The Complete Guide To The TOEFL Test

214 Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression

A personal pronoun (it) cannot be used to connect an adjective clause to the rest of the sentence. A relative pronoun (which or that) must be used instead.

D) Incorrect Inclusion of Pronouns

Some errors involve the unnecessary use of pronouns. Often, this type of error occurs when a personal pronoun is used as a subject in a sentence that already has a noun subject. It may also involve a personal pronoun used unnecessarily in a relative clause.

In a few items, a relative pronoun is used unnecessarily.

... Sample Items

dangerous waters. o

The subject of the sentence is Block Island; the personal pronoun it is an unnecessary repetition of the subject.

Dutch elm disease, which it is caused by a fungus, can destroy a

ABC

tree within four weeks.

-- 0 -

The relative pronoun which is the true subject of the relative clause; the personal pronoun it is not needed.

Certain types of turtles that may live as long as 100 years.

ABC - 0 -

The relative pronoun that is unnecessary in this sentence because there is only one verb (may live). A sentence that contains a relative clause must have a verb in each clause.

Exercise 36.1

Focus: Identifying and correcting errors of pronoun agreement.

Directions: If the underlined form is correct, mark the sentence C. If the underlined form is incorrect, mark the sentence X and write a correction for the underlined form in the blank at the end of the sentence. The first one is done as an example.

216 Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression

8.The Pritzken Prize is given every year to architects their work benefits humanity and the environment.

Exercise 36.3

Focus: Identifying errors involving the incorrect inclusion of pronouns.

Directions: If the sentence contains a pronoun that is incorrectly included. mark that sentence X and underline the pronoun. If the sentence does not contain an incorrect pronoun inclusion. mark that sentence C. The first one is done as an example.

~1. The first great public library in the United States it was founded in Boston in the 1830's.

2.Floods which cause billions of dollars worth of property damage in the United States annually.

3.As a class, percussion instruments such as drums that arc the simplest in construction of any musical instruments.

4.Richard G. Hatcher of Gary, Indiana, he was one of the first black mayors of a sizahle American city.

5.Active stocks are stocks which are frequently bought and sold.

6.There are many species of plants and animals that they are peculiar to Hawaii.

7.Pipettes are glass tubes, open at both ends, which chemists use them to transfer small volumes of liquid.

8.When molten basalt cools, it forms six-sided columns.

9.Elizabeth Peabody, founder of the first American kindergarten, she helped gain acceptance of that institution as a regular part of public education.

___ 10. Today meteorologists obtain the information which they use to make weather predictions chiefly from satellites.

11.Cells often obtain water through which the process of osmosis.

12.The lighting of large outdoor arenas it first became feasible in the 1930's.

Exercise 36.4

Focus: Identifying and correcting errors involving pronouns. (Note: One or two items in this exercise do not focus on pronoun errors. These are marked in the answer key with an asterisk.)

Directions: Decide which of the four underlined words or phrases-(A), (13), (C), or (D)-would not be considered correct, and write the letter of the expression in the blank. Then, in the line at the end of the sentence, write a correction for the underlined phrase. The tlrst one is done as an example.

218 Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression

___ 13. In that age of computers, it is difficult to imagine how tedious the work of accountants

and clerks must have been in the past. ______

o

14. In general, the only kind of cells that cannot replace itself are nerve cells.

___ 15. The naturalist Edwin Teal illustration his books with photographs he had taken himself.

ABC D

Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression 219

LESSON 37

ERRORS WITH SINGUlAR AND PLURAL NOUNS

A) Plural Nouns in Place of Singular Nouns and

Singular Nouns in Place of Plural Nouns

Underlined nouns in the Written Expression section may be incorrect because they are plural but should be singular, or because they are singular but should be plural.

Sometimes it is clear that a singular subject is incorrectly used because the verb is plural, or that a plural noun is used incorrectly because the verb is singular. In this type of item, the verb will not be underlined, because this is not a verb error.

Sometimes it is obvious that a plural or a singular noun is needed because of the determiners that precede the noun. Certain determiners are used only bef()fe singular nouns while other determiners are used only before plural nouns.

everyone of each one of each of

one of these those

Each contestant won a prize.

Each of the contestants won a prize.

Thisjlower is a yellow rose.

Thesejlowers are yellow roses.

I attended only one game this season.

It was one of the most exciting games that I ever attended.

220 Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression

T Sample Items

Several of Washington Irving's story have become classics in

American literature.

D

In this item, both the determiner before the noun (Several oj) and the plural verb (have) indicate that a plural noun (stories) should be used.

Mauna Loa, an active volcano on the island of Hawaii, usually has

one eruptions every three years.

D

A singular noun must be used after the determiner one.

One of the most beautiful state capitol is the Utah State Capitol,

ABC

located in Salt Lake City.

D

The correct pattern is one of the + superlative adjective + plural noun. The plural noun capitols must therefore be used. A

B) Errors Involving Irregular Plurals

Most plural nouns in English end in -s, but a few are irregular. Only the most common irregular plurals are tested onTOEFL. (Irregular plurals that come to English from Latin or Greek-data, cacti, alumnae, or phenomena, for example-will NOT be tested on TOEFL.)

Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression 221

T Sample Item

C) Errors with Plural Forms of Non-Count Nouns

In some items a non-count noun (such asfurniture, research, sunshine, information, or bread) is incorrectly given as a plural noun.

T Sample Item

Some encyclopedias deal with specific fields, such as music or

ABC

philosophy, and provide informations on only those subjects.

D

in(i:)rmatioll is an uncountable noun and cannot be pluralized. •

D) Errors with Plural Compound Nouns

Compound nouns consist of two nouns used together to express a single idea: grocerJ! store, travel agent, dinner party, and house cat, for example. Only the second noun of compounds is pluralized: grocery stores, travel agents, dinner parties, and house cats.

(There are rare exceptions to this rule-sports cars and women doctors, for example-but these won't be tested.)

T Sample Item

Raymond Chandler's detectives stories are admired by both critics

The correct plural form ofthis compound noun is detective stories. •

E) Errors Involving Plural Forms of Numbers and Measurement

Some errors involve numbers + measurements:

They went for a six-mile walk.

They walked six miles.

In the first sentence, the number + measurement is used as an adjective, and the measurement is singular. In the second, the measurement is a noun and is therefore plural.

222 Section 2 • Guide to Structure and Written Expression

Numbers like hundred, thousand, and million may be pluralized when they are used indefinitely-in other words, when they do not follow other numbers.

T Sample Items

The U.S. president serves a maximum of two four-years terms.

When used before a noun, a number + measurement is singular.

Thousand of antibiotics have been developed, but only about

thirty are in common use today.

D

The plural form Thousands should be used.

Exercise 37

Focus: Identifying and correcting errors involving singular and plural nouns. (Note: One or two items in this exercise do not focus on singular-plural errors. These are marked in the answer key with an asterisk.)

Directions: Decide which of the four underlined words or phrases-(A), (B), (C), or (D)-would not be considered correct, and write the letter of the expression in the blank. Then, in the line at the end of the sentence, write a correction for the underlined phrase. The first one is done as an example.