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CHAPTER 3
STRUCTURE
A. Skill 1: Subject and Verbs
A sentence in English must have at least a subject and a verb. Therefore, you must make sure that
each sentence has a subject and a verb. The most common types of problems found the TOEFL
structure question are related to subjects and verbs: either is missing from the sentence, or the
sentence has an extra subject or verb.
Source: Longman Complete Course for the TOEFL Test: Preparation for the Computer and Paper
Tests, Deborah Phillips, 2001.
Please pay attention to the example above. You should notice that the sentence has a verb,”was”.
However, the subject is missing. Therefore, you should choose one of the subject which agress
with the singular verb was. The most appropriate answer is C Traffic because it contains a noun
as a singular subject which agrees with the singular verb.
In this example you should notice that the sentence has a subject engineers and that there is no
verb. Therefore, we must choose a verb which agrees with the subject. The best answer is then B
are needed.
