Tips for the Toefl Exam

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qListening Comprehension
qStructure and Written Expression
qReading Comprehension.
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
General TOEFL
strategies
Use your time wisely.
Get familiar with the instructions before taking
the TOEFL so that you will not have to waste
time reading them.
If you do not know the answer to a question,
guess. There is no penalty for guessing.
Unmarked answers will be counted as wrong.
Mark your answer sheet very carefully.
Do not write in your test booklet.

Grammar structure
strategies
Tips for the TOEFL exam
Structure and Written
Expressions
Time: 25 minutes
40 questions in two subsections
Structure (15 questions). You choose
gramatically correct sentence completions
for sentences with missing parts.
Written Expressions (25 questions). You choose
the incorrect segments in complete
sentences.

P R E S E N T PA R T IC IP LE S
A p re se n t p a rticip le is th e - in g fo rm o f a
ve rb . T h e p re se n t p a rticip le ca n b e ( 1 ) p a rt
o f th e ve rb o r ( 2 ) a n d a d je ctive .

It is p a rt o f th e ve rb w h e n it is a cco m p a n ie d
b y so m e fo rm o f th e ve rb b e . e . g . T h e
w o m a n w a s in trig u in g a g a in st h e r h u sb a n d

It is a n a d je ctive w h e n it is n o t a cco m p a n ie d
b y so m e fo rm o f th e ve rb b e . e . g . th e
in trig u in g w o m a n w a s a m iste ry.
PA S T PA R T IC IP LE

A p a st p a rticip le o fte n e n d s in –e d b u t
th e re a re a lso m a n y irre g u la r p a st
p a rticip le s. ( p la ye d , ta u g h t)

T h e –e d fo rm o f th e ve rb ca n b e ( 1 ) th e
sim p le p a st, ( 2 ) th e p a st p a rticip le o f a
ve rb , o r ( 3 ) a n a d je ctive . e . g . th e fin ish e d
ta sk is o n th e d e sk .
COORDINATE CONNECTORS

Many sentences have more than one

clause (group of words containing
subject and verb). One way to connect
two clauses is to use: AND, BUT, OR, or
SO between the sentences.
When you analize a sentence, first
identify the verb, if there is no verb
in the main sentence, you have to
choose the answer that contains the
correct form of the verb needed.

Once you identify the verb, ask a

wh...question of the verb. This will
locate the subject
Subject-verb agreement.- the subject must agree
with the verb of a sentence in two ways: in
number (singular vs. plural) or in person ( first,
second or third person).
Be aware that some times there are prepositional
phrases (distractors) .

Pronoun-noun agreement.- a pronoun needs to
agree with the noun in term of number and gender.

Parallelism principle requieres that
expressions of similar content and function
should be similar.

Comparison.- make sure to compare the same

things always.
Be sure that the sentence has a subject and a verb

Be careful of objects of prepositions because they

can be mistaken for the subject of the sentence.
The object of the preposition is a noun or a
pronoun that comes after a preposition such as: in,
at, on, of, to, by, behind, etc, to form a
prepositional phrase.

Be careful of appositives. An appositive is a noun

that comes before or after another noun and has
the same meaning. Appositives can be left out the
phrase and it still makes sense.
Be careful of present participles: they can either
be as part of the verb or an adjective

Be careful of past participles

Use coordinate connectors correctly: and, but, so, or,

yet
Parallel structure
Invert the subject and verb with
question words

Invert the subject and verb with

negatives
Subject verb agreement

Subject verb agreement