LINEAR TOOLS TO SPECIFY AND GENERATE IDEAS

1. Noun
● Examples
● ADJ + Noun
● Noun + Relative clause
Outdoor activities:
● Playing sports is essential → do wonders for our physical health →
[explanation] require a lot of movements // training.
● Family gathering or hanging out with friends → opportunities to talk and
share daily life → better understanding among family members → cement our
relationship.
Playing video games
● League of Legends → a strategic game → train players’ brain & benefit/
facilitate intellectual development
● Audition → games that feature music and dancing → relieve stress very
effectively
● Duolingo // Memrise → educational game (help people learn foreign
languages) → learning process becomes much more interesting.

Small practice:
1. Some people believe that introducing new technology can improve people’s
quality of life in developing countries. Others think that free education should
be offered instead. Discuss both views and give your opinions.
- New technology:
- Telecommunication technology → Benefits related to the way
we send and receive information.
- Leading-edge agricultural equipment → Benefits related to
farming // crop yields
- Advanced/ State-of-the-art medical equipment/ devices →
Benefits related to healthcare.
- Machinery used in heavy industries (exploiting mine) → increase
productivity while not risking human’s lives.
- Modern household appliances → deal with various housework →
more time to relax and focus on other important things in life.
- Free education:
 - Vocational training → hands-on experience → practical skills →
jobs
- University → majors & expertise knowledge → jobs

2. Nowadays, more and more people decide to have children later in their life.
What are the reasons? Do the advantages of this outweigh disadvantages?

REASONS:
Specify “more and more people” who decide to have children later in life.
● Those who prioritize their career → fully concentrate on their work → just
want to have children later
● Young adults that are not financially strong → afraid that they cannot take
good care of their children → delay until they are able to provide everything
for their children.
● Young adults who are not ready & want to become more mature before taking
the responsibility of being a parent
● Young people who want to enjoy their life to the fullest before taking the
responsibility of being a parent

Verb
● Purpose
● Frequency

In many countries, students take a gap year before attending universities.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of it?

Take a gap year to:

● Travel
○ Pros: widen your horizons (know about cultures and lifestyles in
different areas)
○ Cons: can be very costly // safety concerns // fall behind your peers //
might lose academic momentum
● Do some part-time j0bs (staff at movie theaters, cashiers, waiters,...)
○ Pros: hone practical skills while working (communication or
collaboration skills) // earn some money
 ○ Cons: lose academic momentum // affect health (hectic work schedule
(night shifts…)
● Do nothing - relax:
○ Pros: reduce anxiety and stress → revitalize and prepare better for the
upcoming school year
○ Cons: waste of time // lose momentum // fall behind your peers
● Taking some courses to help improve certain skills (public speaking, languages,
office skills…)
● Take part in voluntary activities/ projects

Not harmful: Play video games → Harmful: addicted to playing video games
Not harmful: Consume fast food → Harmful: excessively consume fried chicken and
other types of fast food
Not harmful: Use social media → Harmful: being glued to screens → surfing all day

3. Process
Think of stages in the whole process to evaluate pros and cons more carefully.

Small practice:
An increasing number of people are shopping online. Do the advantages outweigh
the disadvantages?
Before During After

Compare products of Purchase products with Receive products

different online stores in multiple vouchers and → (-) might be prone to
terms of price and promotions with products scams (products that are
feedback/ review in order being shipped straight to of low quality and are not
to find the best deal. your house. similar to pictures shown
→ (+) Time-saving and → (+) save more money & online).
convenient because you commuting time.
can easily look up
whatever you want online Make a payment via credit
unlike shopping at card
brick-and-mortar shops → easily prone to credit
when you have to card fraud → face the
commute from one store risks of losing money.
to another to do such
tasks. Delivery process
→ (-) have to wait for a
couple of days
→ (-) require enormous
amounts of plastic
packaging as well as
cardboard boxes to ship/
dispatch products to
customers → result in
enormous waste into the
environment.

4. Aspects
Small practice:
Some people think that good health is very important to every person, so medical
service should not be run by profit-making companies. Do the advantages of private
healthcare outweigh the disadvantages?

Private healthcare
● Service: (+) faster and greater care compared to state-owned hospitals
(Explanation: the number of patients is significantly) // working hours are
flexible lower (public hospitals only work during specific hours while private
ones can be accessed almost 24/7) // service oriented, gently treat and care for
patients
● Humans (doctors and staff at hospitals): usually higher salaries compared
state-owned
● Quality (diagnosis and treatment):
○ High quality with the investment of advanced healthcare equipment
(strong financial resources)
○ (-) Profit-driven // unethical organizations → try to get patients’ money
→ exaggerate the diagnosis or even require surgery when not
necessary.
● (+) Facilities: new, clean, well-invested (strong financial resources)
● (-) Cost: extremely expensive
→ Suggested flow: Advantages < Disadvantages
Education:
● Teaching method
● Teacher
● Quality
● Expense
● Facility

Who-Who
● Positive impacts on WHO?
● Negative impacts on WHO?
===
● Solutions: WHO deal with it?

WHO:
● The environment
● The government (national, international)
● Organizations/ companies (schools, hospitals, advertising agency, …)
● Individuals (parents, students, peers, colleagues, teachers, consumers,
users…)

Small practice:
The growth of multinational companies and the resulting rise of globalization creates
positive effects for all. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
→ Completely disagree because globalization could have both positive and negative
impacts.

The growth of multinational companies + globalization have positive effects ON

WHOM?
● Developing nations → International corporations tend to invest in such
nations to build their manufacturing factories → create employment
opportunities for local people. [Example] Nike, Apple, Samsung → factories in
SEA countries such as Vietnam → provide millions of jobs for people.
● Consumers can buy and use products as well as services from other countries
right at their own country → expand their choices. [Example] Vietnamese can
 wear from different brands all over the world, and enjoy food of any foreign
cuisine that they like → improve standard of living
The growth of multinational companies + globalization have negative effects ON
WHOM?
● Numerous local companies find it hard to compete with multinational
companies → bankrupt. [Example] A well-known beverage company of
Vietnam, Chuong Duong, is on the verge of bankruptcy because of
competition from international beverage giants such as Coca Cola.
● The environment: International companies take advantage of their
investments in developing nations to exploit natural resources → depletion.
● The environment: globalization promote international tourism and product
delivery from one country to another significantly → increase the amount of
emission exponentially all over the world → contribute to global warming.
3” → to generate complet flows of idea

Practice 1
Question: Fossil fuels are the main sources in many countries, but in some
countries the use of alternative sources of energy are encouraged. Do you think
this is a positive or negative development?

The shift towards alternative sources of energy (solar energy, hydropower, wind
energy…)
WHO-WHO
Developing and underdeveloped countries → (-) financial burden on state budget →
[explanation] enormous outlays on installation and construction of energy
infrastructure [example] solar energy (invest in millions of solar panels so as to
generate enough electricity for a particular area // wind energy (miliions of windmills/
turbines).

The environment → (+) have beneficial effects on the environment [explanation] the
process of generating energy from wind or power emits little to no emissions to the
environment, while the combustion of fossil fuels is the main contributor to air
pollution in many countries all over the world.
Generating energy from wind or sunlight (-) requires large areas of land → might
pose a challenge to countries with small area such as Singapore.
Generating energy from wind or sunlight (-) unstable supplies of energy → depend
on weather conditions [Example] strong winds in certain directions → enough to
generate electricity.

Generating energy from wind or sunlight (+) provide infinite sources of energy
compared to fossil fuels which are limited and depleted → sustainable development.

Drawbacks < Benefits

Body 1: Drawbacks
Developing and underdeveloped countries → (-) financial burden on state budget →
[explanation] enormous outlays on installation and construction of energy
infrastructure [example] solar energy (invest in millions of solar panels so as to
generate enough electricity for a particular area // wind energy (miliions of windmills/
turbines).
Antithesis: initial outlays → in the long run these facilities can be used for years to
come and help save significant amount of money (cut down on fossil fuel).

Body 2: Benefits both countries successfully implementing the use of renewable

energy and the environment.
+ Countries
+ The environment

Practice 2
Some people think that child care centers provide the best services for children of
preschool age. Other working parents think that family members such as
grandparents will be better carers for their kids. Discuss both views and give your
opinion.

Childcare centers → good care children Family members such as grandparents

BODY 2 will be better carers for their kids
BODY 1
(+) Well-qualified/ Well-trained staff with
childcare knowledge → structured
curriculum with various activities that
benefit children’s development
intellectually and physically → facilitate
comprehensive/ profound/ well-rounded
development.
OR
Well-qualified/ Well-trained staff with
childcare knowledge → provide children
with nutritious diets that are necessary
for children’s growth.
(+) Opportunities to interact with peers
→ gradually developing basic
communication skills & also become
more active and outgoing compared to
those staying at home only.
[group activities → spend time with
friends at their age → learn how to
collaborate with others at an early
stage].
(+) family members pay undivided
attention to children, while staff at
daycare have to look after a large
number of children.
→ quickly know what children need or
want
→ However, some grandparents might
face health-related issues → cannot take
care of children, especially hyper ones.
(+) biological bonds // within a family →
care with great love → willing to spend
more time and effort
→ However, some tend to be
overprotective → spoil children → result
in bad manners / behaviors of children.
→ [- effect] overly depend on family //
cry and pester things
(+) grandparents take good care of
children because they already had
hands-on experience with their own
child.
→ However, some raising practices that
are outdated or inappropriate →
physical punishments → adversely affect
children’s development
Antithesis:
● Drawback/ Limits
● Practicality
● Few/Many
● Long term/ Short term
● Solution