Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past?

English as a Second Language Preparation for and help with the TOEFL® Test and
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topic 163: is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
essay
Reading and writing are very crucial skills to people, but in the different ages, the importance of them is not equal. As far as I am concerned, I agree with the concept that reading and writing are more important to modern people than to ancient people, because these are basic abilities of modern people.

First and foremost, nowadays, people cannot live or work well without reading and writing skills. In the past time, reading and writing might not be necessary for a lot of people because all their knowledge based on experience, which passed from one person to others by speaking. However, getting knowledge through listening and speaking is not enough for modern people to work well, and they have to develop their reading and writing skills in order to work better. For example, in the past, farmers might cultivate their plants well by listening to some experience from other farmers, but these experience were limited because they could not meet much people. Nevertheless, modern farmers have to read a lot of books about agriculture, which provide all critical information about agriculture to them.

In addition, writing and reading become two basic skills that most people have to know. Nowadays, along with the development of society and economy, more people can approach education services; as a result, the number of people who can write and read are increasing, and if people do not know about them , their lives will be difficult. Without reading and writing skills, they cannot find good jobs or improve their abilities;consequently, people who do not have abilities to write and read will be difficult to get aspect from others in society.

In conclusion, writing and reading always are important skill to all ages. However, nowadays, they become extremely vital abilities, because they have become basic skills of all people, and we can work and live better thanks to them.

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a student and a university advisor

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Reading and writing are very crucial skills to people, but in the at different ages, the importance of them is not equal. As far as I am concerned, I agree with the concept that reading and writing are more important to modern people than to ancient people, because these are basic abilities of modern people.

First and foremost, nowadays, people cannot live or work well without reading and writing skills. In the past time, reading and writing might not be necessary for a lot of people because all their knowledge was based on experience, which passed from one person to others another by speaking. However, getting knowledge through listening and speaking is not enough for modern people to work well, and they have to develop their reading and writing skills in order to work better (very nice sentence!). For example, in the past, farmers might cultivate their plants well by listening to some experience learning from other farmers, but these this experience were was limited because they could not meet much many people. Nevertheless, modern farmers have to read a lot of books about agriculture, which provide all critical information about agriculture to them.

In addition, writing and reading have become two basic skills that most people have to know. Nowadays, along with the development of society and economy, more people can approach education services; as a result, the number of people who can write and read are is increasing, and if people do not know about them (whom? or what?), their lives will be difficult. Without reading and writing skills, they cannot find good jobs or improve their abilities; consequently, people who do not have abilities to write and read will be difficult to get aspect from ahead of others in society.

In conclusion, writing and reading are always are important skills to all ages. However, nowadays, they become extremely vital abilities, because they have become basic skills of all people, and we can work and live better thanks to them.

Tung Lam,

Very nice work. Your English is pretty good, and you’re not far away from mastery.

Here’s a bit of advice:

Your thesis statement is not quite clear. It becomes clear after reading into the essay a little bit, but it’s better if it is 100% clear to the reader what you’re trying to say right from the start.
How do you do that?
Keep it simple:

Reading and writing weren’t as important to the people of the past as they are to modern people. The people of the past relied on professional experience that was handed down person to person. However, the skills of reading and writing have become essential in today’s world, and without them a modern person will barely survive.

Hope this helps,

Phil

1 Like
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Reading and writing are very important skills for people, but in different ages the importance of these skills is not the same. As for me, I agree with the concept that reading and writing are more important for modern people than for old people because they are basic skills of modern people.

First and foremost, people today cannot live or work well without literacy skills. In the past, reading and writing may not have been necessary for many people because all their knowledge was based on experience passed from one person to another by speaking. However, for modern people, gaining knowledge by listening and speaking is not enough, and they need to develop their literacy skills to work better. For example, in the past, farmers could grow their crops well by listening to other farmers’ experiences, but these experiences were limited because they could not meet many people. However, modern farmers need to read many books about farming, which provide them with all the important information about farming.

In addition, writing and reading are two basic skills that most people need to master. Nowadays, with the development of society and economy, more and more people can use education services; as a result, the number of people who can write and read is increasing, and if people do not know this, their life will be difficult. Without literacy skills, they cannot find good jobs or improve their skills; consequently, it will be difficult for people who cannot write and read to be noticed by others in society.

In conclusion, writing and reading are always important skills for all age groups. However, nowadays they are extremely important because they have become the basic skills for all people and thanks to them we can work and live better.