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Look at the four triangles 6 that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

In fact, car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

Where would the sentence best fit?

® [A]

® [B]

® [C) ® [D]

Choice (A) is correct. The sentence to be inserted adds details and support to the ideas expressed in the sentence before the insertion point. Choice (B) is incorrect. The topic has changed, and the sentence to be inserted does not relate to the new topic. Choice (C) is incorrect. The topic is trains, and the sentence to be inserted is discussing cars. Choice (D) is incorrect. The sentence to be inserted does not lend support to the ideas expressed in the sentences before and after the insertion point.

When you are ready, move on to Lesson 7-Writing: More Practice with Compare and Contrast Essays.

LESSON 7-WRITING: MORE PRAGICE WITH COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAYS

In this lesson, we will cover more writing skills and strategies that will help lead to success on test day. You will also have the opportunity to learn more about the tasks required for the Writing section of the TOEFL If you want to proceed with additional writing strategies when you finish this lesson, turn to Lesson 8- Writing: More Practice with the Response Essay in Chapter 8.

Previous lessons covered the following essay types:

• Descriptive Essays

• Definition Essays

• Persuasive Essays

• Compare/Contrast Essays

• Essays in Response to a Reading Passage and a Lecture

This lesson continues to review compare/contrast essays.

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Recognizing Compare/Contrast Essay Prompts

There are two tasks in the Writing section of the TOEFL. In the first, you must read a passage, listen to a lecture, then write an essay about what you have read and heard. In the second, you must write an essay based only on a short prompt that asks you to describe or explain something or to express and support your opinion on an issue. You do not need any specialized knowledge to write this second essay. The prompt is based on topics that will be familiar to all test takers. You are given 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise this essay. Typically, an effective essay will contain a minimum of 300 words. Essays will be judged on the quality of the writing, including idea development, organization, and the quality and accuracy of the language used to express these ideas.

When you begin either writing task on the TOEFL, always read the prompt carefully to make sure that you know exactly which essay type you are being asked to write.

One common type of essay prompt found in the Writing section of the TOEFL is the compare/contrast essay. In the compare/contrast essay, you are required to compare two ideas, suggestions, or things, or discuss their similarities. You will also need to contrast them, or discuss their differences. Frequently, the prompt will also ask you which of the two alternatives you prefer and to use your discussion to support that preference.

Here are some tips to help you recognize a compare/contrast essay prompt as well as some sample prompts:

1. The prompt may include the words compare and contrast. Sometimes the prompt may use the word compare by itself, but remember, you will still need to discuss both similarities and differences in your essay.

Some people say that learning from experience is better than learning from books. Do you agree? Compare and contrast learning from experience with learning from books. Use examples in your answer.

2. The prompt may ask you to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of two different things or ideas.

An automobile manufacturer is considering your community and the neighboring community as possible sites for a new factory. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of building the factory in each community. Use specific details and examples in your essay.

3. The prompt may present you with two alternatives, and ask you to identify your preference and to explain your choice.

Do you think it is better for companies to hire less experienced employees for lower salaries or more experienced people for higher salaries? Explain your preference, using examples and details.

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4. Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs may be used in the prompt. Better is a common example.

In some countries, university students study a variety of subjects as well as their chosen field. In other countries, students only take courses that are related to their major field. Which system is better? Be specific and provide examples in your response.

Recognizing Compare/Contrast Essay Prompts Practice

Read the following prompts carefully. Decide which require you to write a compare/contrast essay, and which do not. Underline the words or phrases that helped you make your decision.

1. Would you prefer to work for a higher salary but spend little time with friends and family or earn less money but have more time for your life outside of worl<? Use specific reasons and details in your response.

2. Television has taken the place of conversation in many families. Do you agree or disagree? Provide specific reasons and examples.

3. Do you think that the automobile has been a force for good or a force for bad? Why? Explain your opinion using specific reasons and examples.

4. While in most countries, children are sent to school for their education, some parents prefer to educate their children at home. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of each of these alternatives. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples in your answer.

Answers

1. Would you prefer to work for a higher salary but spend little time with friends and family or earn less money but have more time for your life outside of work? Use specific reasons and details in your response.

Compare and contrast essay.

2. Television has taken the place of conversation in many families. Do you agree or disagree? Provide specific reasons and examples.

This prompt requires an agree/disagree essay.

3. Do you think that the automobile has been a force for good or a force for bad? Why? Explain your opinion using specific reasons and examples.

This requires a choose and support an opinion essay.

4. While in most countries, children are sent to school for their education, some parents prefer to educate their children at home. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of each of these alternatives. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples in your answer.

Compare and contrast essay.

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Planning a Compare/Contrast Essay

Once you have determined that the writing prompt requires you to write a compare/contrast essay, the next step is to begin planning your essay. Good planning should always precede actual writing. If your essay is well planned, the writing process itself will take less time and the result will be a clearly organized and well-thought out essay.

Prewriting planning should include the following steps:

1. Reading the prompt carefully, to be certain of the questions it asks and the essay type it requires.

2. Brainstorming-generating ideas through freewriting or similar technique.

3. Writing your thesis statement: a clear statement of your opinion or position that will direct the rest of your writing process.

4. Preparing an outline of the essay.

5. Writing the essay.

6. Editing and proofreading.

Generating Ideas for a Compare/Contrast Essay

Unless you have a very clear picture of the essay you will write in response to the prompt, the best way for you to begin is to generate a list of ideas. There are several ways to do this including freewriting (writing continuously for several minutes about the topic until you have thoroughly explored it), listing (noting down words or phrases related to the topic), and clustering (letting one word or idea about the topic lead you to another, until you have a page of notes connected by subtopic or theme). However, it is important to remember that in a compare/contrast essay you need to discuss features of both of the topics presented in the prompt and to make note of both similarities and differences between them. A good way to prepare for this is to employ a chart like this one:

Item 1 Item 2

Similarities

Point A

Point B

Point C

Differences

Point D

PointE

Point F

Using such a chart allows you to think systematically about all the information and ideas you will need for your essay and to be sure that you have covered all the points the prompt requires you to discuss.

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Outlining the Compare/Contrast Essay

A compare/ contrast essay can be structured in two different ways. Which method you use depends on what you have to say about each of the two items you are comparing and contrasting. Here is a review of a topic previously covered in Lesson 4-Writing: Compare and Contrast Essays.

The first type of essay structure is called the point-by-point format. In the point-by-point format, each point of comparison and contrast gets its own paragraph. In the first body paragraph, you will begin by discussing the first important feature of Item 1, then discuss the same feature of Item 2. In the second body paragraph, you discuss the second important feature of each of the two items, and so on, in any subsequent paragraphs. The point-by-point format is best used if you want to discuss exactly the same features of each of the items you are comparing and contrasting.

By contrast, in the block format, the essay body is divided in half: the first half is devoted to a discussion of the first item, and the second half to a discussion of the second item. The block format is most useful when you will not be discussing exactly the same features of each item, or have a different amount of information to discuss about each item.

To illustrate these two formats let's consider the following compare/contrast topic.

Have you ever wondered what it might have been like to live centuries ago, when people enjoyed few of the technological amenities that we now use every day, like telephones? Life may have been much simpler back then. Do you think that our life now is better than the life of people centuries in the past?

Make notes in which you consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of living with and without advanced technology such as telephones.

Notes

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Le~s look at two sample outlines based on the topic of the advantages and disadvantages of newer, high-tech communication methods and older, traditional methods. Here are some notes one might make.

convenience (how fast? how easy? how expensive?)

volume/number (how many people can be reached? how much information can be communicated?)

personal/impersonal (how personal is the message? how individual is the communicator's voice? how well can non-textual information like emotion be communicated? what f eedback

can the communicator receive from the audience?)

Because these notes include three different subtopics, this is best suited to the point-by-point format Here is a model outline written in point-by-point format.

Point-by-Point Format

Comparing and Contrasting High-tech and Low-tech Communication

I. Introduction

II. Point 1 : Convenience

A Item 1 : High tech

B. Item 2: Low tech

Ill. Point 2: Volume/number of people

A. Item 1 : High tech

B. Item 2: Low tech

IV. Third point Personal/impersonal

A Item 1 : High tech

B. Item 2: Low tech

V. Conclusion

Now, let's consider different points for high-tech and low-tech communication methods. The notes on the same topic look like this:

High tech:

convenient

reaches many people

Low tech:

personal, communicates emotion

Because different features for each of the two items being compared and contrasted are emphasized, this is suited to the block format.

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A model outline made from these notes might look like this:

Block Format

The Relative Advantages of High-tech and Traditional Methods of Communication

I. Introduction

II. Item 1 : High tech

A. Point l : Convenience

B. Point 2: Efficient, large audience

C. (Possible additional points)

Ill. Item 2: Low tech

A. Point 1 : Personal quality

B. (Possible additional points)

IV. Conclusion

Outlining the Compare/Contrast Essay Practice

Now, using the notes you made on the topic of low-tech versus high-tech, prepare an outline for a compare/contrast essay. Choose the format, block or point-by-point, most appropriate for your ideas.

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Answers

Answers will vary.

Introducing the Compare/Contrast Essay

The most important part of any essay is its introduction. This is especially true for a compare/contrast essay, because the material covered by this essay type is inherently more complex than in most other essays. A compare/contrast essay deals with not one, but two distinct topics, and it must discuss both the similarities and the differences between those two topics. Thus, without a good introduction, your essay may seem uninteresting or even confusing to the reader. However, with a little practice, you will soon be able to write effective introductions for compare/contrast essays.

A good introduction should accomplish four tasks:

1. It should grab the reader's attention immediately, and keep it. A strategy for accomplishing this task is called a hook. Hooks usually occur at the beginning of the introduction and can take several forms. Your hook can be an interesting fact, a question directed at the reader to make him or her realize that your topic is important, or a story told in a sentence or two. Other kinds of hook.s are possible, too.

2. Your introduction should provide enough background information to let your reader understand your topic and why you have chosen it. However, it shouldn't provide a lot of detail or discussion­that is found in body paragraphs.

3. The introduction should clearly indicate your attitude or opinion toward your topic in a thesis statement.

4. It should indicate to the reader what points you intend to discuss in the body of the essay. This is called forecasting. Forecasting is especially important in longer, more complex essays.

Topic Sentences Because compare/contrast essays are more complex than most other kinds of essays, you need to provide your reader with lots of help to show him or her the direction the essay is going. A good topic sentence is one of the best kinds of help you can offer your reader. Usually, your topic sentences will be the first sentences of each body paragraph in the essay. Topic sentences will clearly identify the topic and purpose of each paragraph, so that your reader can more easily follow your discussion. Subsequent sentences in each body paragraph will provide more specific information to support the topic sentences.

Transition Signals

An important component of the topic sentence is the transition signal. Transition signals are words or phrases used to tell the reader how the information following is related to the previous information or discussion: is it similar? does it contrast? is it unexpected? All these questions and more can-and should-be answered by well-chosen transition signals.

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The following chart includes a number of transition signals commonly used in compare/contrast essays.

COMPARE CONTRAST

Direct Opposition Unexpected Result

likewise however however

similar to in, by contrast nevertheless

like in/by comparison still

similarly on the other hand nonetheless

just as on the contrary although

both ... and while even though

not only ... but also whereas

neither ... nor

Compare/Contrast Essay Practice

Following is an example of the second task in the Writing section of the TOEFL. Once you have written your essay, spend about 15 minutes evaluating it according to the principles outlined in this lesson.

Read the question. You have 30 m inutes to plan, write, and revise your essay. Typically, an effective response will contain a minimum of 300 words.

In some countries, people drive a car everywhere that they need to go. In other countries, most people ride a bicycle. Write a compare/contrast essay in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of these forms of t ransportation. Use examples and specific details in your response.

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Answer

Answers will vary, but here is one sample essay.

Both cars and bicycles are common forms of transportation in the world today. It seems that many countries have fallen in love with the automobile in much the same way as the United States has. Unfortunately, the growing price of oil and the increasing amounts of smog that are covering the world's cities are the sad effects of this love. In many cases, the bicycle offers a healthy, low cost alternative to cars.

Riding a bicycle is an excellent way to get from here to there. Riders get exercise, t hey breathe more fresh air than people In a car would, and they get to be out of doors In the sunlight and warmth. However, being outside is not always an advantage. When the air is cold, or if It rains, a bicycle offers little protection from the elements, while people in a car are warm and dry.

Cars have their disadvantages too, the least not being that they rely on an energy source to move. These days most cars still depend on petroleum to power their engines. This means exhaust fumes that contribute to smog and other forms of pollution. In contrast, the only exhaust a bicycle might have is the breath of its rider as he climbs a difficult hill. The environmental impact of cars is much greater than that of bikes.

Finally, while t here are some at hletes who can ride a bicycle for a hundred miles a day, most people are not fit enough to use a bicycle to go everywhere they need to go. The effort and time involved in riding a bike thirty miles to work are much more than getting into a car and driving thirty miles. Most people simply live too far away from their jobs, stores, and families to be able to ride a bike there and back again regularly. Cars will get them there faster and in more comfort, but not without a plume of carbon monoxide right behind them.

Now that you have practiced writing, you are ready to begin Lesson 7-Listening: Note-Taking, Main Idea, and Combined Skills.

LESSON 7-LISTENING: NOTE-TAKI NG, MAIN IDEA, AND COMBINED SKILLS

In this lesson, we will cover more listening skills and strategies that will help lead to success on test day. You will also have the opportunity to review some of the strategies you learned in previous lessons as well as to learn more about the question types found on the Listening section of the TOEFL If you want to proceed with more listening strategies when you finish this lesson, turn to Lesson 8-Listening: Taking Notes on a Conversation in Chapter 8.