Do actions speak louder than words?

This TOEFL independent essay question asks if you agree with a statement. Of course, it's always easier and safer during the test to agree or disagree based on what you personally believe. However, it's a good idea to practice by arguing for the opposite side. It exercises your reasoning skills and prepares you for questions on the TOEFL or on any test when you don't know which side to take. With practice, you will be able to take any side, whether you agree with it or not, and reason it well.

The following essay was written during a 30-minute writing exercise, and for practice, the writer argued for the side opposite what he believes. The thesis statement of the essay is in bold. In addition, the arguments, which should be mentioned in the introduction and as thesis statements in the body paragraphs, are underlined.

This question is from page 275 of the TOEFL preparation textbook by Longman.

ESSAY:

There's a common adage that says, "Actions speak louder than words," It gives the idea that a person can say anything, but if his actions convey the opposite, his words become invalid or irrelevant because his actions will have a stronger influence on others. While I agree with this saying, I also think that there are times when words, in fact, speak louder than actions. These happen during times after we've acted out on impulse such as during times of stress and also when someone's personality or habit says the opposite of what the person wants to convey.

One instance when our words speak louder than our actions is after we are angry or stressed. When we are upset, we may show annoyance at people or even express anger toward others. However, when the difficult moment has passed, we can correct these personal misdemeanors with our words, and without even explaning or apologizing, we can use the right words to show others the kind of person we really are, that we didn't mean to be rude, and that we are capable and in fact have a greater tendency to be kind. While some may disagree with this argument and counter that in fact our negative actions showed our true feelings at the moment, just like our positive actions when we began to feel better showed our good side. I would insist that words have power, and they have the ability to erase any of our momentarily negative actions.

Other times when I think words speak louder than actions is when a person's character comes through in his words despite his actions. One example is when a person conveys sarcasm. A person might be smiling or may act nice, but a hint of sarcasm in his voice can easily betray his good or kind actions. In addition, I've encountered people who simply look angry. However, once I've had the chance to talk to them, their kindness comes through in their words. Some people may describe someone's bark as being worse than his bite, which is often used to refer to a strict or intimidating person. This means that this person may look intimidating because of the way he conducts himself, but in fact, this person is actually quite nice and approachable once you get to know him.

There is no doubt that the saying "Actions speak louder than words" definitely has truth to it. However, there are instances where the opposite is definitely true. Words also have their way of communicating that can correct any mistake made in someone's actions, and it can show someone's real personality when a person's actions somehow show a different persona.


-- written by Joe Yu, ESL instructor

A TOEFL Integrated essay: The Turing Test

This essay is in response to the integrated writing task in Model Test 2 of the Barrons TOEFL textbook, 14th edition. During the exercise, students read the reading passage for 3 minutes, after which they listened to part of a lecture on the same topic. We spent 2 minutes to jot down a quick outline, then we wrote for 20 minutes.

Students are encouraged to keep organization in mind. The thesis statement, which is essentially one's answer to the writing task, has to be clear, and each paragraph has to be unified.

ESSAY:

In this set of materials, the reading talks about the Turing Test, which is supposed to determine whether a computer is able to think, while the professor in the listening passage discusses the ability of the computer to answer questions but casts doubt on the idea that any computer can show intelligence even if it passes the test.

The Turing Test, described in the reading, is based on the idea that a computer is determined to be able to think if it can answer questions from a group of people without these people knowing that they were talking to a computer. The test involves the group of people typing or saying questions from one room and waiting for an answer from another room. The people asking the questions don't know whether they are talking to a person or a computer. If in the end, the group thinks that a person had been answering their questions or if they couldn't decide, the computer is said to have passed the Turing Test, which means that it is determined to able to think. Incidentally, no computer has met the challenge and passed the test.

In the listening, the professor questions the validity of the Turing Test by pointing out that a computer's ability to answer questions correctly has nothing to do with its intelligence but in its ability to access a huge reference to come up with the right answer. The professor uses an example of a monolingual English speaker who doesn't speak any Chinese and says that if this English speaker has to answer questions from the Chinese person, though he wouldn't be able to understand a word, if the English speaker had a database which he could refer to, it would in fact be possible for him to give a correct answer. The professor then explains that a computer could do the same thing and when a computer is able to answer correctly with the resources that it has, it would only be displaying its behavioral ability, not its intelligence. He also adds that, in this case, the computer would only be acting intelligent without being intelligent.


This sample essay was written by Joe Yu, ESL instructor, during the 20-minute writing exercise in class.