no evidence to bear out

[alpacinou]

Hello everyone,

I want to teach my students to write essays in international exams such as "TOEFL".

In many questions, applicants are asked to express their opinion about something and agree with something or refute it.

Can they use this sentence to always reject a claim or an idea?

1-There is no evidence to bear out the suggestion that improving public transportation will reduce traffic jams.

2-There is no evidence to bear out the suggestion that children who are raised by single parents will not be successful.

3-There is no evidence to bear out the suggestion that spending money on space exploration will better humanity.

I mean, can you refute a claim or an idea by saying "there is no evidence to bear it out"?

 

[emsr2d2]

You can, but it's overly wordy in my opinion. You don't really need "to bear out the suggestion".

There is no evidence that improving public transport reduces traffic jams.

 

[alpacinou]

You can, but it's overly wordy in my opinion. You don't really need "to bear out the suggestion".

There is no evidence that improving public transport reduces traffic jams.

There is a minimum number of words that should be met in TOEFL.

So, are the 3 sentences perfectly okay?

 

[emsr2d2]

There is a minimum number of words that should be met in TOEFL.

So, are the [STRIKE]3[/STRIKE] three sentences [STRIKE]perfectly[/STRIKE] okay?

All three sentences are grammatically correct.

Note my changes above. For numbers under twenty, we usually write out the word in full. It suffices to say "okay".

Is there a minimum number of words that each sentence must meet, or is there a minimum number of words per piece of writing (paragraphs, essays etc)?

 

[alpacinou]

All three sentences are grammatically correct.

Note my changes above. For numbers under twenty, we usually write out the word in full. It suffices to say "okay".

Is there a minimum number of words that each sentence must meet, or is there a minimum number of words per piece of writing (paragraphs, essays etc)?

Wow! It is interesting you say that. I was just going to ask this question. In formal essays, when we need to write a number like "50 years", is it okay to write 50 or should it be fifty?

There is a minimum number of words for one whole essay.

Thank you for your time as usual.;-)

 

[alpacinou]

By the way, could I use "assertion" instead of "suggestion"?

3-There is no evidence to bear out the assertion that spending money on space exploration will better humanity.

 

[jutfrank]

There is a minimum number of words that should be met in TOEFL.

Part of what is assessed in the TOEFL exam is the candidate's ability to write concisely.

Think carefully before encouraging your students to use 'catch-all' sentence frames. The chances are that the sentence will be untrue. Why would you say that there is no evidence for something when there is? To an examiner, a claim like this would raise a suggestion that the candidate had memorised such a sentence frame. That would not look good.

 

[Robbadob]

Afaik, TOEFL examiners frown upon verbosity. They appraise a candidate's writing based on substance, not on long-winded prose.

 

[tedmc]

I don't think making a sentence unnecessarily long to make up the number of words required in an essay for lack of ideas is a good idea to be taught to students.

 

[Rover_KE]

Robbadob, please change 'Nor a teacher' to 'Not a teacher' in your signature line.

 

[Robbadob]

Robbadob, please change 'Nor a teacher' to 'Not a teacher' in your signature line.

Can't you do that as a mod? It's just a minor typo though. It doesn't affect whatsoever.

 

[Tarheel]

Can't you do that as a mod? It's just a minor typo though. It doesn't affect anything.

I don't think mods can do that. (I could be wrong.)

 

[GoesStation]

Can't you do that as a mod? It's just a minor typo though.

It's not a moderator's responsibility, even if it were possible. Please take the twenty seconds to fix it.

 

[Rover_KE]

I don't think mods can do that. (I could be wrong.)

You're not wrong.

 

[Robbadob]

Done.

Could "anything whatsoever" work?

 

[emsr2d2]

Done.

Could "anything whatsoever" work?

Yes.