Tips and Strategies How to Prepare TOEFL Test series

Correlative conjunctions: neither/nor, either/or, both/and, . . .

Correlative conjunctions are pairs such as neither . . . nor, not . . . only, and but . . . also. These conjunctions connect two balanced clauses, phrases, or words.

The two elements that correlative conjunctions connect are usually similar in length and grammatical structure.

Here are a few example sentences containing correlative conjunctions:

• either . . . or
  We can go to either Greece or Spain for our holiday.
  It’s my final offer – you can either take it or leave it.

• both . . . and
  Both rugby and football are popular in France.
  Both English and Welsh are spoken in Wales.

• not only . . . but also
  Not only is he a professional footballer, but he’s also a successful businessman.

• not . . . but
  There are not two but three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
  In sport, what counts is not the winning but the taking part.

• neither . . . nor
  Neither Norway nor Switzerland is in the European Union.
  Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory. (Abraham Lincoln)
  

• whether . . . or
  Whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit that the Rolling Stones are very popular.
  I’m totally confused – I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.

• no sooner . . . than
  No sooner had I finished watering the garden than it started raining.

 Subject-verb agreement

Watch out! The verb which follows two subjects joined by a correlative conjunction must agree with the second subject, NOT the first:

• Either my brother or my mum look looks after our cat when we’re away on holiday.
• Either my brother or my parents looks look after our cat when we’re away on holiday.
• Neither the manager nor his assistant are is here today.
• Neither the manager nor his assistants is are here today.

Correlative conjunctions in  TOEFL test

Directions: In questions 1 - 5 each sentence has four underlined words or phrases. The four underline parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C), and (D). Identify the one underlined word or phrase that   must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter or the answer you have chosen.

1.       1. Thomas Jefferson was a magnificent writer as well for a noted

                                                  A                                  B                C

             scholar in the area of languages.

                             D

  2.  By geological dating of rocks, scientists have determined that either  the Rocky

                        A                                                                                       B

            Mountains stretching from Canada to Mexico nor the sierra Nevada Mountains

                                  C

            of the pacific coast is the continent's oldest mountain chain.

                                            D

3.        3. Movie critics agree that Riddle Scott's' movies contain both an original vision

                                      A                                                 B

             of the future or a disquieting perspective about the past.

                                  C          D

    4.   Female cockroaches are about three times numerous than male

                                                      A                            B

            cockroaches and have rudimentary wings.

                                     C                                D

       5.  Practically as same as those obtained from eating meat, fat and

                                   A                   B

protein consumption statistics from eating cheese show that

                                                                                              C

cheese is a viable substitute when eaten in moderation.

                                                      D

Tips And Strategies how to prepare a TOEFL Test

Articles, Determiners, and Quantifiers

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Definition

Articles, determiners, and quantifiers are those little words that precede and modify nouns:

the teacher, a college, a bit of honey, that person, those people, whatever purpose, either way, your choice

Sometimes these words will tell the reader or listener whether we're referring to a specific or general thing (the garage out back; A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!); sometimes they tell how much or how many (lots of trees, several books, a great deal of confusion). The choice of the proper article or determiner to precede a noun or noun phrase is usually not a problem for writers who have grown up speaking English, nor is it a serious problem for non-native writers whose first language is a romance language such as Spanish. For other writers, though, this can be a considerable obstacle on the way to their mastery of English. In fact, some students from eastern European countries — where their native language has either no articles or an altogether different system of choosing articles and determiners — find that these "little words" can create problems long after every other aspect of English has been mastered.

Determiners are said to "mark" nouns. That is to say, you know a determiner will be followed by a noun. Some categories of determiners are limited (there are only three articles, a handful of possessive pronouns, etc.), but the possessive nouns are as limitless as nouns themselves. This limited nature of most determiner categories, however, explains why determiners are grouped apart from adjectives even though both serve a modifying function. We can imagine that the language will never tire of inventing new adjectives; the determiners (except for those possessive nouns), on the other hand, are well established, and this class of words is not going to grow in number. These categories of determiners are as follows: the articles (an, a, the — see below; possessive nouns (Joe's, the priest's, my mother's); possessive pronouns, (his, your, their, whose, etc.); numbers (one, two, etc.); indefinite pronouns (few, more, each, every, either, all, both, some, any, etc.); and demonstrative pronouns. The demonstratives (this, that, these, those, such) are discussed in the section on Demonstrative Pronouns. Notice that the possessive nouns differ from the other determiners in that they, themselves, are often accompanied by other determiners: "my mother’s rug," "the priests’ collar," "a dog's life."

This categorization of determiners is based on Understanding English Grammar by Martha Koln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994.

Some Notes on Quantifiers

Like articles, quantifiers are words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us how many or how much. Selecting the correct quantifier depends on your understanding the distinction between Count and Non-Count Nouns. For our purposes, we will choose the count noun trees and the non-count noun dancing:

The following quantifiers will work with count nouns:

      many trees
      a few trees
      few trees
      several trees
      a couple of trees
      none of the trees

The following quantifiers will work with non-count nouns:
      not much dancing
      a little dancing
      little dancing
      a bit of dancing
      a good deal of dancing
      a great deal of dancing
      no dancing

The following quantifiers will work with both count and non-count nouns:
      all of the trees/dancing
      some trees/dancing
      most of the trees/dancing
      enough trees/dancing
      a lot of trees/dancing
      lots of trees/dancing
      plenty of trees/dancing
      a lack of trees/dancing

In formal academic writing, it is usually better to use many and much rather than phrases such as a lot of, lots of and plenty of.

There is an important difference between "a little" and "little" (used with non-count words) and between "a few" and "few" (used with count words). If I say that Martha has a little experience in management that means that although Martha  is no great expert she does have some experience and that experience might well be enough for our purposes. If I say that Martha  has little experience in management that means that she doesn't have enough experience. If I say that Charlie owns a few books on Latin American literature that means that he has some books — not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say that Charlie owns few books on Latin American literature, that means he doesn't have enough for our purposes and we'd better go to the library.

Unless it is combined with of, the quantifier "much" is reserved for questions and negative statements:

·         Much of the snow has already melted.

·         How much snow fell yesterday?

·         Not much.

Note that the quantifier "most of the" must include the definite article the when it modifies a specific noun, whether it's a count or a non-count noun: "most of the instructors at this college have a doctorate"; "most of the water has evaporated." With a general plural noun, however (when you are not referring to a specific entity), the "of the" is dropped:

·         Most colleges have their own admissions policy.

·         Most students apply to several colleges.

An indefinite article is sometimes used in conjunction with the quantifier many, thus joining a plural quantifier with a singular noun (which then takes a singular verb):

·         Many a young man has fallen in love with her golden hair.

·         Many an apple has fallen by October.

Articles, Determiners, and Quantifiers

in TOEFL Test

1.      Some subsistence activities such as hunting large animals or netting fish require ----- to work together.

(A)   groups are

(B)   groups which

(C)   groups

(D)   that groups

2.      The ancient Egyptian water clock required sophisticated calibration, since water dripped faster from its bowl when ----- and the pressure was greater.

(A)   the full bowl

(B)   was the bowl full

(C)   bowl full

(D)   the bowl was full

3.      Hair grows more quickly in summer than in winter and more slowly at the night         A                              B                                                                                    C

              Than during the day.

                          D

4.      Neither Sam nor James wanted their name associated with the project.

          A                                   B         C                   D

5.      During a early period in the settlement of the western United States, pioneers

                     A

        claimed parts of the wilderness by marking trees to establish a boundary.

                             B                                           C                             D

Tips and Strategies TOEFL Preparation Series Part 8

Avoiding redundant expressions

What do all the expressions in bold type in the sentences below have in common?

They are constantly working on new innovations in gambling.

He was the younger of the two twins.

The events will start at 11 a.m. on the following dates below.

They are all redundant expressions: groups of words in which at least one word is unnecessary because it just repeats the meaning that's already contained in the other word or words. An innovation is ‘a new method, idea, product, etc.’, so there's no need to use new to describe one; following means ‘coming after’, so it's not necessary to say below as well; and as for twins, there can only ever be two of them.

This sort of repetition of meaning is also known as tautology and it's something to be aware of when you're writing. It can give the impression that you don't really understand the meaning of the words you're using, or that you're just careless in your choice of words.

The key to a good writing style that avoids redundant expressions is to develop your knowledge of what words really mean, checking in a dictionary whenever you aren't completely sure.

Here is an outline of some of the main types of redundant expressions:

Different types of redundant expressions

There are several ways in which you can fall into the tautology trap. Here are some of the main types of redundant expression together with tips on how to deal with them:

Adjectives that repeat the meaning already contained in the word they describe, e.g.:

In a moment of hopeful optimism, she made the call.

If you look up optimism in the dictionary, you'll see that it means ‘a feeling of hopefulness about the future’ so there's no need for the word hopeful in this sentence. It would be better to just leave out the adjective altogether:

In a moment of optimism, she made the call.

Here's another example of an adjective repeating the meaning of a noun:

It was a strange place for both of us to be, given our past histories.

A person's history is the whole series of past events connected with them. There's no need to use the adjective past in this sentence because this meaning is already contained in the noun history. If you remove the adjective, the meaning of the sentence is unaffected:

It was a strange place to for both of us to be, given our histories.

Adverbs that repeat the meaning contained in a verb, especially a verb that begins with a prefix such as re-(meaning ‘again’ or ‘back’) or pro-(meaning ‘out’, ‘forwards’, etc.). For example:

On her death, the throne reverted back to the next male in the line of succession.

If you look up revert, you'll find that the dictionary gives the meaning ‘return to (a previous state, practice, topic, etc.)’. Since the idea of going back to something is contained in the verb itself, there's no need to include the adverb back. The sentence would be better if the adverb was just left out:

On her death, the throne reverted to the next male in the line of succession.

Here's another example:

The sign above the door protruded out over the sidewalk.

Protrude means ‘to extend beyond a surface’, so the adverb out is unnecessary: it's just repeating the meaning of protrude. We can just omit it:

The sign above the door protruded over the sidewalk.

Two or more words or groups of words which mean exactly the same as each other. For example:

The fertilizer had no direct fungicidal effect but nevertheless it completely arrested the spread of the fungus.

Nevertheless and but mean the same thing: if you looked them up in a thesaurus, you'd almost certainly find that they were given as synonyms of each other. You only need one or the other to get your point across:

The fertilizer had no direct fungicidal effect but it completely arrested the spread of the fungus.

Here's another example of this type of redundant expression:

The reason for this is because nobody cares

Because means ‘for the reason that’: there's no need to include it in this sentence since this idea has already been expressed. The sentence should read:

The reason for this is that nobody cares.

Key points to remember about redundant expressions

·         Getting rid of unnecessary words will make your writing clearer and more effective.

·         Using a dictionary or thesaurus will help you to identify redundant expressions in your writing.

There are several examples of redundant expressions that you may find in TOEFL test:
Directions.The four underline parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C), and (D). Identify the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter or the answer you have chosen.

1.      Berbers of   the Western Sahara They are distinguishable by their unique

                       A                                   B                                       C   

language and customs.

                              D

2.      CNN, based in the southern of Georgia, It was  the first all news television

                  A                                                 B              C

Network to begin international broadcasting.

                                                            D

3.  A uniform mingling of molecules, which it homogeneous chemical compounds,                                                                                                A

    Result from the chemical constituents melting, dissolving, or diffusing into

                                    B                                                                    C

     One another

               D