TOEFL Structure and Written Expression

By Nargis
TOEFL is Test of English as a Foreign
Language. TOEFL Test is used to know
someones ability in English. Many
universities and companies use TOEFL
scores to fulfill the foreign language
requirement for candidates whose
first language is not English.
 Subject Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement
The verb must agree with the subject
in number and person. That means, a
singular subject should be followed
by a singular verb. Similarly, a plural
subject should be followed by a plural
verb.
 Subject separated from the verb

When taking the TOEFL, you must always

check the subject and verb to be sure they are
agree. However, sometimes it is difficult to
decide exactly what the subject is if the
subject and verb are separated
Example:
The boys in the room are studying
Plural Plural
 Subject + (prepositional phrase) + verb

Very often, if the subject and verb are separated, they will
be separated by a prepositional phrase. The prepositional
phrase has no effect on the verb.
Subject + (prepositional phrase) + verb
The study of languages is very interesting.
Singular subject singular verb
The view of these disciplines varies from time to time
Singular subject singular verb
The fear of rape and robbery has caused many people to
free the cities.
Singular subject singular verb
Together with ; Along with; Accompanied
by ; As well as

Those expression has no effect on the verb

The actress, along with her manager and
singular verb
some friends, is going to a party tonight
Note : if the conjunction and is used instead of one of
these phrases, the verb would then be plural.
Example:
The actress and her manager are going to a party tonight.
Plural
subject plural

 Exercise
1. The cost of all essential articles (has /have)
risen.
2. John, along with twenty friends, (is/are) planning
a party.
3. The picture of soldiers (bring/brings) back many
memories.
4. The quality of these recordings (is/are) not very
good.
5. If the duties of these officer (isnt/arent) reduce,
there will not be enough time to finish the
project
 Exercise
Each of the following sentences contains one of the
words that are grammatically singular but have plural
meanings. Underline these words once and
underline
the verbs twice. Then indicate if the sentences are
correct (C) or incorrect (I).
__ 1. It is impossible to believe that somebody
actually admire that man.
__ 2. Each of the doctors in the building needs to
have a separate reception area.
 Exercise
3. The president felt that no one were better suited
for the position of chief staff advisor.
4. Everybody participating in the fund-raiser are to
turn in the tickets by 8:00.
5. Because of the low number of orders, nothing has
to be done now.
6. Every time someone take unnecessary breaks,
precious moments of production time
are lost.
 Exercise
Among bees a highly elaborate
form of communication.
(A) occur (B) occurs (C) it occurs
(D) they occur
heated by solar energy have
special collectors on the roofs to trap
sunlight.
(A) A home is (B) Homes are
(C) A home (D) Homes
 Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
The following words must be
followed by singular verbs and Someone
pronouns in formal written English.
Any + singular noun No one

Some + singular noun

No + singular noun
Everyone
Every + singular noun Anything
Anybody
Somebody something
Nobody
Everybody nothing
Each
Anyone
everything
Someone
No one
Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
Either * None/no: none can take
either a singular or
Neither * plural verb depending
*either and on the noun which
follows it.
neither are
singular if they are
not used with or
and nor.
 Words that always take singular verbs and
pronoun
Exercise : 5. Bandung is one of those
1. Neither Maria nor her friends( is/
are) going to class today.
cities that (is/are )
working hard to reclaim
2. John or George (is/are) bringing a flower city.
the car
6. Either the Committee
3. Neither Alecia nor Carmen on Course Design or the
(has/have) seen this movie Committee on College
before. Operations
4. Each of the suspected men (was/were )
arrested
(decide/decides) these
matters.
7. Anybody who ( 10. Mr. Jon, accompanied by
has/have) lost his ticket A
should report to the Several members of
desk. B
8. No problem (is/are) the committee, have
harder to solve than C
this one proposed some changes of
9. Nobody (work/works) D
harder than John does. the rules.
 Noun and Pronoun
Pronouns are words such as he, she, or it that
take the place of nouns. One common problem
with pronouns on the TOEFL test is that subject
and object pronouns, adjective pronoun,
possessive pronoun are confused, so you should
be able to recognize these types of pronouns
A subject pronoun is used as the subject of a verb.
An object pronoun can be used as the object of a
verb or the object of a preposition. Compare the
following sentences.
 Possessive Pronoun
Possessive adjective and possessive pronouns
tell about what someone own.. Possessive
adjective describe nouns and must be followed
by noun meanwhile possessive pronouns take
place as a noun and it can be accompanied by a
noun.
My friends and your friends are coming to mine
party.
You dont have your gloves with you but I have
mine.
 Noun and Pronoun
Me and my friend are taking a
trip.
Our neighbors are going with
you and I.
You should do it for her.
They live with our children.
 Noun and Pronoun
She lent it to you and I. (I)

Analysis:
Subject pronoun "She" is correct.
Object pronoun "I" is incorrect. It should
be "me" as object pronoun.
 Noun and Pronoun
She cut hers hair recently.
Analysis:
Hers should be her.
2. We will take our car or theirs.
3. Please lend me yours notes from the
history lecture.
4. I like his ideas and hers.
 Noun and Pronoun
5. The tree fell on its side during the storm.

6. My desk is located near hers.

7. Theirs suggestion was unrealistic.

8. Our appointment is just after your.