Essay Topic 149
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Look at the following examples of idea maps and essays for specific topics
Sample Essay Topic
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House Hunting
When choosing a place to lve, ! look at several things | need to consider price, size, and type of housing However, the most important thing of all is location | look for a house in a convenient and pleasant neighborhood that has rents | can afford to pay
My apartment must be conveniently located | don’t have a car, so | want to be near my job | want to be able to walk or take the bus to work I don’t have
a lot of time for shopping, so | want to be near stores, 100
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People attend college or university for many different reasons (for example, new experiences, career preparation, increased knowledge) Why do you think people attend college or university? Use specific reasons and examples to support your
Idea Map
new competitive | | different | | independent
shills on the Kinds of decisions out subjects other
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Compare the idea map with this essay
Three Reasons People Attend College
People attend college for a lt of different reasons | believe that the three
‘most common reasons are to prepare for a career, to have new experiences,
and to increase their knowledge of themselves and of the world around them Career preparation is probably the primary reason that people attend college These days, the job market is very competitive Careers such as infor- ‘mation technology will need many new workers in the near future At college, students can learn new skills for these careers and increase their opportunities,
for the future
Students also go to college to have new experiences For many, itis their first time away from home At college, they can meet new people from many diferent places They can see what iis lke in a different city They can leam to live on their own and take care of themselves without having their family always nearby
At college, students have the opportunity to increase their knowledge AS they decide what they want to study, pursue their studies, and interact with their classmates, they leam a lot about themselves They also, of course, have the opportunity to learn about many subjects in their classes In addition to the skills and knowledge related to their career, college students also have the
chance to take classes in other areas For many, this will be their last chance
to study different subjects
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Essay Topic 111
Some people prefer to spend time with one or two close friends Others choose to spend time with a large number of friends Compare the advantages of each choice Which of these two ways of spending time do you prefer? Use specific reasons to support your answer,
We all need to have friends, and | think the more friends we have, the bette When you have a lot of friends, you are never alone You always have people Who will entertain you, people you can trust, and people who teach you about fe | want to have a lot of people I can have fun with If | have a lot of friends, | always have people to laugh and joke with me | have people to go to the
movies or the mall wth me | have people to go to parties with me If! have only
a few friends, they might be busy when | want to do these things, or they might
not enjoy some ofthe things I enjoy
| need to have a lot of people I can trust f have a problem, | want to share
it wth several friends If | make a mistake or fail a test or have a fight with my parents, I need my friends to help me | want to be able to pick up the phone ‘and know I can easily find some friends to talk with If| have only a few friends,
they might not be available when | need them
like to have a lat of people who teach me about ie If! have allt of friends,
| have a lot of ctferent people to leam from Each person has different experi-
ences and a diferent point of view | can lear a lot of things from a lot of dif-
ferent people If | have only a few friends, | will see only a few points of view ike to have a lot of frends around me | ike to have fun with them and to learn from them and to know that I can rely on them My ife is better because
Trang 8Essay Topic 85
AA foreign visitor has only one day to spend in your country Where should this visitor go on that day? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your choice
‘Aforeign visitor with only one day to spend in my country should definitely
‘spend that day in the capital Spending time in the capital is the easiest way to
see many aspects of our country in one place In this city, the visitor can learn about our history, see examples of our culture, and buy our best products
Our country’s history is represented in several ways throughout the city In the Government Palace, a visitor can leam about the history of our indepen- dence In our National Museum, a visitor can see exhibits that show al the dif- ferent stages of our history, from ancient times to the present In parks all around the city, a visitor can see monuments to famous historical people and events,
Itis also possible to see different representations of our culture throughout the city Our art museums and galleries show paintings and sculptures by our artists Plays written by national playwrights are performed in the theaters Folk ballet performances show examples of our traditional dances, Many resiau- rants in the capital serve our native dishes
The best products of our country are sold in the capital city The large department stores sell clothes, furniture, and household items manufactured in ur country The Central Market sells fruit and vegetables from the surrounding agricultural region Tourist and craft shops sell native handicrafts made in the
countryside
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Create an idea map for each of the following topics You may not need all parts of the ‘map Then write an essay from your idea map Write on a separate piece of paper or on computer Compare your essays with the essays for those topics in the Model Essay section, beginning on page 244 of the Appendix
Essay Topic 124
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WRITE THE INTRODUCTION
You need two things to write a good introduction You need to have an opinion on the topic and you need to have topic sentences for each of the paragraphs Your opinion will tell the reader what you think about the subject; the summary of the topic sentences will guide your reader through your essay
State Your Opinion
The introduction to your essay should tell the reader what your opinion is on the topic The Independent Task is a personal essay Your ideas on a topic are impor- tant The readers are interested in what you have to say There is, however, no right or wrong opinion The readers look to see how you express your opinion, whatever ivis
‘You can express your opinion by using set phrases or by varying the verbs, adjec- tives, and adverbs you use On the Independent Task, you must show semantic and syntactic variety in your language to score high This section will help you give your
writing more variety
Here are some examples of set phrases that you can use to express your opinion Set Phrases In my opinion Ít is my opinion that ‘According to me 1 believe
To my way of thinking I think
Tn my view Ie seems to me that
To me Ic appears that
From my point of view ‘To my mind EXAMPLES
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 Ie is my opinion that one learns by example
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1 People’s lives (are/are not) easier today
In my opinion, peap/e's lives are easier today
2 Most people (prefer/do not prefer) to spend their leisure time outdoors Ie seems to me that, S777
3 An apartment building (is/is not) better than a house To my mind,
4 Ik (islis not) good that English is becoming the world language From my point of view,
Verbs
You can use different verbs to show how strongly you feel about something, Believe and think are the most common verbs used to express a personal opinion agree infer believe realize guess suppose hope think imagine understand EXAMPLES
I agree that studying science is more important than studying literature T hope that people remember the special gifts I gave them
I infer from their actions that most youth feel they have nothing to learn from older people