Skill
Practice checking that every sentence has a clear subject and a complete verb.
A complete English sentence needs a subject and a verb. TOEFL Structure questions often hide the subject or verb inside long phrases. Before choosing an answer, identify the main subject and the main verb of the sentence.
Ignore prepositional phrases when looking for the subject. In the sentence The book on the desk is mine, the subject is book, not desk. Then check whether the verb agrees with that subject.
Complete the following exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned:
Choose the best answer: The results of the experiment _____ published in the journal last month. A. was B. were C. is D. has
Correct answer: B. The subject is results, plural, so the verb must be were.
There are no quizzes for this skill yet. Generate a custom exercise tailored to it.