A.

INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN

EXPRESSION
The second part of TOEFL is aimed to test your understanding of English grammar and
usage. It is divided into two parts: structure and written expression. In standard form, there
are 15 items for structure and 25 items for written expression. The time provided to
complete this section is 25 minutes.
According to Rogers (2001), there are two possible approaches to section 2 problems:
analytical and intuitive approaches. A test- maker who uses an analytical approach usually
quickly analyzes the sentence grammatically (what is the missing element and which part of
sentence is incorrect). While the second approach, the test-maker uses more his intuition, his
feeling, what sounds right or wrong. Thus, the test-maker should be wise which approach is
suitable for him: the first, the second or even both of them.
Strategies for section 2:
1. Be familiar with the direction for both parts
2. Your time is about 30 seconds every item so manage the time well. Choose the answer
quickly after read and consider the four possible answers. But if you are not sure the
answer, consider and eliminate the impossible answers. Then, decide what the most
possible choice is (based on your intuition).
3. Do not leave any answers blank. Guessing is the last choice if you do not have any idea
at all.

B. SENTENCE
The main elements of sentence are subject and verb while object and adverb are
optional. A simple sentence consists of one clause (one subject and one verb). Subject could
be noun (e.g. house, book, people), pronoun (e.g She, they, it), gerund (e.g. reading, fishing), to
infinitive (to buy, to give), noun phrase (e.g. a person, some money) and noun clause (e.g.
what you need). Verb is formed by ordinary verb (and its inflections based on the tense, voice
etc.) and be verb.
Generally, it is not difficult to find the subject and verb in a sentence. However, certain
structures, such as appositives, object of preposition and participle, often make confusion in
determining the subject and the verb.

1. APPOSITIVES
An appositive is a noun phrase that rephrases another noun phrase. It is a noun that
comes before or after another noun and has the same meaning. Appositive gives additional
information to the subject and if it is deleted, it won’t change the meaning of the whole
sentence.
Buffalo Bill, a famous frontiersman, operated his own Wild West.

Bill is the subject of the sentence. A famous frontiersman is an appositive. Buffalo and a
famous frontiersman are the same person. Thus, if you delete a famous frontiersman, it does not
change the meaning of the sentence. It still makes sense (Buffalo Bill operated his own Wild
West).

2. OBJECT OF PREPOSITION
An object of preposition is a noun or pronoun that comes after a preposition. It can
cause confusion because it looks like a subject of a sentence, but actually it is not.
At the neighborhood flower shop, flowers in quantities of a dozen or a half dozen can be
delivered for free.

Preparation for Academic English Test 57

 The neighborhood flower shop is not the subject of the sentence although it is at the
beginning of the sentence. It is an object of preposition because it is preceded by preposition
at. An object of preposition never comes to be a subject in a sentence. Thus, the subject of the
sentence is flowers.

3. PARTICIPLE
There are two kinds of participle; present (-ing form) and past participle. They can cause
confusion because they have two functions in a sentence; as part of verb and as an adjective.
When they are parts of verb, they must be preceded by verb be (present participle in present
progressive tense) and be (past participle in passive voice) or have/has/had (for past participle in
perfect tense).
Actually participles are reduced (shortened) relative clauses. Present participles (which
always end in –ing) contain active meaning while past participles (which ends in –ed and also
many irregular forms) convey passive meaning.

The man is standing in front of the bank.

The man standing in front of the bank looks confused.

In the first sentence, standing is part of verb. It shows that the activity is done at
present (present progressive tense). In the second sentence, standing is not part of verb but it is
an adjective that modifies a noun the (man). The verb of the sentence is looks.

This dictionary is written by John.

The dictionary written by John is very popular among students.

In the first sentence, written is past participle. It is part of verb in passive voice. In the
second sentence, written is past participle that is functioned as an adjective. It modifies a noun
(dictionary). The subject of the sentence is is.

When participle is functioned as an adjective, it never appears with be or other

auxiliaries, it comes alone. However, when it is as verb, it must be preceded by be or other
auxiliaries. Whenever you find a participle in a sentence, either present or past participle,
determine whether that is an adjective or verb by examining if there is any auxiliary before
the participle or not. If the participle is not preceded by any auxiliary, it must be an adjective
not a verb. It means that the sentence needs a verb. Look at the example below!
Natural resources provide the raw materials to produce finished goods.
(A) needed
(B) are needed
(C) which need
(D) needing

Option (B) is passive verb; the sentence cannot contain two main verbs (are needed
and provide) in the same clause. Option (C) creates an adjective clause, but the verb in the
clause is active while passive verb is needed here. Therefore, adjective clause with passive
meaning (which are needed) would be a correct answer. Choice (D) is a present participle
and has an active meaning. Finally, the correct answer for the sentence is (A) needed.

All sentences consist of one clause or more clauses. Basic sentence consists of at least
one subject and one verb. There are three kinds of sentence: simple sentence, compound
sentence and complex sentence.
Preparation for Academic English Test 58
 1) A simple sentence consists of one clause.
People need vitamins.
In the summer, Judy walks to his office.

2) A compound sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by coordinating

conjunction.
The man took a vitamin pill and he drank a glass of orange juice.
Judy lives in northern California now but she was raised in Ohio

3) A complex sentence consists of an independent clause (main clause) and dependent

clause (subordinate clause). Subordinate clause may be adjective clause, noun clause
and adverbial clause.
The man took a vitamin pill because he had a cold.
Tom walks to his office, which is located on Broadway, every day during the summer.

Sentence is very important to understand by TOEFL learners because every number in

TOEFL must talk about it: its parts, its variations, its kinds, and others. Whenever you read a
sentence in TOEFL make sure that the sentence has subject and verb. Your eyes have to
quickly find the verb: what kind of verb, how many verbs in the sentence and whether it
agrees to the subject. The point is that verb has to be the first discuss in your mind, then the
subject.

EXERCISE 1: Choose the best letter of the word or group of words that best complete the
sentences. For Error recognition questions, choose the letter of the underlined word or
group of words that is not correct.

1. The art storytelling almost as old 4. The tetracyclines, antibiotics, are

as humanity. used to treat infections.
(A) that is (A)are a family of
(B) is (B) being a family
(C) it is (C) a family of
(D) being (D) their family is

2. Before the invention of printing press, 5. Any possible academic assistance from
books taking stimulants marginal at
(A) that were very rare. best.
(B) were very rarely (A)it is
(C) were very rare (B) there is
(D) as very rare. (C) is
(D) as
3. Arizona ______ a very dry climate.
(A) has
(B) being
(C) having
(D) with

Preparation for Academic English Test 59

 6. The major cause Moon on the Earth. 8. Amber is a hard, yellowish-brown
(A) the ocean tides are from the resin of pine trees that lived
(B) of ocean tides is the pull of the millions of years ago.
(C) of the tides in the ocean (A) substance formed
(B) to form a substance
(D) the oceans tides.
(C) substance has formed
7. The Wassatch Range, extends from
(D) forming a substance
southeastern Idaho into northern Utah.
(A) which is a part of the Rocky
Mountains,
(B) a part of the Rocky Mountains that
(C) is a part of the Rocky Mountains
(D )a part of the Rocky Mountains, it

9. One of the primary cause of accidents in coal mines is the accumulation of gas.
A B C D
10. Spell correctly is easy with the aid of word processing program for personal
A B C
computers.
D

EXERCISE 2: Choose the best letter of the word or group of words that best complete the
sentences. For Error recognition questions, choose the letter of the underlined word or
group of words that is not correct.
1. In the United States, is generally 5. American actress and director Margaret
the responsibility of municipal Webster for her production of
governments. Shakespearean plays.
(A) for water treatment (A) who became famous
(B) water treatment (B) famous as she became
(C) where water treatment (C) becoming famous
(D) in which water treatment (D) became famous
2. Crop rotation of preserving soil 6. gas tanks connected to welding
fertility. equipment, one full of oxygen and the other
(A) it is one method full of acetylene.
(B) one method (A) It is two
(C) a method is one (B) Of the two
(D) is one method (C) There are two
3. the dollar as its monetary unit in (D) Two
1878. 7. almost impossible to capture the
(A) Canada adopted beauty of the aurora borealis in photographs.
(B) Adopted by Canada, (A) Being
(C) It was adopted by Canada (B) It is
(D) The Canadian adoption of (C) There is
4. two major art museums, the Fogg (D) Is
and the Sadler. 8. by cosmic rays.
(A) Harvard University has (A) The earth is constantly bombarded
(B) At Harvard University (B) Bombarded constantly, the earth
(C) Harvard University, with its (C) Bombarding the earth constantly
(D) There at Harvard University (D) The earth’s constant bombardment

Preparation for Academic English Test 60

9. primary colors are red, blue, 13. Every computer consists of a number of
and yellow. systems together.
(A) There are three (A) by working
(B) The three (B) work
(C) Three of them (C) they work
(D) That the three (D) that work
10. who was elected the first woman 14. is more interested in rhythm
mayor of Chicago in 1979. than in melody is apparent from his
(A) It was Jane Byrne compositions.
(B) Jane Byrne (A) That Philip Glass
(C) That Jane Byrne (B) Philip Glass, who
(D) When Jane Byrne (C) Philip Glass
11. On the moon, air because the (D) Because Philip Glass
moon’s gravitational field is too weak to 15. In some cases, to decide if
retain an atmosphere. an organism is a plant or an animal.
(A) there is no (A) difficult if
(B) where no (B) it is difficult
(C) no (C) the difficulty
(D) is no (D) is difficult
12. The Glass Mountains of northwestern
Oklahoma with flecks of gypsum,
which shine in the sunlight.
(A) they are covered
(B) covered them
(C) that are covered
(D) are covered

C. COMPOUND SENTENCE
A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb. However, many sentences
in English have more than one clause. Whenever you find a sentence on the TOEFL test with
more than one clause, you need to check that the various clauses in the sentence are correctly
joined. The connectors of compound sentence are (1) coordinate conjunctions (2) Correlative or
paired conjunctions. So, compound sentence is sentence containing more than one clause that
is combined by those connectors or conjunctions .

1. COORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS
One way to connect two clauses is to use conjunction. One use of a conjunction is to
connect words or phrases that have the same grammatical function in a sentence. The
conjunctions used in this pattern are and, but, or, nor, so, or yet.
Tom is singing and Paul is dancing.
Tom is tall but Paul is short.
Tom must write the letter or Paul will do it.
Tom told a joke so Paul laughed.
He's never taken a class in sociology, nor does he intend to.
Tom is tired yet he is not going to sleep.
In each of these examples, there are two clauses that are correctly joined with a
coordinate conjunction and, but, or, so, or, nor and yet. Besides, the two clauses that are joined
have the same grammatical function.

Preparation for Academic English Test 61