. For example:

The government of South Korea should build a new university in Suji since .

This does not involve you stating your opinion in the first person but is just as effective.

I think that the government of South Korea should build a new university in Suji since .

Both approaches can be used depending on your overall needs and preference. The main point is to be as clear as possible what your point of view is.

Restating your reasons

Reinforcing your argument by merely giving your thesis again will not allow you to complete your essay with a strong finish. To fully develop the strength of your argument you need to restate the reasons as well. The wording for both restating your thesis and reasons should not copy that of your introduction. When restating a reason, begin with a transition to let the reader know which reason it is. Be sure to be consistent with the ordering of restated reasons. They should be listed in the order they were presented in the essay. For example:

First, a new university in Suji would allow students to save money.

Final Emphasis

You can end your essay in a manner forcing the reader to consider your point of view. A common approach fort this is ending with a question. You can also close with a statement that supports your argument. However, you must always be sure to never introduce new information.

TOEFL Essays - Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs

You will need to accomplish three things in your body paragraphs:
Topic sentences
Supporting detail
Examples (optional)

Topic sentences

A topic sentence is a sentence whose main idea dictates the rest of the paragraph. The body of a paragraph explains or develops the topic sentence's main idea. It is best to use a transition at the beginning of the topic sentence as a placeholder to let readers know the progress of the essay.

Supporting detail

After introducing what you will be discussing in your topic sentence, it is important to build and expand on your reason. Be sure that each body paragraph only discusses one main point (the one introduced in your topic sentence). Supporting detail should give enough information to show why each point is relevant to the reason at hand.

Examples

To further persuade the listener and show additional understanding of the topic, an example can be used. Examples must however be relevant and should be developed in such a way as to give the reader little choice but to see your point of view. For example:

First, students should be required to attend class. Students attending university classes are gain necessary skills for later in life. An example that clearly highlights the need for experience and skills is medical students. If medical students were allowed to optionally attend class they would not have the necessary skills to diagnose patients. You may go to the doctor and get antibiotics that rather than cure an infection, make it worse.

By using the example of medical students and the fact that people wanting medical treatment have to see a doctor, we can make the reader consider the possibility of an unqualified doctor. While they may get one that regularly attended class, would you want to take the chance that they did not?

As long as your example is clearly related to the topic at hand and easy to understand, your argument can become much more persuasive.

Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Toefl essay's - introducing your reasons

TOEFL Essays - Introducing Reasons

If you go back to the structure of your introductions you will remember that you are generally required to do three things.

1.) hook
2.) thesis
3.) introduce reasons

While the first two are mandatory for TOEFL essays, how you introduce your reasons in the introduction is subject to some leeway.

If you wish to directly give your reasons in the introduction you must be brief and directly to the point. For example, if your topic was whether the government should build a university in your area (assuming you argue the affirmative point of view)

Hook
+
Thesis
+
First, a new university would save students money. Next, by not traveling so far away for school, students would be able to spend more time with their family. Finally, a new university would help develop the local area.

The direct approach is only one possible way. If you wish to concentrate on the develop of your ideas in the body paragraphs, another strategy is as follows.

Hook
+
Thesis + "for the following reasons."

By ending your thesis statement with a phrase such as "for the following reasons" or "for three main reasons" you can effectively connect your introduction to the body paragraphs of your essay. However, if you use this approach, do not forget to use transitions with your topic sentences.

Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Essay Analysis

Topic: Read the question below and type your response in the box provided.
It has recently been announced that a large shopping center may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Essay: Student Submission

I am very happy when i know this new. i almost agree this plan. because i have many reasons. First i like shopping very much. i always waste of times to go shopping because they are so far form my house. i often go shopping every weekend. Second gas are rising now. if i go long way, i will waste of a lot of gas. Third i will pay for parking. in short building a large shopping center in my neighborhood almost correct. i will save a lot of things.


Analysis:

While a weak essay, this essay shows some of the basic components needed for a toefl essay. The biggest flaw with this essay is its lack of organization and short length. A toefl essay generally consists of five paragraphs and should be approximately 300 words long. The introduction should get the readers attention with a hook, state an opinion with a thesis statement, and then introduce the supporting reasons. Body paragraphs are used to expand on the supporting reasons. Topic sentences are used to introduce the supporting reason. Each paragraph should deal with one supporting reason and ONLY that idea. Writers may further develop body paragraphs with examples, though this is not mandatory. The conclusion allows writers to re-inforce their argument by restating the thesis statement and reasons. Writers may also emphasize final points, though it is important to not introduce any new information.

Introduction
- Hook
- Thesis
- Introduce reasons

Body Paragraph 1
- Topic sentence
- supporting details
- example

Body Paragraph 2
- Topic sentence
- supporting details
- example

Body Paragraph 3
- Topic sentence
- supporting details
- example

Conclusion
- Restate thesis
- Restate reasons

Good luck with your studies,

ESL Study Guide

TOEFL Essay Tips

Lets begin by breaking the essay down into its components. The question for this essay was "What do you think is more important towards society, the contribution of artists or scientists?"

Introduction:

With an independent essay it is important first to get the readers attention, next what are you going to talk about?, and what reasons do you have to support your argument?

The hook:

Getting a readers attention is always important. If you get off to a weak start in your essay, your score will likely suffer because of it. Remember, there are five common ways to begin an essay:

- shocking/surprising statement
- declarative approach
- celebrity statement
- anecdotal approach
- historical overview

Now look at the hook from the essay.

"We say art is the reflection of certain period. For example, when Korea experienced Japanese colonization, there were many literature, picture, and even music that presented the reality of many Koreans suffered from Japan's physical oppressions."

While this is generally an ok approach, the first tip for your TOEFL essay is the purpose (what is it?). Your hook should ALWAYS connect to your essay. Is this going to be an essay on art? A historical perspective to art? No, your TOEFL essay MUST answer the question. A tip to remember is making the hook more effective by connecting it to the purpose of the essay.

The rest of the introduction.

"The points we have to focus on from this fact are two. First is at changes people's consciousness, second is at gives dream."

While the student has gone on to introduce their reasoning in the introduction, the introduction is too disjointed to be truly effective. The next TOEFL tip to remember is the purpose of your reasoning. Is it connected to your essay? If you can not support your thesis with your reasoning your purpose has not been accomplished and you have thrown aside one of the things that will affect your score the most.

Moving on to the first body paragraph.

"First, at helps poeple change the conscious that can change the whole world."

Starting with a transition is a good way to begin. All of your paragraphs should be connected. If you can have a smooth even connection from start to finish, you should get a higher score. While possible to use a more advanced transition, remember to stick with what you know. A TOEFL essay is not a place to try something new.

Continuing the rest of the first body paragraph.

"There's no at that has no certain intention of creation."

Unfortunately, the paragraph begins with a total lack of clarity. Having seen many students make this mistake, I must say it again. A TOEFL essay is not a place to try something new. Stick with what you know, you are only hurting yourself otherwise.

"Therefore, the author adds his ideology, feelings, and opinions about social problems to support and present his intetions of creation. From this, the reader gets impressed, and finally can change his conscious, and finally this conscious developes the world. For example, the book 'ethics of slavery' changed the conscious of many slaves and some politics, and therefore slavery became illegal."

The rest of the body paragraph shows the same lack of clarity (one thing you MUST avoid in your TOEFL essays), as well as a significant amount of grammar mistakes. The lack of clarity highlights the importance of ONE idea per body paragraph. What is the main point of your paragraph? Use of examples within your body paragraph must again connect to your idea. If your ideas, paragraphs and examples are not connected, your score will suffer.

Continuing on to the second body paragraph, the essay still suffers from a complete lack of clarity.

"Second, at gives dream."

Starting with the transition again is good, but what reason are you using? Your reader MUST be able to clearly follow your ideas.

Continuing on

"Some artists present their own ideal worlds on their works. For example, in the book 'Utopia', Thomas More presented his ideal world that has no discrimination, and in the book 'the third stream', Elan Tofler presents his prediction of future, and indicates the direction we should follow to create ideal world. From this art, people makes the dream, and during the process to try to accomplish this dream, the world developes. Art developes the world by changing people's consicous and make them have dreams. This is why today's world exists and developed the world more importantly than science."

The first point to consider here, besides the lack of clarity, is what is your reason to discuss. Connect everything together, even if you must use simple sentence structure.

While you may have a hard time getting a 5/5 if your sentence structure is too basic on the TOEFL. If you lack too much clarity, you will have a hard time even getting a score above 2/5.

Finally, where is the conclusion? An independent essay should have a clearly defined conclusion. In your conclusion you should recap your thesis, restate your reasoning, and do this WITHOUT introducing ANY new information.

Overall, this essay would not leave your in a strong position after having spent 25 of your 30 minutes writing. I would grade it at 2/5. It neither acccomplishes it's purpose, has proper structure, or clearly conveys its argument and reasoning.

Good luck on your future studies,

ESL Study Guide