TOEFL STUDY GUIDE PART 3 STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION Structure & Written Expression Structure questions: test the ability to identify the correct structure needed to complete a given sentence. The examinee reads incomplete sentences. From the four responses provided for each incomplete sentence, the examinees must choose the word or phrase that best completes the given sentence. Only one of the choices fits correctly into the particular sentence. Written Expression questions: test the ability to recognize correct grammar and to detect errors in standard written English. Here the examinee reads sentences in which some words or phrases are underlined. The examinee must identify the one underlined word or phrase in each sentence that would not be accepted in standard written English. Test Design Features Tips 35 - 37 Tip 35 Structure (page 84) Sentence Completion - 15 questions Error Identification - 25 questions Time: 25 minutes Tip 36 Sentence Completion For Sentence Completion you will be given a sentence that contains a blank and asked to choose from the four choices the best possible answer. Use the two-pass system to answer the Sentence Completion questions. m First pass: answer all the questions that you see the anwer right away. m Second pass: go back and try to answer the harder questions. GUESS if you still don't know. Tip 37 Using POE to determine the correct answer POE - Process of Elimination can increase your chances of answering correctly. If you know an answer is wrong, you can eliminate that choice and increase your chance of answering correctly. Structure and Written Expression: Grammar Tips 38 - 48 Structure: Grammar Tip 38 Nouns: a person, place, thing, or idea Structure: Grammar Tip 39 Pronouns: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. n Examples: he, she, his, it, her. Structure: Grammar Tip 40 Verbs:/ A verb is an action word. n Example: kicked, thought, are, felt. Structure: Grammar Tip 41 Modifiers: used to describe another word n Adjectives: describe nouns n Adverbs: describe adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs (many adverbs end in -ly) Structure: Grammar Tip 42 Subject: The subject of a sentence is either a noun or a pronoun. It tells you who or what is performing the action. Structure: Grammar Tip 43 Articles: a, an and the are all articles. Articles are used before nouns; "a" and "an" are used as nonspecific modifiers and "the" is used as a specific modifier. For example: "I put the book on a table." "the book" shows that it was a specific book; "on a table" shows that it was not a specific table. If I said, "I put a book on the table", I mean that I put "a nonspecific book or any book" on "the table" which means that it was a specific table, one that I could point to or a specific table that I was referring to. "An" is used the same as "a" except that it is used before nouns and adjectives starting with a vowel, such as "an orange" or "an eye" or "an apple" or "an intense storm". "An" is not used before the letter "Y"; you would use "a", such as "a yellow towel" or "a young man" or "a yapping dog". "A" and "an" are used to modify single nouns or adjectives modifying single nouns. "The" can be used for both single and plural modifiers; for example, "I put the books on the table" or "I put the book on the table." Structure: Grammar Tip 44 Prepositions: into, from, without, etc. Note: the most common type of phrase on the TOEFL is the prepositional phrase. n Examples: "I went into the house"; "She read from the cookbook". Structure: Grammar Tip 45 Conjunctions: Conjunctions link words or word groups in a sentence. Examples: and, or, but, etc. n "I bought oranges, apples, and bananas." n "We could go to the beach or to the park." n "He would have gone to the movies but he was sick." Structure : Grammar TIP 46 Sentences: Sentences must have both a subject and a conjugated verb. It expresses a complete thought. For example, "He went to the store". "He" is the subject, "went" is the verb, and "to the store" is the adverb clause telling where he went. "Go!" is a complete sentence because it has a verb, "go" and "you" is the implied subject. Command sentences such as this don't often have a stated subject but it is understood that "you" is the subject. Structure : Grammar TIP 47 Flexible Verbs: Some words may look like verbs but do not act like verbs. n Participate: this form of verb often ends in -ing or -ed and acts as an adjective. For example, "The talking doll was very pretty." or "That baked pie smells delicious." n Gerund: this form of verb ends in -ing and acts as a noun. For example, "Listening to him was very educational." n Infinitive: the basic form of a verb but is not the main verb and can act as a noun, an adverb, or an adjective. For example, n as a noun: "To speak in front of an audience is very frightening to many people." n as an adverb: "I plan to arrive at nine o'clock." n as an adjective: "The work to be done was for the seminar." Structure : Grammar TIP 48 Advanced Grammar n Phrases: A phrase is a group of words that act as a part of speech. It does not express a complete thought like a sentence. n Adverb phrase, "I went to the store." n adjective phrase, "The girl with blond hair sits beside me." n noun phrase, "To go on the trip was exciting." n prepositional phrase, "The book was written by the author" n Clauses: independent or dependant clauses n an independent clause can stand on its own. For example, "I was afraid". n a dependant clause cannot stand on its own. For example, "to go to school." . TOEFL STUDY GUIDE PART 3 STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION Structure & Written Expression Structure questions: test the. that choice and increase your chance of answering correctly. Structure and Written Expression: Grammar Tips 38 - 48 Structure: Grammar Tip 38 Nouns: a