Tài liệu Grammar for TOEFL test ppt

A subordinate clause, which is dependent on the main clause for its meaning, may function in a sentence as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun.. iii A noun clause begins with the word tha

Objective 2: Check verb, agreement, tense, and form Verbs: Key Concept

Verbs are the most complex part of speech in English They can take many different forms and function in many different ways Verbs indicate the person and number of the subject and the tense and voice (active and passive) of the action Every sentence has at least one clause and every clause has at least one verb Understanding verbs, therefore, is crucial to success on the TOEFL®

Rules for subject-Verb agreement: Singular subjects

1 When the following words are used as Subjects, they are always singular Some of the words are Plural meaning, but they always require singular verbs

Everyone is here

S V

Neither of these book is very new

2 When each or every comes before singular subjects joined by and, a

singular verb is required.

Every man and woman is eligible to vote

S S V

Each student and teacher has a locker

S S V

3 Introductory it is singular and always followed by a singuler verb

It was the dogs which awakened me

S V

It is his grades that worry him

4 Words that come between a subject and its verb do not change the number of the subject Prepositional pharse often have this position

The man

S

Everyone

except him has a book

S V

The teacher along with her student is viewing a film

S V

One of the most enjoyable parties was given by Helen

S V

5 There, here, and where are never subjects (except in a sentence like this

one) When a sentence begins with one of these words, the subject comes after the verb

There are no dogs in this neighborhood

V S

Here are the result of the experiments

V S

Rules for subject-verb agreement: Plural subjects

1 Subjects joined by and or both… and… take a plural verb.

A red Honda and a blue Ford are packed outside

S S V

together with

his ten children is leaving soon

V

in addition to along with

as well as

Both tigers and elephants are becoming extinct.

S S V

2 Some nouns are always plural in form and always take plural verbs

Clothes: trousers, pants, jeans, sunglasses

Tools: scissors, pliers, tweezers

Abstract: riches, thanks, means

However, some of them are followed by a singular verb when used in

expressions such as a pair of…., a word of….

His pants are still at the cleaners But: That pair of pants is dirty

S V S V

Your thanks are enough for me But: A word of thanks is enough

S V S V

3 Several, many, both, few are plural words and always take a plural verb.

Both are going to attend the University of Texas

S V

Only a few have passed the exam

S V

Rules for subject-verb agreement: Alternatives

1 When subjects are joined by the following structures, the verb must agree with the closer subject

Neither the students nor the teacher is allowed to smoke.

S S V

Either the teacher or the students have your books.

S S V

Not only the nurse but also the doctor is coming soon.

S S V

2 Many words may be singular or plural depending on what they refer to:

none, all, some, any, majority, most, half When these words are followed

by a prepositional phrase, the number of the object of the preposition will determine whether the words are singular or plural

All of the book has been destroyed.

S V

All of the books have been thrown away.

S V

All of the money is in the bank.

S V

3 The expression a number of is plural, and the expression the number of is singular

A number of students were missing from class

S V

The number of Mexican students in class is small

S V

Rules for subject- agreement: unusual singular

1 Expression stating one amount of time, money, weight, volume… is plural in form but take a singular verb.

Two weeks is enough time for a nice vacation

S V

Five hundred dollars is required as a down payment

S V

Ten extra pounds is a lot to lose in a week

S V

Twenty gallons of gasoline costs a lot of money

S V

2 Some words are always plural in form but singular meaning These words

require singular verbs

Academic subjects: mathematics, physics, economics, statistics, civics…

Diseases: measles, mumps, herpes…

Abstract nouns: news, ethics, politics….

Mathematics is a difficult subject

S V

The news was very good

S V

3 Title of books and movies, even if plural in form, take singular verbs

The New York Times is a good newspaper

S V

Star Wars was a good movie

S V

Rules for subjects-verb agreement: Singular and Plural

subjects with the same form.

1 Collective nouns are usually singular, but may be plural if the members are functioning independently Watch the pronouns for clues to the singular or

plural nature of the subject Some of these words are class, team, police, committee, audience, family, faculty,etc.

That class has its final test on Friday

S V

The class are working on their individual projects today

S V

2 Some nouns use the same form for both singular and plural meanings The pronouns and modifiers with these words will indicate whether they are singular or plural in meaning

Always with s: species, series, etc.

That species is rare Those species are common

S V S V

Never with s: sheep, deer, etc

That deer is young Those deer are old

S V S V

Rules for subject-verb agreement: Nationality and foreign

words.

Nouns for nationality that end with –ese, -ch, -sh may be singular or plural depending on their meaning Some of these words are Chinese, French, English, etc When the word refers to a language, it takes singular verb When the word refers to the people of the country, it takes a plural verb and is preceded by the article the.

French is a romance language The French are romantic

S V S

English is spoken in the USA The English love tea

S V S V

Objective 3: Check for full subordination.

The complex sentence: Key Concepts.

1 A complex sentence contains at least two clauses: a main clause and a

subordinate clause.

2 A subordinate clause, which is dependent on the main clause for its meaning, may function in a sentence as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun.

(i) An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) usually begins with a

pronoun, such as who, whom, whose, that, which, where, or when, and

immediately follows the noun or pronoun which it describes

(ii) An adverb clause clause begins with an adverbial conjunction, such as

because, although, if, or while, and is frequently found at the beginning

or the end of a sentence

(iii) A noun clause begins with the word that or a question word, such as

why, what, or how, and can function in a sentence in any of the ways that a noun can

1.To distinguish between main clause and subordinate clause

A main clause is a subject-verb combination that can function independently as

a sentence A subordinate clause is a subject-verb combination that begins with a word such as because, which, after, if and cannot function independently as a sentence

For example:

Main clause (MC): the rain stopped

Subordinate clause (SC): after the rain stopped

2 A subordinate clause contains a subject and a full verb; a phrase does not

For example:

SC: if the doctors operate soon

Phrase (PHR): before finishing dinner

3 Remember that a main clause, in either statement form or question form, can function alone An adjective clause is a subordinate clause which must always follow

a noun in the main clause Some of these clauses can function in both ways (both).

For example:

MC: adults do well on only six hours per night

SC: that is used by navigators

Both: whom did they visit

4 Complex sentence contain at least one main clause and one subordinate

clause Each of the following complex sentences contain at least one subordinate

adjective clause which begins with a word such as: who, whom, which, that, where, when, etc.

For example:

Modern man struggled for many years to develop a process that he could

Main clause

use to separate aluminum from other element to which it was bonded.

Subordinate adjective clause 1 subordinate adj clause 2

+ Adj clause may be marked by introductory words such as which, whom,

that, etc, or they may be unmarked For example:

The capsule [the astronauts rode in] was also designed to be used only once (In this case, the word ” which ” is obmitted because the subject referred is

object This sentence is combined from two sentences: The astronaut road in the

capsule The capsule was also designed to be used to only once.).

5 To identify all the adverb clauses within a complex sentence

Here is the table of some of the words that can introduce subordinate adverb clauses, arranged in columns according to their meanings Some introductory words can have more than one meaning

Time Cause/result Condition Opposition Manner Comparison After

Since

Before

By the time

When

Because Since

So (that) Whereas

In order that

If even if Unless Only if Once

In case (that)

Although While Though Whereas even though

As though

As if

Than as

While

Now that

Until

Once

As soon as

As\ so long

as

As

Whether or not

In the event (that)

Provided (that)

A noun clause is a subordinate clause that function as a noun Noun clause can function as subjects, but they are more commonly used as objects of verbs of telling,

feeling, and thinking These noun clause frequently begin with the word that For

example:

The doctor said that the man would get well quickly

S V O

That it rained so much this year is fortunate for farmers

S V O

+When a noun clause functions as an object, the word that is frequently

obmitted For example:

Ambitious students feel (that) hard works is ultimately rewarded (That can be obmitted)

Noun clause can also begin with question words such as what, why, how, and

so on This type of noun clause can also function as a subject or as an object For example:

(What you said) was very nice (Noun clause: what you said functions subject)

S V

Everyone knows (what you said) (Noun clause: what you said functions object)

S V

Noun clause and infinitive phrase are often found in sentences beginning with

the subject it Both noun clause and adjective clauses following special words like fact, hope, etc, can begin with the word that but only adj clause can also begin with the word which There is a quick way to test a clause to determine whether or not it is

a noun clause: If you can insert the word is between the noun and its clause, you have

a noun clause, if you cannot insert is the clause is an adj clause.

Objective 4: check the verbal

An infinitive is a verbal which is formed with to and the based form of the verb Although the word to may be the first word of an infinitive, it also begins many prepositional phrases For example:

Infinitives: to eat, to walk, to enjoy

Prepositional phrase: to school, to Alaska, to the dance.

A gerund is a verbal which is formed by adding the suffix –ing to the base form of a verb A gerund never function as a verb in a sentence It always function as

a noun Gerunds should not be confused with –ing words that are part of all progressive tense verbs For example:

Gerund: swimming, singing, participating

Verbs: are swimming, were singing, have been participating

A verbal adjective can be formed by reducing an adjective clause to a phrase or

a word A one-word verbal adjective goes before the noun it describes A verbal phrase follows the noun it describes For example:

Adjective clause: Doctors couldn’t save the man who was dying of cancer Verbal adj phrase: Doctors couldn’t save the man dying of cancer

One-word verbal adj: Doctors couldn’t save the dying man

Like gerund and infinitive, verbal adj are formed from verbs but do not function as finite verbs Each verb has two basic verbal adj forms: the present participle and the past participle

Verb: eat  verbal adj: eating, eaten

Verb: interest  verbal adj: interesting, interested

A verbal adj can take the form of either the present participle (-ing) or the participle (-d, -n, -t) when the noun that is being described is actively “doing” the action, the present participle is used as the verbal adj but, when the noun is receiver

of the action and is passively having something “done” to it, the part participle is used

The burning sun (active)

The sun burned the hikers

The sunburned hikers (passive)

Subordinate clause of time beginning with a word such as after, while, or before and subordinate clause of cause\result beginning with a word such as because, or since, can be reduced to a verbal phrase This reduction is possible only

when the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as the subject of the main clause

Time: while he was eating, the man choked on a small bone (subordinate clause)

While eating, the man choked on small bone (verbal phrase)

Cause: Because it is seriously injured, the dog may die

Being seriously injured, the dog may die.

Each sentence begins with a verbal phrase with an implied but not stated subject If the implied subject of the verbal phrase is the same as the subject of the main clause, the sentence is correct If two subjects are different, the sentence is wrong

Wrong: Walking home, a noise frightened a girl.

(in this case, a girl is a subject of the verbal phrase, and the noise is a subject of the main clause So, the subject is different)

Correct: Walking home, the girl was frightened by a noise.

Objective 5: Check Pronoun form, Agreement, and

Reference

Rules for Pronoun forms: Subject forms

1 The subject form is used for a subject of a main clause or of a subordinate

clause

He left his book in the classroom.(main clause)

John talked to the man who was standing near him.(adjective clause) After he left, I went to bed.(adverb clause)

I know who broke the window.(noun clause)

2 The subject form is used for pronouns that follow the verb tobe.

It was he at the door

It must have been they who left the massage

3 The subject form is used when the subjects of two clauses are being

compared

She is taller than he (is)

They have more money than we (have)

Rules for Pronoun forms: Object form

1 The object form is used for a pronoun that functions as the object (either direct

or indirect) of a verb in a main clause or in a subordinate

That policeman is watching me (direct object – main clause)

The student whom I advised is Algerian (direct object –adjective clause )

If I send him a letter, he will be happy.(indirect objective – adverb clause )