Pre-TOEFL writing, why automobiles/bicycles/airplanes have changed people’s lives?

Writing Topic

Choose one of the following transportation vehicles and explain why you think it has changed people’s lives: automobiles/bicycles/airplanes. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

☆Let’s Think

How can we prove something has changed people’s lives? One way would be to show how our lives are different before and after the change. For example, before the popularization of the jet-plane, not many people used to go overseas and doing it was expensive, but, in these days, people use the plane not only for business but also for fun, expanding and diversifying their activities.

☆Hints for Points

Automobiles

1.    have helped development by increasing mobility of goods and people.  Cars have taken places of horses.

2.    have enabled people to travel around the country. Many people never left their hometown till they die.

3.    have made our future insecure by causing global warming.

Bicycles

1.    have increased mobility of people, especially those who did not have cars or horses.  increased freedom for many people, especially females

2.    have become a new sport or means of exercise.  

3.    currently are appreciated as an environmentally-friendly means of transportation.

Airplanes

1.    have accelerated globalization, making international mobility of materials and people faster. 

e.g.  international mail and packages reaching their destinations much faster than before

2.    have allowed many people to enjoy international tours.  

3.    have increased the proliferation (spread) of organisms around the globe  e.g. extinction, pandemic

☆Sample Essay Structures

【Introduction = Outline】Cars have expanded the sphere of our activity and changed the outlook of society.

【change 1】Automobiles have made our travel freer.  e.g. more flexible than trains or horses

【change 2】Economic activities have become more robust than before, revolutionized the industry, and changed urban landscapes.  e.g. easier shipping, faster transport, development of cities

【change 3】Cars have had a strong impact on our lives and the environment.  e.g. obsession with efficiency, less green due to the increase of roads, noise, accidents, air pollution, climate change

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Automobiles seem to have helped make us anomalous as a species.

Note: 「～に影響を与える」have an effect/influence/impact on (give effect to) ～, affect/influence ～

♦Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】