Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested

questions also include recognizing which ending should be on a word. For

example, you may need to recognize if a plural ending on a noun should
be singular, a singular designation on a verb should be plural, a verb end-
ing should indicate a different tense, and so on.
■ Word choice. The word choice type of question tests your understanding
of idiomatic expressions, of which prepositions to use with certain words,
of problem words that are sometimes confused, and so on.
■ Missing or extra words. The missing or extra word problems can some-
times overlap with some of the other categories, but I treat them separately
because sometimes they are easier to recognize than some of the other
question types.

Sentence Structure
To score well on sentence structure questions, you should have a strong under-
standing of basic sentence structures in standard written English and of parts of
speech. The following sections help you strengthen your knowledge of sentence
structure and provide sample questions so you can test yourself.

One of the most important subjects tested in the Structure section is the basic sen-
tence structure in English. The first rule to remember about standard written
English is this:

Every sentence must have a subject and a conjugated verb.

With this rule in mind, you may think that identifying an English sentence is easy.
However, keep in mind that a clause also has a subject and a verb, and some types
of clauses cannot be considered complete sentences. An independent clause can
stand on its own as a sentence; it doesn’t need another clause in order to be com-
plete. But a dependent clause, despite having a subject and a conjugated verb,
cannot stand on its own as a complete sentence; it contains a word that indicates it
must be combined with an independent clause in order to create a complete sen-
tence. For example, the clause because she went to the doctor contains both a sub-
ject, she, and a conjugated verb, went, but the word because indicates that it is a
dependent clause and cannot stand on its own. Clauses are discussed later in this
chapter in the “Phrases and Clauses” section.

If a sentence contains a complement or a direct object, it generally appears imme-

diately after the verb or verb phrase. If there is a modifier, it generally appears af-
ter the complement. The following table illustrates the rule of this typical sentence
structure.

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 Structure

Subject Verb Complement Modifier Modifier

of Place of Time

The pilot completed his training at Embry Riddle last year.

Aeronautical University

All students must submit their housing requests by next

week.

The boy enjoys fishing.

Sentences that follow this rule may be simple or complex. Additional words and
phrases can appear in these sentences without violating the basic rule.

Subjects
The subject performs the action in an active sentence. Every sentence and every
clause must have a subject. The subject is usually a noun or noun phrase (ex-
plained in the following section), although it may consist of something else.
Usually when a TOEFL test question asks you to identify the subject of a sen-
tence, the sentence begins with a dependent clause or phrase, and you must recog-
nize that the sentence subject is located in the independent clause.

Incorrect: Without a doubt, is very important to study throughout the term

rather than trying to cram at the end.
Correct: Without a doubt, it is very important to study throughout the term
rather than trying to cram at the end.
The first example is incorrect because it is a phrase — a string of words that is
missing either a subject or a verb. In this case, the subject is missing; the subject it
should appear before the verb is.

Incorrect: Being a very abrupt and unfriendly man, did not have many
friends.
Correct: Being a very abrupt and unfriendly man, Professor Stanley did not
have many friends.
The first example is incorrect because the subject, Professor Stanley, is missing.

Nouns and Noun Phrases

The subject of a sentence may be a single-word noun, such as teacher or dog, or it
may be a noun phrase. A noun phrase is a group of words ending with a noun (but
not beginning with a preposition). The noun phrase may contain one or more
nouns, articles, adjectives, and conjunctions.

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Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested

Following are examples of sentences that contain noun phrases as subjects.

A linguistics student studies how languages are created.

Tall buildings must provide safety mechanisms.
The greatest skiers will compete in the show.
The noun phrase A linguistics student contains an article, A, an adjective, linguis-
tics, and a noun, student. Tall is an adjective describing the noun buildings. In the
last example, an article, The, an adjective, greatest, and a noun, skiers, combine to
create the subject.

Other Types of Subjects

Although a noun phrase usually functions as the subject of a sentence, there are
other possibilities. I describe many of these later in this chapter, and I simply
mention them here to clarify that there are other possibilities.

There is a car in the road. (The subject is actually a car.)

It is important to read something every day. (It acts like a subject.)
Knowing the essay topics in advance was helpful to him. (Knowing, a gerund
form of a verb, is the subject.)
To believe in yourself is very important. (To believe, an infinitive form of a
verb, is the subject.)

Verbs and Verb Phrases

Every sentence and every clause must have a conjugated verb. By conjugated, I
mean that the verb can’t be a verb+ing alone, an infinitive alone, or a simple form
alone. If the verb is one of these forms, it must be accompanied by an auxiliary or
another verb form. The verb or verb phrase follows the subject in an active sen-
tence and describes the action. In a passive sentence, the noun that served as a
complement in the active voice sentence becomes the subject.

A verb phrase has an auxiliary in addition to the main verb. In general, the auxil-
iaries are :

■ A form of be; in an active sentence, it is followed by a verb in the present

participle: be + verb+ing
Example: The bat is flying towards the light.

■ A form of have; in an active sentence, it is followed by a verb in the past

participle: have + verb+ed.
Example: She has completed the project.

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 Structure

■ A modal (will, would, can, could, may, might, or must); in an active sen-
tence, it is followed by a verb in simple form
Example: The team must practice more.

Keep in mind that the passive sentence construction is different. A sentence isn’t
correct if any of the three verb forms above appear without the auxiliary. Verbs
are dealt with in more detail later in this chapter in the section “Form of Verb.”

Complements
A complement completes the verb. Some verbs require a direct object; some may
be followed by an object, although it’s not required; and some can’t be followed
by an object. A verb that requires a direct object is a transitive verb. A verb that
doesn’t require a direct object is an intransitive verb. Most dictionaries indicate
whether a verb is transitive or intransitive before the definition of the word by in-
cluding “tr,” “intr,” or some such abbreviation. Sometimes a dictionary will show
one definition as transitive and another as intransitive.

Determine is a transitive verb.

The group is trying to determine the best course of action.
complement

Swim is an intransitive verb.

The girl wants to swim in the pool.
no complement

The phrase in the pool is a place modifier, not a complement.

A complement may also consist of something other than a noun or noun phrase,
such as a verb in the infinitive form or in the gerund (verb+ing) form.

They will probably consider Atlanta as the location for next year’s meeting.
noun as complement
They will probably consider calling another meeting.
gerund as complement
They plan to call another meeting.
infinitive as complement

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Part III: Detailed Review of Items Tested

Modifiers
A modifier is not required in a basic standard English sentence, but if one appears,
it generally follows the complement in the sentence.

If a sentence contains both a modifier of place and a modifier of time, the

modifier of time usually appears last, unless it appears at the beginning of the
sentence, before the subject.

Donna took the test in Orlando yesterday.

modifier of place modifier of time
Yesterday, Donna took the test in Orlando.
modifier of time modifier of place
The group ate dinner at Bern’s Steakhouse last month.
modifier of place modifier of time

Normally, the modifier won’t separate a verb from the complement.

Incorrect: Marjorie cooked on the grill the chicken.

verb modifier complement
Correct: Marjorie cooked the chicken on the grill.
verb complement modifier

The modifier can also appear between two parts of a verb; that is, after the
auxiliary and before the main verb.

The boy will probably go to class today.

modifier
The boy is probably going to class today.
modifier
The boy has probably gone to class already.
modifier
The man was recently found guilty of manslaughter.
modifier

Phrases and Clauses

A phrase is a group of words that lacks a subject and verb. For example, in the
corner is a phrase. Obviously, a phrase cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Clauses are groups of words that do contain subjects and verbs. Independent
clauses can stand alone as complete sentences. Dependent clauses cannot stand
alone because they contain words that make them dependent. If you remove the
word that makes a clause dependent, the clause can stand alone as a sentence.
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