TOEFL essay: What do you want most in a friend?

English as a Second Language Preparation for and help with the TOEFL® Test and
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What do you want most in a friend-someone who is intelligent, or someone who has a sense of humor, or someone who is reliable? Which one of these characteristic is most important to you?

If I am asked what characteristic I hope for my friends, I have to say how intelligent they are is the best of all. For example, my grades in school would progress. Also, they could help my life in every respect. And conversation would be more interesting than that with ordinary ones.

First, I believe my grades in the school would progress if I had friends who are intelligent. There might be arguments what intelligent people are, though, I’d like to define it here as people who are eager to aquire knowledge. Thus, by being with them, I would be forced to study a lot to maintain the status of being friends like those people. My freiends and I would encourage with each other to get good grades to lead our life successful.

Second, having intelligent people as friends would be very beneficial for my life. For instance, there would be a lot of ordeal in the future such as a disease. If I had a friend who is succeeded in a medical field, he or she could help me deal with it.

Third, conversation with intelligent people would be a lot more fun, because there exist many fields that only educated people find it fun, like physics, biology, applied mathematics, and literature. I think speaking with peers that are intellectually equal or higher than me would provide me not only a fun but also knowledge which whould make me more educated person.

Having friends who have a sence of humor would be great because they whould make me laugh and relax, but I don’t think they are necessary for my life. Also, If I had friends who are reliable, I might rely on them too much and that whould prevent myself from becoming an independent person. Having intelligent friends as far as I can are needed for my life because my best interest is to live a successful life.

I think I write this essay in 40 minutes. This essay’s content is childish and very yuppy like, though, please don’t think me as a smug person. I’m not :roll:

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a university student and an employee in the student services center

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Hi Mono;

I think you have your aforementioned reasons to support your idea. However, it apparently is that you need a friend to only support your life; It is not the friendship; Moreover,an intelligent friend is not always a good one; they are likely a shark or tiger to be very dangerous if their rights are infringled. In my opinion, we can choose friends but not some closet ones; they will come all of the sudden. Through harsh condition that we are able to realize who is our buddy?:smiley:

Sincerely.

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Is it possible in this kind of question to choose more than one characterisctics?
If it was me I would talk about all or at least two, such as intelligent friends and someone who is reliable. Both are important in a friend
But everyone has its personal ideas.

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As they say, a friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same. The mentioned characteristics (intelligence, humour, etc.) cannot always be acquired, but what can be acquired is the mutual understanding and love. That is what the friendship is.

:slight_smile:

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When I am asked what quality I wish for my friends, I have to say that their intelligence is the best of all. For example, my grades in school would improve. Also, they could help me in every way in life. And conversation would be more interesting than that with ordinary people.

First, I think my grades in school would improve if I had friends who were intelligent. You can argue about what intelligent people are, but I would like to define it here as people who like to acquire knowledge. If I were with them, I would be forced to learn a lot in order to maintain the status of friends like these. My friends and I would encourage each other to get good grades to make our lives successful.

Second, having intelligent people as friends would be very beneficial to my life. For example, if I had to suffer an illness in the future, it would be a great challenge. If I had a friend who was successful in a medical field, he or she could help me deal with it.

Third, conversing with intelligent people would be much more fun, because there are many fields that only educated people enjoy, such as physics, biology, applied mathematics, and literature. I think talking to peers who are intellectually equal to or higher than me would not only make it fun for me, but also give me knowledge that would make me an educated person.

Having friends who have a sense of humor would be great because they would make me laugh and relax, but I don’t think they are necessary for my life. If I had reliable friends, I might rely on them too much, and that would prevent me from becoming an independent person. Intelligent friends are necessary for my life because I want to live a successful life.