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10:41 am
March 17, 2012

Customs and habits, both 'good' and 'bad', reflect specific features of a nation’s culture. Identifying bad habits and implementing proper changes are important. Write an essay (250 words) telling us your point of view about ONE bad habit of our culture or country.
Vietnam
Besides inheriting many proud traditions from our ancestor, Vietnamese people also have a considerable number of bad habits. It is so apparent that we all have the problem with punctuality and the term “cao su” has become really familiar with us. My essay will offer my own opinion about the habit of being late of Vietnamese people.
Firstly, Vietnamese people don’t value punctuality as much as it deserves. This bad habit exists in many aspects of the society. Students are usually late for school and always demand teachers for stretching the deadline of assignments longer. People working in the office and factory never go to work on time. After that, what do people often do? They say sorry carelessly just because it is absolutely normal. Moreover, whenever making mistakes, human constantly try to find reason justifying their faults or blame it to other one and so are Vietnamese people. For instance, they fabricate that their vehicles are suddenly broken down or the traffic congestion discourages them from being punctual. On the other hand, almost Vietnamese people surely bear in mind that everyone will come late, so why they need to arrive on time and wait for another.
While it might be argued that time could be very flexible, the truth is that the habit of not being punctual has shown a lot of negative results. The most apparent one is that Vietnamese people rarely finish their work or assignments effectively. Being punctual shows common courtesy and respect to others and it helps people look professional and believable in front of their partners, especially the foreigners. However, we don’t appreciate the magnitude of punctuality and the foreigners consider being late as a common habit of Vietnamese people. How embarrassed is that!
Maybe until now a small part of Vietnamese youth has realized the importance of punctuality, but it is not enough. What we need to do now is changing ourselves, practice punctuality day by day, from small things to big things. If we can do that, we would show the foreigners that our citizens are hard-working, responsible and professional. Let make punctuality be our important habits!
5:07 pm

Hello ndq_quang and thanks for this essay. It's brave of you to tackle a topic like this!
Introduction
Good clear introduction with both positive and negative sides given and a clear background. Perhaps giving the opinion would help instead of leaving the reader in suspense until the end.
Word Choice
You wrote
- After that, what do people often do?
And what do people do in this situation? OR
How do people deal with/handle this lack of punctuality? OR
What is the common reaction to lateness?
You wrote
Moreover, whenever making mistakes, human constantly try to find reason justifying their faults or blame it to other one and so are Vietnamese people →
Moreover, after making mistakes, people constantly try to justify their actions and blame others, and so do Vietnamese people
OR …and Vietnamese people are no exception
- They say sorry carelessly just because it is absolutely normal.
They just apologize casually/ off-handedly / because to them it is absolutely normal and unimportant OR
... because to them it seems unimportant
- Fabricate → claim
- How embarrassed is that!→ Ho embarrassing is that!
- What we need to do now is changing ourselves, practice punctuality day by day, from small things to big things
- What we need to do now is change ourselves by practicing punctuality day by day, from small things to big things OR
- What we need to do now is to practice punctuality daily in small things and big things.
- On the other hand, almost Vietnamese people surely bear in mind that everyone will come late, so why they need to arrive on time and wait for another.
Here ‘on the other hand’ is not correct. It is used to mean a new opposite or contrary idea, not a related one or a further example It needs to be replaced with “In addition,” or “In any case,” or “Of course,” or “Naturally,” or “Furthermore,” or something like this:
And anyway, since everyone is going to come late, what’s the point of being on time [and having to wait for everyone else]?
I like many of the phrases and sentences in your essay. The essay is interesting and the writing shows a sense of style. Here’s a nice sentence with a magic list of three:
If we can do that, we would show the foreigners that our citizens are hard-working, responsible and professional.
One point (not an English writing point, just an idea) you might consider discussing is why bother changing just to prove something to foreigners? What motivation would Vietnamese have for changing for their own benefit?
Overall, as I said, an interesting topic well covered. I wonder if anyone else would like to pick a bad habit from their country?!
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