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๐ TOEFL ACADEMIC PHRASE BANK — 320 PHRASES
๐ข LEVEL 1 — ELEMENTARY
Lesson 1 — Main Idea & Introduction
1. The main idea of this text is…
2. This passage is about…
3. The author writes about…
4. The topic of this lesson is…
5. This text explains that…
6. We learn from this reading that…
7. The most important point is…
8. This reading describes…
9. The title suggests that…
10. In the beginning, we see that…
Lesson 2 — Facts & Details
1. According to the text…
2. The passage states that…
3. We can see that…
4. The writer says that…
5. One important fact is…
6. The text shows that…
7. It is written that…
8. The paragraph tells us that…
9. We are told that…
10. As mentioned in the text…
Lesson 3 — Reasons & Causes
1. This happens because…
2. One reason is that…
3. For this reason…
4. That is why…
5. This causes…
6. Because of this…
7. The main reason for this is…
8. Therefore…
9. So that…
10. Due to this…
Lesson 4 — Examples
1. For example…
2. For instance…
3. Such as…
4. A clear example is…
5. To show this…
6. We can see this when…
7. One example of this is…
8. Take… as an example…
9. This can be seen in…
10. Illustrated by…
Lesson 5 — Order & Sequence
1. First…
2. Second…
3. Then…
4. Next…
5. After that…
6. Before this…
7. Finally…
8. In the beginning…
9. At the end…
10. The first step is…
Lesson 6 — Time & Relationship
1. When this happens…
2. While…
3. As soon as…
4. During this time…
5. Before…
6. After…
7. Since that time…
8. Later…
9. Meanwhile…
10. At the same time…
Lesson 7 — Opinion & Belief
1. I believe that…
2. I think that…
3. In my opinion…
4. I agree that…
5. I disagree that…
6. The author thinks that…
7. It seems that…
8. Many people believe that…
9. From my point of view…
10. I feel that…
Lesson 8 — Conclusion & Summary
1. In conclusion…
2. In short…
3. To summarize…
4. As we can see…
5. Finally…
6. Therefore…
7. In summary…
8. The result is…
9. This means that…
10. All in all…
๐ก LEVEL 2 — PRE-INTERMEDIATE
Lesson 1 — Adding Information
1. In addition…
2. Furthermore…
3. Moreover…
4. Also…
5. Another point is…
6. Not only that…
7. What is more…
8. Along with this…
9. Besides this…
10. Similarly…
Lesson 2 — Contrast & Difference
1. However…
2. On the other hand…
3. But…
4. Yet…
5. In contrast…
6. Unlike this…
7. While it is true that…
8. Although…
9. Even though…
10. Despite this…
Lesson 3 — Cause & Result
1. Therefore…
2. As a result…
3. Consequently…
4. Thus…
5. For this reason…
6. This leads to…
7. This causes…
8. That is why…
9. Hence…
10. Because of this…
Lesson 4 — Comparison & Similarity
1. Both… and…
2. Similarly…
3. In the same way…
4. Just like…
5. Compared to…
6. Likewise…
7. There are similarities between…
8. In comparison…
9. Equally important…
10. The same applies to…
Lesson 5 — Emphasis & Importance
1. It is important to note that…
2. Especially…
3. Above all…
4. Most importantly…
5. Clearly…
6. Obviously…
7. In fact…
8. Truly…
9. Without a doubt…
10. The key point is…
Lesson 6 — Purpose & Intention
1. In order to…
2. So that…
3. The purpose of this is…
4. To achieve this…
5. For the purpose of…
6. With this goal in mind…
7. This is done to…
8. So as to…
9. The aim is…
10. In an effort to…
Lesson 7 — Certainty & Possibility
1. It is possible that…
2. Perhaps…
3. Probably…
4. Certainly…
5. Undoubtedly…
6. It seems likely that…
7. There is a possibility that…
8. Most likely…
9. Surely…
10. It is clear that…
Lesson 8 — Generalization & Summary
1. Generally speaking…
2. On the whole…
3. In general…
4. All things considered…
5. As a rule…
6. For the most part…
7. Overall…
8. In most cases…
9. Broadly speaking…
10. Taken together…
๐ LEVEL 3 — INTERMEDIATE
Lesson 1 — Analysis & Interpretation
1. This indicates that…
2. This suggests that…
3. This implies that…
4. We can infer from this that…
5. The data shows that…
6. This demonstrates that…
7. This reveals that…
8. From this we understand that…
9. This supports the idea that…
10. This provides evidence that…
Lesson 2 — Relationship & Connection
1. This is related to…
2. This depends on…
3. There is a connection between…
4. This is associated with…
5. This corresponds to…
6. This influences…
7. This affects…
8. This plays a role in…
9. This contributes to…
10. This leads to…
Lesson 3 — Clarification
1. In other words…
2. That is to say…
3. To put it simply…
4. More specifically…
5. Namely…
6. What this means is…
7. Put another way…
8. In clearer terms…
9. To explain further…
10. Stated differently…
Lesson 4 — Condition & Hypothesis
1. If this is true, then…
2. Under these conditions…
3. Provided that…
4. In the event that…
5. Assuming that…
6. Suppose that…
7. In this case…
8. If we consider…
9. Should this happen…
10. Given this situation…
Lesson 5 — Degree & Extent
1. To a large extent…
2. For the most part…
3. In many respects…
4. Significantly…
5. Substantially…
6. To some degree…
7. Partially…
8. Primarily…
9. Mostly…
10. In a broad sense…
Lesson 6 — Reference & Example
1. With respect to…
2. In terms of…
3. Regarding…
4. Concerning…
5. As for…
6. In reference to…
7. In the case of…
8. Specifically…
9. Particularly…
10. For this purpose…
Lesson 7 — Perspective & Viewpoint
1. From this perspective…
2. From the point of view of…
3. According to this view…
4. As seen from…
5. In the opinion of…
6. From the standpoint of…
7. This viewpoint suggests that…
8. Based on this approach…
9. In light of this…
10. Considering this…
Lesson 8 — Synthesis & Conclusion
1. Taking all this into account…
2. When we consider all factors…
3. All things considered…
4. In the final analysis…
5. Ultimately…
6. Consequently…
7. Thus we may conclude that…
8. As has been shown…
9. Therefore it can be said that…
10. In summary then…
๐ด LEVEL 4 — TOEFL TEST PHRASES
Lesson 1 — Reading: Main Idea & Purpose
1. The main purpose of the passage is…
2. What is the author’s main point?
3. The primary purpose of the paragraph is…
4. Why does the author mention…?
5. The passage is primarily concerned with…
6. Which statement best describes the passage?
7. The author’s attitude toward the topic is…
8. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?
9. The paragraph supports which of the following?
10. The author organizes the passage by…
Lesson 2 — Reading: Details & Reference
1. According to the passage…
2. Which of the following is true?
3. All of the following are true EXCEPT…
4. The word “X” refers to…
5. The phrase “X” is closest in meaning to…
6. According to the author…
7. It is stated in the passage that…
8. Which is NOT mentioned as…?
9. The author indicates that…
10. Based on the information in the text…
Lesson 3 — Listening: Main Topic
1. What is the conversation mainly about?
2. Why does the student visit the professor?
3. What is the main topic of the lecture?
4. Where does this conversation take place?
5. What is the purpose of the talk?
6. What problem does the student have?
7. How does the professor help the student?
8. What is the speaker’s attitude toward…?
9. What will the student probably do next?
10. Why does the speaker say this?
Lesson 4 — Listening: Details & Relationships
1. According to the professor…
2. What are the two reasons mentioned?
3. Why does the professor mention…?
4. What does the speaker imply about…?
5. How is the lecture organized?
6. What is the relationship between…?
7. Which point is NOT discussed?
8. What does the professor suggest?
9. The professor emphasizes that…
10. What can be inferred from the response?
Lesson 5 — Speaking: Independent Tasks
1. I strongly believe that…
2. There are two main reasons for this.
3. First of all,…
4. For instance,…
5. Furthermore,…
6. A good example is…
7. That is why I think…
8. In conclusion,…
9. Personally, I prefer…
10. For these reasons,…
Lesson 6 — Speaking: Integrated Tasks
1. The reading states that…
2. However, the speaker argues that…
3. The professor’s lecture contradicts the reading.
4. According to the professor,…
5. This is because…
6. The reading claims… but the lecture says…
7. In support of this,…
8. On the contrary,…
9. This is how the two passages relate.
10. In short, the lecture challenges the reading.
Lesson 7 — Writing: Integrated Summary
1. The reading passage explains that…
2. However, the lecture challenges this by stating…
3. First, the reading claims that… In contrast, the professor says…
4. Second, the author states that… On the other hand, the speaker argues…
5. Finally, the reading suggests that… The professor contradicts this because…
6. This casts doubt on what the reading says.
7. The lecture provides several examples to show…
8. Consequently, the reading and lecture present opposing views.
9. In summary, the lecture disagrees with the reading on all three points.
10. This is how the professor challenges the reading.
Lesson 8 — Writing: Opinion Essay
1. I agree that… for several reasons.
2. The most important reason is…
3. For example,…
4. Furthermore,…
5. A second reason is that…
6. Specifically,…
7. In addition,…
8. Finally,…
9. In conclusion,…
10. Therefore, I believe that…
✅ TOTAL: 320 PHRASES — 4 LEVELS × 8 LESSONS × 10 PHRASES
๐ TOEFL QUESTION TYPES — READING & LISTENING
๐ READING QUESTION PATTERNS
(Learn the pattern — you will see these exact shapes in the real test)
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
2. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
3. All of the following are true EXCEPT:
4. The word "____" in line ___ is closest in meaning to:
5. The word "it / they / this" refers to:
6. Why does the author mention "____"?
7. What can be inferred from paragraph ___?
8. Which sentence best expresses the essential information?
9. Where would the following sentence best fit?
10. Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?
๐ง LISTENING QUESTION PATTERNS
(Learn the pattern — you will hear these exact shapes in the real test)
1. What is the conversation mainly about?
2. Why does the student visit the professor?
3. What is the student's problem?
4. What solution does the professor suggest?
5. What is the main topic of the lecture?
6. Why does the speaker mention "____"?
7. What is the speaker's attitude toward the topic?
8. What will the student probably do next?
9. Which TWO things are mentioned? (Choose 2 answers)
10. What can be inferred from the professor's response?
☕ SAMPLE ACADEMIC PASSAGE & PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Coffee
Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. It comes from a small plant that grows in warm countries. People discovered coffee in Africa more than one thousand years ago. Today, Brazil produces more coffee than any other country. Coffee contains caffeine, which helps people stay awake. However, drinking too much coffee can be harmful to your health.
Practice Questions
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
A) The history of Brazil
B) Facts about coffee
C) How to grow coffee plants
D) Why coffee is harmful
2. According to the text, where was coffee first discovered?
A) In Brazil
B) In Asia
C) In Africa
D) In Europe
3. All are true EXCEPT:
A) Coffee grows in warm places
B) Caffeine helps people stay awake
C) Brazil produces most coffee
D) Coffee was discovered 100 years ago
4. The word "harmful" is closest in meaning to:
A) Bad
B) Useful
C) Important
D) Healthy
5. The word "It" in line 1 refers to:
A) The world
B) The drink
C) The plant
D) The country
✅ ANSWERS: 1B • 2C • 3D • 4A • 5B
๐ค VOCABULARY GUIDE — LEVEL BY LEVEL
๐ข LEVEL 1 — 800–1,000 Words
Daily life, family, home, numbers, time, food, weather, places, basic verbs, common adjectives
๐ก LEVEL 2 — 1,500–2,500 Words
Education, technology, health, environment, travel, work, communication, feelings, reasons, opinions
๐ LEVEL 3 — 3,000–4,000 Words
Society, culture, science, history, economy, politics, environment, psychology, academic terms
๐ด LEVEL 4 — TOEFL Vocabulary
Academic reading words, lecture terms, essay vocabulary — following official TOEFL word lists
