LUCKY WORDS (WORDS # 39)

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LOVELY FLOWERS FOR MY READERS 

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LAMINATED

Adjective – Laminated wood, plastic or glass consists of several thin layers and is very strong

                 When paper or card has been laminated, it is covered with clear plastic

They have used laminated wood in that construction and it looks very nice.

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LIMPID

Adjective – Transparent or clear

She looked at him with limpid eyes

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LOCUS

Noun (Countable, Formal) – The particular place or situation in which something exists or takes place

Let’s talk about the locus of political power

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LUCID

Adjective – Showing or telling something in a clear, simple way. It also means being capable of thinking clearly

He gave a clear, lucid presentation of the problem 

The patient had occasional lucid moments

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MY COMMENTS ON THESE WORDS

This list has several lovely adjectives! So let’s see what we can make of them.

“Laminated” makes me think of wood, because one of our local Universities has a laboratory that studies stress and resistance factors related to the use of laminated wood, and I know the professor in charge. He advocates the use of this material in construction as a replacement for several elements that have usually been made of steel.  I have seen some photos of experimental work and it really looks beautiful. So I would say this is a word that is used in various areas.

“Limpid” is often used in literary writing, especially in fiction. The heroine or the children involved, very often have “limpid eyes”. The term is usually used to portray innocence or truthfulness. I’ve also seen this word used in relation to the waters of a stream: She saw herself in the limpid waters of the stream.

“Locus” is related to the concept of place. This place can be real or abstract, as in the expression “locus of power”. I believe it more often refers to an abstract place. However, in Geometry the term locus is quite tangible and is usually related to a line. For example, the circumference is the locus of all points that… and so on. This word is definitely used quite frequently.

“Lucid” is a well-known word, I believe. I’ve heard people say, things like “I’m so tired, my brain is no longer lucid!”  I think it’s a relatively common expression, used for normal, everyday communications. 

There is good news for Spanish speakers! The only one that doesn’t work is “locus”. As for the other words, the terms “laminado”, “límpido” and “lúcido” all exist, sound similar and mean the same, so that is probably a great help in managing these words on the graduate entry tests!

So study up your words and I’ll see you on the next post!

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© 2013  joveron  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.

THE INDEPENDENT WRITING TASK - YOUR ESSAY (TOEFL WRITING 2)

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A LOVELY PHOTO FOR MY READERS!

Nature is so beautiful! 

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WRITING AN ESSAY.

Writing an essay is what the Independent Writing Task on the TOEFL requires you to do. It is usually considered to be the most difficult part of the test; I know my students usually cringe when we talk about it!

The idea here is that the test will provide you with a topic (which can’t be changed) and you will have to write a minimum of 300 words on that topic, following the format of an “essay”.

In addition, this task has a demanding time control to it: you only have 30 minutes in which to produce your ideas, plan the structure, write the essay and then review it!

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE TIME CONTROLS FOR THE ESSAY WRITING TASK

Here you have those same ideas organized as a list, with suggested times attached

• Brainstorm for ideas – about 2 minutes

• Plan the structure – about 3 minutes

• Write the essay – about 21 minutes

• Revise your writing – about 4 minutes 

 

Now these suggested times are not necessarily the ones you will use. For instance, if you are a quick reader you might save 2 minutes on the reviewing, which you could use elsewhere.

These suggested times are mainly to show you that you really need to MOVE when you do this part of the TOEFL. The short version is that you will always be short of time, unless you really have nothing to write about, and that means that you will probably receive a rather low final result.

DIFFICULTIES I HAVE OBSERVED WHILE WORKING WITH MY STUDENTS

While patiently getting my face-to-face students organized on their essay writing task, I have observed the following difficulties:

• They don’t seem to quite grasp the contents of the sample questions that we’re looking through.

• They are slow on brainstorming and can’t come up with ideas when under pressure.

• They don’t have a clear idea of what an essay IS, or rather what it is NOT. They have a tendency to think that a simple “composition” on a topic will do.

• They are not familiar with the traditional structure of an essay.

• Their level of English is not sufficient to produce coherent sentences, never mind the structure!

 

Let’s look through some of these points in more detail.

GETTING THE MESSAGE!

Just recently I was discussing an essay question that requested the student to write about “Why families that visit a town for the first time, usually like to visit museums in that particular town” The student was supposed to develop an essay and give reasons, according to his own views on the topic.

An apparently simple task! But my friend (the student) developed a list of ideas which really meant that he was describing different kinds of museums, without a word on the WHY families tend to visit these places when the town is new to them.

In short, he did not “get the message”.

The writing task may or not be difficult, but you must analyze the question carefully so as to get a really clear idea of what you are going to write about.

THIS IS AN ESSAY WRITING TASK, NOT A COMPOSITION WRITING TASK!

What’s the difference, you may ask? That’s a good question and one that I will answer with my own “take” on the problem as it relates to the TOEFL.

The essay has a definite and rather logical structure, which can be briefly described as: 

• Introduction (includes the thesis statement)

• Development (supporting ideas, each with their own thesis statements)

• Conclusion (generally a paraphrasing of the introduction)

 

The composition, on the other hand allows you to “ramble” through the topic, the planning is not so strict, and the writer can even be rather vague and just weave through some ideas that hopefully relate to the topic. Including your own emotions could be permitted.

This may not be a very clear distinction, but it becomes clear when you start to write essays!

Take the case of my student and the example of the museums. 

The ideas he came up with were all related to different types of museums and which ones he would enjoy most. 

If he had developed these ideas into a piece of writing, it would have felt like a “ramble”. Probably quite good and quite interesting, but that would not have qualified very well as an essay for the TOEFL, I’m afraid.

CONCLUDING WORDS

So here we are, just scratching the surface of the Independent Writing Task for the TOEFL!

In my next post I will write about the problems of “brainstorming” and the way it relates to the structure of the essay. 

Then maybe we can finally get down to planning a real essay.

In the meantime, as this topic is rather heavy, here's another lovely photo for you to enjoy! 

LOVELY NATURE, LOVELY TREES!

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Source: Pixabay, Public Domain 


See you soon!

© 2013  joveron (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.

DILIGENT WORDS (WORDS # 38)

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SOME LOVELY FLOWERS FOR MY READERS!

They are azaleas, called Coral Bell.

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DESOLATE

Adjective – A desolate place is completely empty with no people or pleasant features in it

               -   When a person is feeling very sad and lonely

Those streets are very desolate

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DISMEMBER

Verb (transitive) – To cut someone’s body to pieces

                       -  To take away important parts of an organization or system so that it can no longer function properly

Sam’s brilliant team is being slowly dismembered

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DOMICILE

Noun (Formal, countable) – Someone’s home

You need to register a permanent domicile for your bank account address

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DISCONSOLATE

Adjective – Extremely unhappy or disappointed

The team was disconsolate with the news of the lack of funds for the project

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MY COMMENTS ON THESE WORDS

An interesting list o words! Some of them are actually quite useful.

“Desolate” could be useful when offering condolences to a friend. You could say that you were “desolate” at the news. I have also seen this word used quite often in fiction, both to describe feelings and also to describe a landscape which is rather grim and empty. Writer use the expression “desolate wastes” for these landscapes.

“Dismember” could be gruesome if related to real human or animal bodies, but when used in relation to a group or a team or perhaps to the geographical boundaries of a country, or a particularly broken up coast line, like the southern coasts of Chile, it is a useful word that really describes the idea you want to convey.

“Domicile” is also a useful word, it means the same as “home”, but this is the term that is used on all official documents and papers of all kinds. A hospital, for instance, will request the “domicile” of the patient, and so on.

“Disconsolate” is a way of saying “very unhappy” but it seems to be a more formal expression. It is often used, both in everyday life and in news reports or fiction. A useful word!

There is good news for Spanish speakers! The words desolado, desmembrar, domicilio and desconsolado all exist, sound similar and mean the same! This is a great help for the graduate entry tests, which demand knowledge of these words in English.

So study up your words and I’ll see you on the next post!

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© 2013  joveron  (Joan Robertson)

I will be very happy to receive your comments! Just click the word “comments” lower down.