Subject-Verb

Agreement
Table of Contents

Be Sure The Sentence

01 has a Subject and a Verb

02 Be Careful of Objects of
Preposition
01 Be Sure The Sentence has a Subject and a Verb

You know that a sentence in English

should have a subject and verb.
The most common types of
problems that you will encounter in
the Structure sectio of the TOEFL
test have to do with subjects and
verbs: perhaps the sentence is
missing either the subject or verb
or both, or perhaps the sentence
has an extra subject or verb.
Example I

....................... was backed up for miles on the freeway.

(A) Yesterday

(B) In the morning

(C) Traffic
(D) Cars
Explanation Example I

A and B (D) Cars (C) Traffic

Not Subject Subject, but Subject and
cars is plural singular (best
answer)
Example II

Engineers ....................... For work on the new space program

(A) necessary
(B) are needed
(C) hopefuly
(D) next month
Explanation Example II

A, C and D (B) are needed

Not Verb Verb (best
answer)
Example III

The boy ....................... going to the movies with a friend

(A) he is
(B) he always was
(C) is relaxing
(D) will be
Explanation Example I

A and B (C) Is relaxing (D) will be

The sentence Extra verb part, Will be
already has a unnecessary together with
subject because of going is a
going complete verb
(best answer)
Exercise 1
Underline the subjects once and the verb twice in each of the folowing sentence. Indicate if the
sentence are correct (C) or incorrect (I)

1. Last week went fishing for trout at the nearby mountain lake

2. A schedule of the day’s event can be obtained at the front desk.

3. A job on the day shift or the night shift at the plant available

4. The new computer program has provides a variety of helpful

applications
01 Be Careful of Objects of Prepositions

An object of a preposition is a noun

or a pronoun that comes after a
preposition, such as in, at, of, to, by,
behind, on, and so on, to form a
prepositional phrase
(After his exams) Tom will take a
trip (by boat)
The italic words is objects of prepositions.
Example

With his friend ....................... Found the movie theater.

(A) has
(B) he
(C) later
(D) when
Explanation Example II

A, C and D (B) he
Can not be The sentence need a
Subject subject, friend is not subject
but object of preposition
(best answer)
Exercise 2
Each of the following sentences contains one or more prepositional phrase. Underline the
subjects once and the verb twice in each of the folowing sentence. Circle the prepotional
phrase that come before the verb. Indicate if the sentence are correct (C) or incorrect (I)

1. The interviews by radio broadcasters were carried live by the

station

2. In the last possible moment before takeoff took his seat in the
airplane
Thank You