TOEFL STRUCTURE TIPS AND STRATEGIES: Be Careful of Objects of Prepositions

An object of a preposition is a noun, pronoun, gerund or noun clause that comes after a preposition, such as in, at, of, by, behind, on, and so on, to form a prepositional phrase.

(After his exams) Tom will take a trip (by boat)

This sentence contains two objects of prepositions. Exams is the object of the preposition after, and boat is the object of the preposition by.

An Object of a preposition can cause confusion in structure questions on the TOEFL test because it can be mistaken for the subject of the sentence.

Example :

With his friend __________ found the movie theathre.

(A) has

(B) he

(C) later

(D) when

In this example you should look first for the subject and thne verb. You should notice the verb found  and should also notice that there is no subject. Do not think that friend is the subject; friend is the object of the preposition with, and one noun cannot be both a subject and an object at the same time. Because a subject needed in this sentence, answer (B), he, is the best answer. Answer (A), (C), and (D) are not correct because they cannot be subjects.

So the key is:

"A preposition is followed by a noun, pronoun, gerund or noun clause that is called an object of the preposition. If a word is an object of a preposition, it is not subject.

See also the previous post:
TOEFL STRUCTURE: Be Sure The Sentences Has A Subject and A Verb

Read More

TOEFL STRUCTURE: Be Sure The Sentences Has A Subject and A Verb

Some sentence in English have just one subject and verb, and it is very important for you to find the subject and verb in these sentences. In some sentences it is easy to find the subject and verb. However, certain structures, such as objects of preposition, appositives, and participles, can cause confusion in the locating the subject and verb because each of these structures can look like a subject or verb. An object of the prepositions or an appositives can be mistaken for a subject, while a participle can be mistaken for a verb.

Therefore, you should be able to do the following in sentences with one subject and verb: (1) be sure the sentence with one subject and a verb, (2) be careful of objects of prepositions and appositive when you are looking for the subject, and (3) be careful of objects present participles and past participles when you are looking for the verb.

You know that a sentence in English should have a subject and a verb. The most common types of problems that you will encounter in structure questions on the TOEFL tes have to do with subjects and verbs: perhaps the sentence is missing either the subject or the verb or both, or perhaps the sentence has an extra subject or the verb.

Example 1:
____________ was backed up for miles on the freeway.
(A) Yesterday
(B) In the morning
(C) Traffic
(D) Cars

In this example you should notice immediately that there is a verb was, but there is no subject. Answer (C) is the best answer because it contains the singular subject traffic that agrees with the singular verb was. Answer (A), yesterday, and answer (B), in the morning, are not subject, it is not correct because cars is plural and it does not agree with the singular verb was.

Example 2:
In this example you should notice immediately that the sentences has a subject engineers and that there is no verb. Because answer (B), are needed, is a verb, it is the best answer, Answer (A), (C), and (D) are not verbs, so they are not correct.

Example 3:
The boy______ going to the movies with a friend,
(A) he is
(B) he always was
(C) is relaxing
(D) will be

This sentence has a subject boy and has part of a verb going; to be correct, some from of the verb be is needed to make the sentence complete. Answer (A) and (B) are incorrect because the sentence already has a subject boy and does not need the extra subject he. Answer (C) is incorrect because relaxing is an extra verb part that is unnecessary because of going. Answer (D) is the best answer; will be together with going is a complete verb.

So, the key words of this TOEFL structure trick is "A sentence must have at least one subject and one verb.

Read More