Writing Feedback / The extended family is less important now; 'urban life / communication tools' [3]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
The extended family ( grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) is less important now than it was in the past.

It is undeniable that family is a popular topic which has caused heated debate over a long period of time because it affects everybody in his/her daily lives. Some people believe that the extended family is less important than it was in the past while some other people don't think so. In this essay, I will elaborate on why I agree with the statement that the extended family is less important now than it was in the past and give reasons and explanations.

One reason for my opinion is that urban life is growing in today's world. The number of cities and people moving from villages and suburbs to cities is increasing. Even the number of immigrants from smaller cities to major and bigger ones is increasing. This fact separates moving people from their extended families and relatives. Therefore, since people's living far away from their relatives and family members leads to a decrease in their interactions with them, they have to accept the fact that they cannot always be with their grandparents, cousins and so on and since less contacts usually lead to a decline in the importance of relationships, the extended family becomes less important.

Another reason that I based my opinion on is that nowadays, there are more communication tools because of the advancement of technology in comparison to the past. People in the past had to come together with their relatives and interact face-to-face in order to communicate with one another. However, in today's world there are a lot of tools like telephone, the internet and so forth that people can utilize them in order to make contacts with their cousins, aunts and their other relatives. Thus, there is no need to get together so that people can see each other and this has led to a decrease in the importance of the extended family.

From what has been discussed above, depending on personality type, personal experience and emotional concern, people differ greatly in their attitudes towards this issue. From my point of view, the extended family has less importance compared to the past because the urban life is growing day by day and also because of the advancement of communication tools.

Writing Feedback / It is better to have a broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one [6]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It is better to have broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one specific subject.

It is undeniable that specializing in knowledge is a popular topic which has caused heated debate over a long period of time and it is an important issue because it affects everybody in his/her daily lives. When it comes to this issue, some people believe that it is better to have a broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one specific subject. On the contrary, some other people maintain the opposite view. In my opinion, it is better to have a wide range of academic knowledge and I will elaborate why I agree with the statement and give reasons and explanations.

One reason for my opinion is that if we have broad knowledge of many academic subjects, we will be able to examine and find our talents. If we focus on only one thing, we will not be able to identify our unknown talents and abilities in other fields. If we broaden our knowledge about more subjects, we will find more talents in ourselves. For example, if our major is math, by studying other materials like art, we might find out that we are talented at painting. In addition, if we experience finance, we might realize that we are good at financial and monetary analyses. As you can see, having a lot of knowledge about different academic subjects leads to discover our talents and interests.

Another reason why I based my opinion on is that we gain a comprehensive insight by having a wide range of knowledge of academic materials. For instance, suppose our major is psychology which is about individuals' behaviours. Studying psychology books is a good way of knowing humans but is not enough because human beings have other aspects that should be taken into consideration. To clarify, we should also consider their social traits or their behaviours in social contexts in order to know them better. For this, we need to study another subject like sociology and learn at least its basics. Thus, experiencing new subjects can help us have a better insight into understanding various phenomena.

To sum up, depending on personal experience, personality type, and emotional concern, people differ greatly in their attitudes towards this issue. However, when it comes to me, I believe that it is better to have a broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one specific subject because it leads to identify our talents and also helps us to gain a comprehensive insight.

Writing Feedback / [TOEFL] The internet provides people with a lot of valuable info or problems? [5]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Some people say that the internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to so much information creates problems. Which view do you agree with?

There is a huge amount of information on the internet and this has both advantages and disadvantages. Taking into account these two aspects, when it comes to the issue of the internet and its information, some people believe that the internet provides people with a lot of valuable information while some others think that access to so much information creates problems. In my view, the statement that the internet provides people with a great deal of valuable information carries more weight than the latter for following reasons and explanations:

The reason for choosing my opinion in that so much information on the internet has numerous distinct benefits that can not be found in other sources of knowledge. One benefit is that we can access to information about any subjects that we want to know and learn about in any time. There is information about everything on the internet. We can simply type our topics about a variety of subjects in search engines like Google, Yahoo and so forth. Then by observing a long list of searched websites in an instant, we will be able to find the answer to our questions. For example, when I want to gain knowledge about psychology, math, biology, art and anything else, I can easily refer to the internet and take advantage of its infinite amount of information. As you can see, no other thing gives us such speed, variety and convenience.

Another benefit is that there is also a great deal of data, statistics and information which are becoming up-to-date moment by moment. Nowadays the rate of advancement and development of science is so fast that all books and other reading materials get out-of- date after a few years and even several months. And that makes us buy newer books that increase our expenses as well. But thanks to the internet, by using a few clicks, we will be able to access to the most up-to-date and accurate information without buying any reading materials like books, newspaper and magazines. This is another unique advantage of the internet information.

However, accessing to so much information can have its own problems, too. For example, young, inexperienced and uneducated people might not have the ability to distinguish useful and valid information from inaccurate and false information. They may get confused when encountering much information and give much importance to the false and even harmful information which can be quite dangerous sometimes and mislead them. For example, young people by reading about some false information about addictive drugs might assume that they have no negative impacts on their lives. So, too much information can be sometimes problematic as well.

To sum up, as the old adage goes : "A coin has two sides", those who take the other side are partially reasonable every once in a while. However, in my opinion, the statement that the internet provides people with a lot of valuable information outweighs the second statement because there is no better substitution for the information on the internet because of its mentioned distinct advantages.

Writing Feedback / TOEFL "a coin has two sides" Young people enjoy life more than older people do. [4]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Young people enjoy life more than older people do.

In today's world both life problems and possibilities for enjoying life are increasing at the same time. Taking into account these two factors, when it comes to the issue of enjoying life, some people believe that young people enjoy life more than older people do. However, some others don't think so. In this essay, I will elaborate on why I personally believe that the statement that young people enjoy life more than old people do is not always true and give reasons and examples.

One reason for choosing my opinion is that in today's hectic life young people like others are facing more problems and challenges in their lives. There are many major problems to take into consideration such as poverty, unemployment, overpopulation, economic recession and so on in the world and these issues are growing day by day. When young people encounter these challenges in the forms of difficulty with finding a job, earning a living, not being able to become independent from their families as soon as possible, they get discouraged and maybe hopeless. This hopelessness and depression make them feel sorrowful and therefore it will not let them enjoy their lives or as another consequence they will not able to get the same level of enjoyment as they did in the past. As you can see, the conditions of today's world play an important role.

Another reason for choosing my opinion is that young people are getting busier day by day. This is another important thing that needs to be said about. They have to work harder and further in today's competitive job market so they can make more money. In addition, they have to study more and get higher degrees so they can be employed sooner in companies, various institutions and have more career opportunities and get paid better. So, the conclusion that can be drawn is that these facts keep them busier as time goes by and cause them not to have much time to derive enjoyment from their hobbies and favorites. Thus, this significant point should be considered.

To sum up, as the old adage goes : "a coin has two sides", those who take the other side are partially reasonable every once in a while. However, in my opinion the statement raised in the question is not always true because there are many increasing major problems facing young people in the world and furthermore, young people are becoming more and more busier. I think it is important that young people make an attempt to create more time for taking pleasure in their lives.

Writing Feedback / Teachers should not talk about their personal viewpoints like the social and political ones. [5]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Teachers should not make their social or political views known to students in the classroom. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

This is an issue that has been discussed a lot and I think it is important because it is related with teaching and education which play important roles in students' lives. People have different viewpoints regarding this subject. I agree with the statement that teachers should not make their social or political views known to students in the classroom for following reasons:

One reason is that revealing personal opinions about social and political matters is not one of the duties of a teacher. A teacher is expected to teach and answer to the questions of students about a specific subject. However, he should not talk about his personal beliefs because they are irrelevant and would waste the time of the class. Rather than talking about those things, other helpful and positive tasks can be done. For example, he can set a time in the class for solving extra practices for students in order to increase their rate of learning. Thus, this is a significant point that should be noticed.

Another reason is that disclosing social and political views may influence the opinions of students about a particular subject in a negative way. This could be more serious when students are very young. For instance, consider a teacher who has an immoral and irrational viewpoint about those issues. Some of his students who are not taught to think independently and openly, may accept his ideas without giving any thoughts just because his older and more knowledgeable. Now if those students act upon those beliefs, they may harm people and even endanger themselves. To clarify, imagine a student who accepts his teacher's sayings about lying for gaining personal interests. This way, by starting telling lies again and again to public, he will become untrustworthy among society members. As you can see, teachers should be careful what they talk about in the classroom.

In sum, though some people may disagree with me, I believe that teachers should not talk about their personal viewpoints like the social and political ones. First, because it is not one of their duties to do so and second, it could have a bad impact on their students. In my view, teachers and professors should consider the reasons mentioned above and focus on doing what they are paid for.

Writing Feedback / [TOEFL] the ability to relate well to people is more important. [4]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
For success in a future job, the ability to relate well to people is more important than studying hard in school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

I think that No factor is important enough by itself to succeed in any situations. We should consider many factors and choose the best of them. I believe that both the ability to relate well to people and studying hard in school are important for success in a future job for following reasons:

We need to know and learn about the theoritical basis of our future job. This can be done in school. In school, we are able to identify skills required for our future job and work on mastering and learning them. If we study them hard, we will have the chance of doing our job better and quicker in the future. For example, if someone wants to become a good industrial engineer, he should study his technical courses very well so that he will be able to utilize them well in his future job. As you can see, studying hard in school is an important factor to succeed in a job.

One of the other factors for success in a future job is effective commuincation. By relating well to people, we are likely to have a lot of friends and therefore we will have a wide network of communication. Commuincation can bring many benefits. For example, if you need help with getting a job, by commuincating with people offering jobs whom you treat well and therefore they respect you as well, you can achieve your goal. Or, if you are a salesman in a store or any other place, by relating well to your customers, you will increase the chance of their coming back again and becoming your regular customers. So, relating well to people is also another important factor.

In sum, though some people may disagree with me, as I explained my reasons and examples above, none of those factors are important and sufficient enough by themselves and we should notice to both of them because each of them has its own benefits.

Writing Feedback / Trying new things and taking risks means to succeed [3]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Successful people try new things and take risks rather than only doing what they already know how to do well. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

I have my own reasons why I agree with the statement that successful people try new things and take risks. There are many viewpoints regarding what the main characteristics of successful people are. In my opinion, one of the main reasons for supporting this statement is that successful people can learn important and very valuable points from trying new things. The other reason is that great success requires taking great risks.

There are always interesting and useful experiences that successful people can learn them only by trying new things. For example, if you want to know how to act effectively when communicating with people, you can try something new like salesmanship in various stores and places. By selling goods or other commodities you will face different people with different behaviors and personalities and as a result you will learn how to behave people in different situations and jobs in the future. These experiences can only be obtained by trying new things and can't be always found in books.

I do believe that great success requires taking great risks. If you want to gain very high profits in investments, you should use great and very high amounts of money in very risky financial decisions and dealings in which you may lose much amount of money. If you want to achieve a remarkable success in an important exam, you should risk studying all the time and sacrificing your free time and your favorite hobbies. The more you take risks, the greater your successes will be. If you don't take any risks, you will have an ordinary life with average successes. That's why it is important to take risks.

In sum, I believe that success and trying new things and taking risks go hand in hand and to achieve success you should consider them.

Writing Feedback / TOEFL: sometimes it is good to learn with a teacher and sometimes on my own [4]

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

Different people prefer different styles of learning. I think both learning by myself and learning with a teacher could be helpful. Learning with a teacher can prevent one from being confused and increase the rate and speed of learning. Another important point is that for practical subjects you have to have a teacher. On the other hand, sometimes I would rather learning on my own.

A good and experienced teacher can help me learn faster and easier. Sometimes when learning a course by myself which is hard and confusing to understand and has few sources available, I get discouraged after spending a lot of time. In this situation, I'll look for a teacher and request for help from him or her. And then he or she will teach me the course efficiently in a short time and therefore I will learn faster and better and won't get discouraged and confused.

There are some practical subjects that you can only learn them with a teacher or an instructor. For example, if you want to learn driving a car or some jobs like medicine and engineering and some sports like skiing and swimming, you'll have to find a teacher. It's almost impossible and inefficient to learn those things on your own. By the way, if you are going to learn some things by yourself, you may learn and understand them incorrectly! For example, from my own experiences, after I had started learning playing the guitar without a teacher, I got used to wrong habits regarding strumming and tempo, but after finding and learning with a tutor and identifying and eliminating those incorrect habits, I was able to play properly.

There are some things that I prefer to learn them without a teacher because I won't have to spend extra money for a teacher and my time will not be wasted either because of going to classes. In today's world there are many great and useful sources available like books, electronic books, the internet and TV and satellite. I can utilize them as tutorials for many things. For instance, I can learn English or other languages by a lot of helpful books and many online websites.

In sum, sometimes it is good to learn with a teacher and sometimes on my own. In my view, both can help and each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Writing Feedback / [TOEFL] The characteristics of NEIGHBORS - Specific details and examples [9]

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 can affect our lives in negative or positive ways. Neighbors can be our best friends or worst enemies. I think that having a good neighbor is truly a valuable gift. To me, some qualities of a good neighbor are to be helpful and caring. It's also good to have a sociable and outgoing one. It's very important to have a reliable neighbor, by the way.

One of the significant characteristics of a nice neighbor is to be helpful and caring. Most of us, whether we want it or we don't, may have to communicate with our neighbors someday. We and our neighbors may face common problems in our in common places of living or communities someday in the future. It would be great if our neighbors are caring and helpful regarding those problems. If we have neighbors who are indifferent and selfish, our problems may never be resolved and therefore we would have annoying lives and interactions with each other.

It's good to have neighbors who are sociable and outgoing and friendly. Neighbors with these qualities can make us have happier lives. We can become friends with them and spend our free times together. For example, we can hang out or travel with them or go picnic. This kind of neighbors can add more enjoyment to our lives.

A good neighbor should also be reliable. Reliability is a very important factor. We all need someone or a neighbor whom we can put our trust in him. For instance, if we live in an unsafe place and go away or travel for a long time, we may need someone to keep an eye on our houses and call us if something goes wrong with our places in our absence.

People may have different viewpoints about qualities of a good neighbor but I think that most of them
would rather have neighbors who are nice and helpful; people whom they can trust and are sociable and outgoing.

Writing Feedback / Visiting museums during travel; to become familiar with other cultures & history [4]

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.

When people travel to new places, they may visit museums for different reasons and this can be a good choice of spending their time in those new places. I think some reasons that people visit museums are to become familiar with other cultures and histories and to spend their time effectively. Some other people may go visit there because of their personal interests in history and archeology and art.

Visiting museums is a good choice to become familiar with new cultures and histories. This can help people realize the differences and similarities between others' cultures and histories and theirs. For example, by comparing others' ancient and artistic objects with theirs, they can realize the differences and similarities. By paying more attention, they can also find out how developed was a society. For instance, some societies were using and creating the same equipments and devices and weapons in a more advanced way than other ones.

Some people may consider this as an effective and amusing way of spending their time in those new places. They may think that in their limited time of residence, visiting museums is better and more useful than spending their time in parks or shopping centers or eating out at restaurants. They can shop and eat out in other places but they may have not the opportunity of visiting a museum any longer.

Visiting museums could be a good opportunity for people interested in history and archeology and arts. This way they can find the answers to some of their historic and ancient questions. They can also enjoy becoming familiar with new histories and cultures and arts and add to their historic and artistic knowledge.

Of course, people may prefer to experience other things when travelling to new places and visit museums for other reasons, but I believe that becoming familiar with other cultures and histories and arts and spending their time effectively and personal interests are some of those reasons.

Writing Feedback / Some people want to be independent from their families as soon as possible and some other not [11]

Some young adults want independence from their parents as soon as possible. Other young adults prefer to live with their families for a longer time. Which of these situations do you think is better? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Some people want to be independent from their families as soon as possible and some other people want to live with their families for a longer time for their own personal reasons. To me, independence from my parents as soon as possible is better because I love solitude and peace of mind and it makes me get stronger.

I really love and enjoy solitude and peace of mind. Since I usually don't get along with my family members, trying to be independent from my family as soon as possible is better for my peace of mind. For example, when living with my family, daily arguments over trivial things makes me go mad and decreases my concentration. On the other hand, to me, solitude and silence are enjoyable by themselves. Living on my own and in solitude makes me feel better and pass my time with more concentration.

Living independently from my parents makes me get stronger and have higher self-confidence. If I live independently, I'll have to deal with my personal problems on my own and my power of solving my own problems will increase. For instance, It'll make me learn how to get along with not having money for my personal needs and how to make more and spend it correctly. As a result, through living on my own and solving my own problems by myself, my self-confidence will increase and in the time of confronting with significant and huge life challenges, I'll do better with high self-confidence. For example, I'll do better when getting homesick when living in another country, because I'll have experienced loneliness by that time and how to overcome it.

In sum, whether living with family for a longer time or living independently from them may have its own advantages and disadvantages, but I prefer to live independently because it's more enjoyable and brings me peace of my mind and makes me feel better and get stronger.