SKILL 1: BE SURE THE SENTENCE HAS A SUBJECT AND A
VERB
You know that a
sentence in English should have a subject and a verb. The most common types of
problems that you will encounter in the Structure section of the TOEFL test
have to do with subjects and verbs: perhaps the sentence is missing either the
subject or the verb or both, or perhaps the sentence has an extra subject or
verb.
Example I
____ was backed up for miles on the
freeway.
(A) Yesterday
(B) In the morning
(C) Traffic
(D) Cars
In this example
you should notice immediately that there is a verb (was), but there is
no subject. Answer (C) is the best answer because it is a singular subject that
agrees with the singular verb was. Answer (A), yesterday, and
answer (B), in the morning, are not subjects, so they are not correct.
Although answer (D), cars, could be a subject, it is not correct because
cars is plural and it does not agree with the singular verb was.
Example II
Engineers____ for work on the new space
program.
(A) necessary
(B) are needed
(C) hopefully
(D) next month
In this example
you should notice immediately that the sentence has a subject (engineers),
and that there is no verb. Because answer (B), are needed, is a verb, it
is the best answer. Answers (A), (C), and (D) are not verbs, so they are not
correct.
Example III
The boy _____ going
to the movies with a friend.
(A) he is
(B) he always was
(C) is relaxing
(D) will be
This sentence
has a subject (boy) and has part of a verb (going); to be
correct, some form of the verb be is needed to make the sentence
complete. Answers (A) and (B) are incorrect because the sentence already has a
subject (boy) and does not need the extra subject he. Answer (C)
is incorrect because relaxing is an extra verb part that is unnecessary
be-cause of going. Answer (D) is the best answer; will be together
with going is a complete verb.
The
following chart oudines what you should remember about subjects and verbs:
SUBJECT
AND VERBS
A
sentence in English must have at least one subject and one verb.
EXERCISE 1: Underline the subjects once and the verbs twice
in each of the following sentences. Then indicate if the sentences are correct
(C) or incorrect (I).
___ __1.
Last week went fishing for trout at the nearby mountain lake.
__ _ 2. A schedule of
the day’s events can be obtained at the front desk.
_____ 3. A job on the day shift or
the night shift at the plant available.
_____ 4. The new computer program
has provides a variety of helpful applications.
_____ 5. The box can be opened only
with a special screwdriver.
_____ 6. The assigned text
for history class it contains more than twenty chapters.
_____ 7. The papers in the
wastebasket should be emptied into the trash can outside.
_____ 8. Departure before
dawn on a boat in the middle of the harbor.
_____ 9. Yesterday found an
interesting article on pollution.
_____ 10. The new machine is
processes 50 percent more than the previous machine.
Answer Key
_I___ 1. Last week went fishing for trout at the nearby mountain lake.
__C__ 2. A schedule of the day’s events can
be obtained at the
front desk.
__I___ 3. A job on the day shift or the night shift at the plant
available.
__I___ 4. The new computer program has
provides a variety of helpful
applications.
__C___ 5. The box can be opened only with a special screwdriver.
__I___ 6. The assigned text for history class it contains more than twenty chapters.
__C___ 7. The papers in the wastebasket should
be emptied into the
trash can outside.
___I__ 8. Departure before dawn on a boat in the middle of the harbor.
___I__ 9. Yesterday found an
interesting article on pollution.
___I__ 10. The new machine is processes 50 percent more than the previous machine.
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