Warren Said:

When writing an essay, how many paragraphs do I need to have?

We Answered:

for an intermeddiate level it would be at least 5 paragraphs. Intro, reason 1, reason 2, reason 3 and conclusion.

for advanced level i think 10 paragraphs just means your teacher thinks highly of you. in truth it would be like 8 paragraphs. -i never actually consider intro and conclusion paragraphs-

Glenn Said:

Below is my ESL writing essay. Could anyone give me some advises? Thank you.?

We Answered:

I have rewritten this passage for you in good English.

To be educated, it does not matter whether a person knows how to read and write or not. He is not uneducated if he understands his responsibilities. People always take this kind of person for granted. I recall the story about Dr. Benjamin Carson who grew up in a poor family. His mother had very little formal education but she knew how to be responsible and taught her children using her own rules. She taught her children to take nothing for granted. You must work for what you want. Even though she did not have much schooling, she was a successful mother, and also helped her son to become a doctor. (There Is no job more important than parenting.) We need to be brave to apologize and correct our mistakes. In addition, we must be able to accept people's comments, overcome our disappointment and see the correction of our mistakes as a challenge.

An educated person may not necessarily have a high level of formal education. Nevertheless, he can educate himself through his work and his social life. In the past not every family could afford to send their children to school, but, despite this, many people behaved in an educated manner. In this century, formal education is vital; nevertheless it is not the only way to be educated. According to the article, 'Is Formal Education Needed to Become Successful?', many people know what they want to be and know what they need to do. They work hard at school in order to achieve their dreams. It is good to have this realisation at the beginning of their lives. On the other hand, attending college is not the only way to be successful. There are many other pathways and choices. Trade professionals can learn through practical training, professional soldiers do not need a degree, small business owners often have no formal education, but are very successful, and even some lawyers never set foot into law school. Therefore a person who is polite, merciful and responsible is definitely an educated person.

Alfredo Said:

This is my essay for my ESL writing class. Can anyone give me any advice? Thank you very much.?

We Answered:

I would go over your grammar rules, and would also take a look at proper punctuation.

This sentence is particularly bad:
"Buying online provides us much simpler to find anything what we need and is easy to compare with other similar products."

You could, however, say...

"Buying online provides us with a much simpler way to find things that we are looking for. It also allows us to find the best possible deals, through the comparisons of the prices of similar products."

Kyle Said:

I need help writing my essay for an ESL class! please help!?

We Answered:

Learning to teach English as a second language can mean opening doors to exciting new paths.
1. In different languages the same idea is often expressed in different ways. Knowing another language gives you a great measuring stick. It will help you better understand tenses, prepositions, and all the other parts of speech we normally take for granted. You will find yourself speaking and writing more precise creative sentences. There is a reason most great writers and poets are students of many languages.
2. when going abroad, knowing even a few phrases of the language will make a huge difference. You will meet many more people and find it much easier to get around. People are much more receptive if you make an effort to speak their language.
3. Language is what makes us human. It is the medium we use to share our thoughts with the world. Could you imagine thought without language? Great language also has a wonderful musical quality. Learning a new language is like learning a new way to think and a new way to sing. One often struck by new phrases that are profoundly meaningful and melodic. At those moments one feels grateful to be alive.
4. English is around us everywhere. The truth is, new thoughts and ideas are happening everywhere and people mostly used to describe them in english. The world is getting smaller and we are coming into contact with more English speakers all the time. Gain an advantage for yourself in business and personal relationships by being able to communicate with people in their language. This will set you apart and gain you immediate respect and credibility.
....... etc etc
Also, this link contains an essay about second language learning in Mauritius, it may help you:
http://anyessays.wordpress.com/2010/11/2…

Lillian Said:

Hello. I'm an ESL student and I'm writing an essay aboute the Empress of Iran. I've written the introdutory

We Answered:

Problem #1
A relative pronoun, such as "which," needs to refer to something that came before. Example: I like your essay, which is very interesting. <= "which" refers to "your essay"

So you need to preface your relative clause with a main clause, or eliminate the relative pronoun entirely. You could write, for instance:
- I want to write about an event which completely changed the life [...]
- This event caused her to write a book [...]

Problem #2
The word "Shah" requires the definite article: "the Shah." The first time you refer to him, you should specify, "the Shah of Iran."

The rest of your introductory paragraph is quite good. After you make the corrections, it could go something like this:
"I want to write about an event which completely changed the life of a wonderful young girl, Farah Diba, who became the Empress of Iran in her 20's. This event caused her to write a book about three different periods of her life: Farah before she met the Shah of Iran, Farah and the Shah together, Farah after the Shah's death."

Good luck with the rest of your essay.

NOTE TO HAPPYGIRL:
I don't agree about adding a comma after "wonderful." To me, the words "young girl" form a syntactic unit qualified by a single adjective, "wonderful."

Leona Said:

Essay correction/editing for ESL students?

We Answered:

I don't think you will find anyone. I'm an ESL teacher in the US, and when I used to do tutoring, my students paid me $25/hr (I have my Master's in TESOL).

Are you in the US right now? Most colleges have a tutoring center where you can get tutoring for free. The one I attended had a writing center where you could bring in papers and have a trained native-English-speaking student edit them.

If you're not in the US, maybe you could find someone who wants to learn your language and do a language exchange with them - you tutor them, and they would check your papers. You might also be able to do that in the US. Maybe you could hang up some fliers on campus.

Your English actually looks pretty good. One mistake you made though - it should be "the US" instead of just "US",,, that's something my students do all the time!

Good luck.