Let's learn together!

[behnam]

Hi Mortaza,

Many thanks for putting your essays in this thread. Without any doubt, your essays are useful. You write effectively and interestingly. I really enjoy reading your essays.

About three years ago-for IELTS preparation-I had four courses in an institute in Tehran; concerning four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The courses were really useful. They made my language skills improve significantly, and consequently I scored an average 7.5 out of 9 in IELTS exam. I scored 8 out of 9 in writing module.

I am not going to give you some tips in this public place, since it may affect your morale negatively, or even may hurt your feeling. However, there are some rules in essay writing which should be followed(va man heyfam miyad nagam). Following those rules will cause you to increase your writing band in exams.

For example, it is important to have a Five-Paragraph essay format. This format is so common both in TOEFL and IELTS. In this format the first paragraph is used for introducing(introduction). You should rephrase the topic in this paragraph and make it seem more interesting for readers to get interested in reading the essay. If the topic question is about your personal opinion about something, you should also give your opinion clearly(agree or disagree) in this paragraph and make the readers know the supporting reasons you are going to give in the next paragraphs. You ought to have three reasons for your idea. Those three reasons will be discussed in more details with other supporting sentences in three independent paragraphs.

In the second paragraph, you should write about your first reasons. The first sentence of this paragraph is made from your first reason and it is the topic sentence of paragraph. You have to write some sentences about the first reason; trying to support it with some evidence, examples, or some logical statements.

In the third and fourth paragraph, you should write about the second reason(mentioned in the first paragraph) and the third reason(mentioned in the first paragraph) respectively.

Finally, in the last paragraph, you should again write a sentence with different words about your three reasons which you have mentioned in the first paragraph. The key words of this sentence are your three reasons, but the words are different(noun, adjective, verb which can be made by the root of words e.g. improving, improvement, improved, ..). You shouldn't directly disagree or agree with the main question of topic again. It is done indirectly.

Among three paragraphs, you should obviously use linking phrases such as, in addition to that, firstly, secondly, finally, In the first place,..

When the topic is asking about advantages and disadvantages of something, you shouldn't write your opinion in the first paragraph. If you believe the advantages are more than the disadvantages, you should first write one paragraph about disadvantages, and two paragraphs about disadvantages. In this case, the conclusion paragraph(the last one) is always close to the side you are supporting. Plus, in this case, you have to give your idea directly in the last paragraph by proper sentences such as, 'In my opinion, the advantages of ..weigh its disadvantages....'.

I hope it helps.

I am in a hurry. Alas I have no time to check this post to correct my mistakes. I have to leave my office quickly. Sorry for mistakes. If you need more explanation, just let me know.

All the best,
Behnam, 10 October, 2012

[[amal]]

Hi Kolokoy,

How are you?

Welcome to this thread. I think here all the friends are ready to help you...

Please write to us more about you and the things you are interested in... Of course don't forget to write your questions and sentences which you want to be checked.

Best wishes.

Amal

[behnam]

Help!!!!
I am a new member here. I need help checking my sentences, but I don't know where and how to post my questions or sentences.

Thank you
Kolokoy

Hi Kolokoy,

Welcome to this place; where you are allowed to ask your questions and share your experience with us.

Would you mind introducing yourself? Where are you from? Do you work or study? What is your job in case you work and what is your field in case you study? What is your gender? Are you married or single? What does your name mean? Those questions seem to be a little personal, I agree, but for me it is necessary to have a mind image about my friends. If you mind answering, that's OK. Don't worry.

We often avoid checking people's sentences or correcting their mistakes, but I've recently decided to have my suggestions. I think it will help me learn more, because I will force myself to focus on accuracy.

I am not sure, but

I need help checking my sentences,...

sounds odd to me. The sentence is grammatically correct, but I prefer to write it in a different way. It is maybe a matter of taste, but I guess 'I need someone to correct my mistakes' sounds better. Please check it in a dictionary. I will check it later.

We are all learning English. In other words, we are some learners from different part of the world. Thank you for joining us.

I hope to hear more from you.

All the best,
Behnam, 10 October, 2012

[behnam]

Hi Mohsen,

Thank you very much for your wonderful posts which are really rich in terms of new words and challenging ideas.

I agree with you about the philosophy of my last post you have mentioned. Khoda govvat.

All the best,
Behnam, 10 October, 2012

[nanachen]

Dear Mohsen,

How's it going?I hope you everything is ok.I spent my holiday in the countryside.In the countryside I get up when the sun rise and go to bed when the sun set. I plant the peanut and bean in the field and play with my dogs. There is no computer and internet bother me .My heart is so close to nature.I feel peace and healthy.Do you like the life in the countryside?

Best wish

Nana

[nanachen]

Dear Behnam,

OMG,Mr. sunshine,you are the bomb dot com!The sentence is cute?I buy a new cellphone and download an app about learning English which is called OMG American English.A lovable girl teaches life English with making some theatrical gesture and expression.She also teaches sending message with English by cellphone.Such as some abbreviation:FYI=For your In formation,ASAP=as soon as possible,JK=just kidding.

Do you know PSY?His song called gangnam style is popular and his dance is learn by many people.You can see my picture.

Best regards

Nana

[[amal]]

Hi Mortaza,

How are you?

Thanks for your message.

Dear, there is two side for every problem. The first one is obvious for everyone and the other is hidden...

The global conspiracy against Syria was planned in isolation from what is going inside and it has benefited from some bad people here and As you know there is no country in the world without corruption..

The evil will seek for you and if it couldn't, it would create a chance by its tools. Here in Syria, the bad and corrupt people were those tools who performed their jobs perfectly in a mean way.

Dear, we don't carry the outside our inside's mistakes because we want to evasion of our responsibilities. However, we are showing the world how they are connected.

For example, if somebody wanted to destroy your home and it was hard for him to do it from the outside, he would try to create problems between you and your family members and make them hate you and become against you...

Finally, I don't deny that there is an inside enemy and every individual should kill it first.

Inshallah, Syria will go out from this crisis stronger than ever and we will close all the gaps which the evil entered.

Thanks for reading.

Wish you the best.
Amal

[behnam]

Hi Amal,

You cannot imagine how happy I was when reading your WISE words in replying to Mortaza! Oh My God! Where has that much wisdom come? Oh Amal, I really feel proud of you.

You made me surprised and amazed. Thank you very much indeed.

All the best,
Behnam, 12 October, 2012

[behnam]

Hi Nana,

It is always nice reading your posts and hearing about you. Thank you very much for caring about our long friendship; watering it regularly. LOL

I also love the countryside and villages very much. Although there are some limitation, the pace of life is slower in rural areas. I really love this aspect of the countryside.

About the mobile phone and the software I have no idea. I prefer my own old version of Nokia(1100). I have no time to play with my cell phone. Well, you are a lady and your mobile phone can play a good friend's role for you. You may have a close relationship with your cell phone. But, I am a MAN(you should notice the difference. This is written in capital...hehehehe... Joking). I don't care about my mobile. It is one of my biggest enemies. I sometimes put it on the desk and don't look at it from the morning to the evening.

All the best,
Behnam, 12 October, 2012

[behnam]

Hi Friends,

Thanks to your support and the moderators' intelligent monitoring and also their positive attitude and kindness towards me I became one of the winners in chat room on Englishclub. Here is the link:

http://my.englishclub.com/profiles/blog ... ember-2012

To tell you the truth, I am nothing without you. Thank you for your friendship, support, help and care.

All the best,
Behnam, 12 October, 2012