TOEFL® essay: There are times when lying is acceptable

[Pilot013]

Hi dear friends!

I'll be very happy if you could evaluate my new essay on this topic. Tomorrow is my TOEFL iBT, so it will be important for me to know your opinion.

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Actually why do we lie? What are the reasons for this act? I guess there are several types of lying. One kind of lying is intended to hide, to present things from a different angle some things or events. Furthermore, there also exists another type – a positive one, which doesn’t tell the truth in order to do something positive and good to people.
I share the same opinion like the one from the topic that lying sometimes is not a problem. For instance, when I was little kid in 1st or 2nd grade, my mother lied me that she has been always a perfect student. After several years I realized that she also had bad marks, but she was telling me this to motivate me to study more at school. So this was a positive lie at all.
Another very common practice is when a patient is very ill and it seems he will die, usually doctors don’t tell the truth about his illness. In this way they are making the patient feel calm and not worried. Will you be able to live when you know that you are going to die within several months or even weeks? – It’s terrible. So this is why the lie is acceptable in this case.
Next, I can think of another very positive lie. It’s especially related with small children who believe that Santa Claus exist in real life. Of course everybody knows that this is a fictional image of man with a white beard who each year gives many presents to children around the World. Unfortunately, kids understand that this is not true from their classmates or friends bigger than them. Usually parents tell to their children that on New Year, Santa Claus will bring many presents to them. In the same direction, this lie is absolutely acceptable and also makes kids happy.
In conclusion I’d like to express my opinion that lying is not always connected with negative sense. However, there is sometimes a positive side of that act. In many cases lying makes people happier and is absolutely justified. So I suggest that everybody thinks carefully what to say.

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