GRAMMAR LESSON1 PRACTICE #2 Choosing a Main Clause Verb

PRACTICE #1 Choosing a Main Clause Subject Circle the correct answer choice for each question.
Circle the correct answer choice for each question. 1. Sanford Meisner - the Neighborhood Playhouse in New
1. , regarded by archaeologists as the world's oldest York City.
continuously inhabited city, is the capital of Syria. (A) founding and directing
(A) Damascus is (B) who founded and directed
(B) Damascus being (C) founded and directed
(C) Damascus (D) in finding and directing
(D) That Damascus 2. Fabian, although well known among many different circles in
2. , who died in 1953, depicted ancient man through the early 1960s, with teenagers.
drawings, paintings, and sculptures. (A) was populated
(A) It was an artist, Charles Knight (B) most popular
(B) Artist Charles Knight (C) was most popular
(C) Charles Knight's art (D) most populated
(D) Charles Knight an artist 3. In the 1930s, many American plants and industries, suffering
3. - of the landing of the Mayflower is a rather small, gray from economic hardship caused by the Great Depression,
stone in Plymouth, Massachusetts. .
(A) The site (A) folding banks closed them
(B) For the site (B) were closed by folding banks
(C) There is site (C) closed folding banks
(D) To the site (D) were closing by folded banks
4. When population is not checked by artificial means, 4. A surprising amount of opposition to the D-Day
increases, putting more strain on limited natural resources. landings among Elsenhower's own staff.
(A) they (A) there arose
(B) than (B) arose
(C) so (C) if arose
(D) it (D) they arose
5. Although most species of fox are reddish brown, is 5. Many plants, in contrast to humans, asexually.
often pure white. (A) reproduce
(A) the Arctic fox (B) reproducing
(B) nevertheless the Arctic fox (C) are reproducing
(C) that the Arctic fox (D) have reproduce
(D) but the Arctic fox 6. Upper New York State ----- some of the loveliest landscapes
6. , the son of a glovemaker in Stratford upon-Avon, went in the eastern part of the United States.
on to become the greatest playwright the English language (A) boasts
has ever known. (B) being
(A) William Shakespeare was (C) that has
(B) That William Shakespeare (D) with
(C) William Shakespeare 7. Traits from a parent organism to its offspring through
(D) When William Shakespeare was genes.
7. Although Anne Tyler received a Pulitzer Prize for her novel (A) are passed on
Breathing Lessons, has never received the broad (B) passing on
popular acclaim of a novelist such as Anne Rice. (C) passes on
(A) what she (D) are passing on
(B) she 8. Public defender programs, established in most American
(C) that she counties, free legal services to needy defendants.
(D) and she (A) providing
8.Where Anglo-Saxon Protestantism is called Anglican (B) who provide
A B C (C) to provide
Christianity in the United Kingdom, but the same faith in (D) provide
America is referred to as Episcopalianism. 9. The Bennington Memorial, a towering structure
D
dedicated to revolutionary War veterans, still in
9.To asthma sufferers, there is no greater runner exists Bennington, Vermont.
A
in the annals of American history than Florence Griffith (A) stand (B) standing (C) stands (D) to stand
B C 10. The U.S. legal system based upon adversarial
Joyner, who went on to Olympic fame even though relationships, but this is not always the case.
D (A) it is
she suffered from acute asthma. (B) since it is
10. Fear of high shouldn't be a paralyzing phobia for those (C) being
A B C D (D) is
who want to enjoy bungee jumping.

NOTE: Questions 1, 2, and 6 are examples of appositives, which

will be treated in Grammar Power Lesson Two.
PRACTICE #3 Choosing a Main Clause Subject and
Verb Circle the correct answer choice for each question.
1. - large rodents about the size of a pig that live in South
America.
(A) Capibaras
(B) Capibaras that are
(C) Capibaras are
(D) Capibaras while they are
2. For several years in the 1950s, .
(A) Ronald Reagan working for General Electric
(B) that Ronald Reagan worked for General Electric
(C) Ronald Reagan worked for General Electric
(D) Ronald Reagan, when working for General Electric
3. -- - itinerant teachers in Greece in the fifth-century B.C.
who provided instruction in the art of rhetoric.
(A) The Sophists were
(B) The Sophists being
(C) The Sophists which were
(D) For the Sophists to be
4. Every year Canada's approximately one and a half
million tons of fish and seafood products.
(A) seafood industry that produces
(B) producing seafood industry
(C) seafood industry produces
(D) that produces to seafood industry
5. Even in northern latitudes, . doesn't have many friends.
(A) to the skin the sun's ultraviolet rays can cause
considerable damage
(B) the considerable damage caused by the sun to the skin
(C) the sun considerable damage to skin can cause
(D) the sun's ultraviolet rays can use considerable
damage to the skin
6. profitable than they used to be.
(A) The antiques sales more
(B) Antique sales in the United States had been more
(C) Antique sales in the United States are more
(D) That antique sales in the United States are more
7. Since leaving the presidency in 1980,
(A) Jimmy Carter will teach public policy courses at Emory
University in Atlanta
(B) Jimmy Carter to teach public policy courses at Emory
University in Atlanta
(C) Jimmy Carter teaching public policy courses at Emory
University in Atlanta
(D) Jimmy Carter has taught public policy courses at
Emory University in Atlanta
8. When pursuing the Iditerod Trail, many participants that are
A B C A
afflicted by serious effects of the bitter cold.
D D
9. Before running for mayor, Mary Smith, one of the
A B
candidates, had never to run for public office.
C D
10. The details of Leon Trotsky's death
A
continuing to elude the most relentless of historians.
B C D
Session C: Avoiding two subjects
On Section 2 of the TOEFL, a grammar problem that sometimes
appears is having too m ny subjects for a verb. It must be
remembered that in English a noun must have one and only one
function. For example, a noun cannot be both the object of a
preposition and the subject of a verb. Nor can a noun exist in a
sentence without any function at all.
INCORRECT: The Empire State Building, it was built in 1933.
In the above example, the subject is the Empire State Building.
The pronoun it in this sentence has no function and therefore
does not belong.
This kind of error may be more difficult to spot in a sentence
where the subject and verb are separated, as in the example
below.
INCORRECT: The Empire State Building, the largest
building in New York, it was built in 1933.
Here, the subject is still the Empire State Building, but now an
appositive (the largest building in New York) separates the subject
from its verb. Of course, it is possible for a clause to have two
subjects if they are connected by a coordinate conjunction like and
or or. But if a clause has two subjects without a coordinate
conjunction, it is wrong. Here are some more examples of
sentences with two subjects. Notice the difference between the
correct sentences and the incorrect ones.
INCORRECT: My brothers and all my friends, they threw
me a surprise party.
CORRECT: My brothers and all my friends threw me a
surprise party.
INCORRECT: Alexander, who lives down the street, he
CORRECT: Alexander, who lives down the street, doesn't
have many friends.
Always make sure that there is only one subject for each clause.
PRACTICE #4 Avoiding Two Subjects
Circle the correct answer choice for each question.
1. Woodrow Wilson, lawyer, teacher, and university president,
A
he received the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in founding
B C D
the League of Nations.
2. Because microbes are invisible, their existence was not
A
confirmed until the invention of microscopes, which it
B C D
could magnify them considerably.
3. There is increasing evidence that the United States
A
it is ready to support measures to control the present
B C D
chaotic pattern of suburban growth.
4. Food it enters the digestive tract through the mouth, and then
B C
proceeds to the stomach, intestines, and finally the colon.
5. In multicellular plants and animals, somatic cells they
A B
contain two of each type of chromosome.
C D
PRACTICE #5 Review Practice 16. For many years, the simple pine and oak furniture made
Circle the correct answer choice for each question. A B
1. - nothing quite like sleeping under the stars. in America considering to be a crude imitation of more
C D
(A) Is (B) Is there
(C) There is (D) When there is elaborate European furniture.
2. Although synthetic gems are similar in quality to natural 17. When mistletoe, which is believed to have magical
A B
stones, people natural gems. powers, is traditionally hung over doorways during
(A) do seem prefer (B) to seem prefer C
(C) are seeming preferring (D) seem to prefer the Christmas season.
3. -- - refers to the right to build in the space over such D
areas as buildings, roads, or railroad tracks. 18. Long ago, Egyptians who believed that cats were blessed
(A) The term air rights (B) Air rights term A B C
(C) If the term air rights (D) Air rights are and kept several in their homes as a homage to the gods.
D
4. Stanislavsky - director of the Moscow Art Theater
permanent company; he shared his title with both Vitaly 19. If the dwarf lemon tree is grown in many areas of the world
A B C D
Wolfe and Meyerhold. and bears fruit when it is less than six inches high.
(A) were not only the (B) was not only the 20. The first ten amendments to the United States
(C) was not the only (D) was only the A
5. have far less complex structures than multicellular Constitution they are referred to as the Bill of Rights.
organisms. B C D
(A) Single-celled organisms
(B) That single-celled organisms VOCABULARY
(C) For single-celled organisms To hear how these words and expressions are pronounced,
(D) A single-celled organism listen to CD 2, Track 9.
6. Although he was a brilliant philosopher many of Martin Terms Related to Biology
Heidegger's theories into question because he was a It is almost certain that you will encounter grammar or reading
member of the Nazi Party. exercises that use biological terms on the TOEFL. Here are a
(A) who is calling (B) which calls few found in this Power Lesson.
(C) having been calling (D) have been called Modern biology asserts that single-celled organisms
7. During the summer, Ann Arbor, along with Ypsilanti, became multicellular through evolution. These early
Saline, and Pontiac, with tourists fleeing the boredom microbes, too small to be seen, later evolved into the
of their lives in Cincinnati and its suburbs. larger multicellular organisms that we see around us today.
(A) flooding (B) is flooded
(C) to flooded (D) will floods A chromosome is a part of the cell of a living thing. It
8. by members of the houses of Lancaster and York. contains genes, by which the organism passes on its own
(A) The Wars of the Roses fighting physical characteristics to its offspring through reproduction.
(B) Fighting the Wars of the Roses was
(C) The Wars of the Roses were fought To found
(D) To fight the Wars of the Roses were Do not confuse the verb to found, meaning "to create or
9. Scientific research in oncology the funding it deserves. establish," with the past tense of the verb to find.
(A) is seldom (B) seldom given To found is a regular verb.
(C) being given (D) is seldom given New York City was originally founded by the Dutch,
10. is merely speculated upon by modern clergymen who called it New Amsterdam.
and historians.
(A) Noah's Ark exists (B) The existence of Noah's Ark Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy American industrialist,
(C) Noah's Ark to exist (D) That Noah's Ark returned to the city of Pittsburgh to found several
11. Wild animals endangering not only by hunting but also philanthropic organizations.
A B
by predators, pollution, and the many collectors of zoo
C D To boast something
specimens who encroach upon their territory. Usually boast is used intransitively, without a direct object. It
12. Of many people believe that diamonds are the costliest takes the prepositions of or about.
A B C He boasted about his heroism during the war.
gems, but emeralds are actually more valuable. But sometimes it is used with a direct object, when a person or
D a thing possesses something it is proud of.
13. The yearly movement of the stars first to notice by early Thanks to the Arch, St. Louis boasts one of the most
A B C
striking skylines in the nation.
travelers who used the stars to guide their way across the sea.
D Our company boasts the highest salaries in our field.
14. That the development of the submarine was hindered by
A By artificial means, by natural means
the lack of a power source that could propel the underwater These two expressions mean, respectively, artificially and
B C D naturally. The preposition through can be used instead of by.
vessel. People who eat only organically grown produce advocate
15. Marie Curie who won a Nobel Prize for her discoveries that vegetable pests be controlled by natural rather than by
A B
artificial means.
of radioactivity and radioactive elements.
C D