Download 1 TOEFL 1 STRUCTURE COMPREHENSION SINGULAR AND

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TOEFL 1
STRUCTURE COMPREHENSION
SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUN
PRONOUN
VERB AGREEMENT
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SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUN
HOW TO IDENTIFY NOUNS
There are a number of clues to identify nouns or noun phrases in a sentence:
1. The word is preceeded by an article, an adjective or a determiner (a, an, the, some,
any, few, alot of, little)
For example:
A destination; many activities; Any question; a lot of things; The magnificence;
2. This word is preceeded by a Possessive Pronoun (my, his, her, your) and Possessive
Auxiliary Verb (have, has).
For example
My dream; its value; Your idea; their proposal; His courage; our suggestion; Its value;
3. Any word after preposition “of”
For example
The capital city of America; A holy book of Moslem; A teaching of Christianity;
A fellow of Buddhist; Most of the cases; The goal of the project;
The height of mount Everest
SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUN
Some nouns can be counted which later will be called count noun or countable noun, and
some cannot be counted which will be called non-count noun or uncountable noun.
A single unit or one of count noun is called singular noun which some are written or spelled
differently compare to the same noun which is more than one unit.
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Singular
plural
A bird
two birds
A street
two streets
To make most nouns plural, add “s”
A baby
two babies
Change the y to i for noun which is ended in a consonant +y and add -es
A class
two classes
A box
two boxes
Add –es to noun ending in –sh, -ch, -ss, and –x
A toy
two toys
If –y is preceded by a vowel, add only –s.
A tomato
two tomatoes
A mosquito
two mosquitoes
Nouns end in –o, needs additional –es (plural)
A zoo
two zoos
A radio
two radios
Nouns end in –o need additional –s (plural)
A fish
two fish
A sheep
two sheep
The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form
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A bacterium
two bacteria
A phenomenon
two phenomena
For some nouns, the plural form is taken from foreign language
A knife
two knives
A shelf
two shelves
If a noun ends in –fe or –f, change the ending to –ves.
Irregular Plural Form of Countable Nouns
Child
children
datum
data
Foot
feet
ox
oxen
Mouse
mise
Tooth
teeth
Person
people
NON-COUNT NOUN (UNCOUNTABLE NOUN)
For example
Water, air, sugar, money
We can not say one water; one milk; or one air
Individual parts (count nouns)
The whole (non-count
A letter, a postcard, a bill,
mail
An apple, a banana
fruit
nouns)
COMMONT NON-COUNT
Advice;gold; milk; Beauty; glass; nationality; Beef; history; oil; Bread; equipment; news;
Butter; Health; patience; knowledge; honesty; mail; Clothing; ice; money; Courage; time
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Uncountable nouns are nouns that have only one form and take a singular verb
For example
The country produces much rice; Mathematics is my favorite subject
The furniture in this room is to be replaced
THE NOUNS THAT ARE ALWAYS PLURAL
Each of the following nouns is always considered plural. It can’t be singular.
If someone wants to speak it as a singular noun, one has to say: “a pair of........”
Glasses; pliers; Pants; scissors; Jeans; tongs; Shorts; tweezers
The scissors are in the drawer; A pair of those scissors is dull;
The pants are in the washing machine; A pair of my pants is hanging in the cupboard
STRATEGIES
1. Do NOT end singular nouns with –s/-es
Kathy has finished reading one chapter of the book;
There is one empty chair in the back row for you to sit on.;
2. Use singular nouns after the words below.
a/an
a single
One
another
That
every
This
each
There was not a single car in the parking lot; The school needed another baseball coach
She needs every penny she earns to support her family
3. Do NOT use a/an with plural nouns
About twenty calves are grazing in the field; There are beautiful birds of paradise in the zoo
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They used axes to cut the trees
4. Use plural nouns after the words below
A number of
each of
A couple of
a lot of
Various
all
Some
other
The institution gave scholarships to a number of students.;
Teachers use various techniques to make their lessons interesting.;
5. When words such as hundred, thousand or million follow a number, do NOT put them in
a plural form
Two hundred more employees are being recruited for the growing company
About sixty thousand rupiahs could be collected during the cultural night
6. Be careful of irregular plural nouns
The research presented a lot of valuable data; Oxen are usually used as draft animals
7. Use uncountable nouns with the words below
Much
Little
a little
An amount of
They have to live on whatever little money they earn
We did not see much furniture in this house
EXERCISES
Choose the correct determiners in the following sentences
1. I need (a few/ a little) rice for my baby
2. You need (many/ much) money to buy a car
3. My wife sold (that/those) bikes yesterday morning
4. There are (less/fewer) cars in this parking lot than in that parking lot
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5. We need (many/ much) information before making a decision
6. Recently we always see (many/ much) bad news on television
7. There were (a large number of/ a large amount of) people in the room
8. We need (a great number of/ a large amount of) ice for the fish
9. You can get (a few/ a little) books in my room
10. I have (less/fewer) oil than you
PRONOUN
PRONOUN
A pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or a noun phrase and denote persons or things
asked for, which have been previously specified or understood from the context.
1. SUBJECT PRONOUN
A subject pronoun is a pronoun that can be used as a subject of a sentence.
I
It
She
We
You
You
He
They
I gave Imelda money; He called me; She is waiting for him;
They let him go, We thank them; You hurt her
2. OBJECT PRONOUN
Me
it
Him
you
You
us
Her
them
She doesn’t know me; I want you to call them tomorrow; Audience gave him a big applause
Antonio gave her a flower; I have a flower vase. I want to put it on the table
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3. POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE PRONOUN
A possessive adjective pronoun is used only with a noun following it
My
its
His
our
Your
your
Her
their
They are my friends; I keep your note book in the drawer;
Febri bought his computer last year; The dog is waving its tail;
4. POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
A possessive pronoun is used alone, without a noun following it.
Mine
its
His
yours
Yours
ours
Her
theirs
This book is mine, that one is yours; Don’t take the cake, it is hers;
Our house is larger than theirs; Clara was my girlfriend, but now she is his;
5. REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
A reflexive pronoun usually appears directly after a verb.
Myself
itself
Himself
themselves
Yourself
yourselves
Herself
ourselves
I teach myself how to cook; Don’t hurt yourself with that knife;
Lucy blames herself for many things; We need to learn how to improve ourselves;
6. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronouns are all used in adjective/relative clauses.
Who is used as a subject referring to a person
Whom is used as an object referring to a person
Which or that is used as a subject or an object referring to a thing
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Whose is used to replace a possessive adjective
The woman who lives next door is a doctor
relative pronoun
The woman - she lives next door – is a doctor
The woman who lives next door is a doctor
Where is the cheese? – it was in the fridge
Where is the cheese that was in the fridge?
We saw some people – their car had broken down
We saw some people whose car had broken down
The woman whom I wanted to see was away on holiday. (I wanted to see her)
EXERCISES
Put in myself/ yourself/ ourselves or me/you/us
1. Julia had a great holiday. She enjoyed.........
2. It’s not my fault. You can’t blame.......
3. What I did was very wrong. I’m ashamed of.......
4. We’ve got a problem. I hope you can help.....
5. “Can I take another biscuit?” “Of course. Help........!”
6. Take somw money with.......in case you need it
Complete the sentences with –selves or each other
1. How long have you and Bill known............?
2. If people work too hard, they can make.........ill
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3. I need you and you need me. We need..............
4. In Britain friends often give...............presents at Christmas
5. Some people are very selfish. They only think of..........
6. Nora and I don’t see........very often these days
VERB AGREEMENT
VERB AGREEMENT
The basic concept of subject-verb agreement is that verbs must agree in person and in number
with their subjects.
Agreement in number means that singular subjects must be followed by singular verbs, and
plural subjects by plural verbs
1. Some nouns with –s endings are singular and take singular verbs.
Aerobics
linguistics
diabetes
Economics
Cards
mechanics
rabies
politics
Mathematics gives me a headache; Athletics is popular in my country;
Billiards is not so popular today; Politics plays an important part in modern life
2. A number of takes a plural verb, but the number of takes a singular verb.
A number of houses are not occupied; A number of politicaians declare a new political
party
The number of the guests is 5 persons; The number of students who passed the exam is 25
students
3. Subjects with the following prepositional phrases take a singular verb:
As well as
together with
Accompanied by
Along with
in addition to
among
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Among her works is To the King’s Most Excellent Health
4. The words on the list below are grammatically singular, and should always take singular
verbs.
Anybody
no one
something
Everyone
Everybody
someone
each (+singular noun)
everything
Anyone
anything
every (+singular noun)
Somebody is knocking at the door
Nobody wants to be treated unfairly
Nothing in this world is certain
5. The words below take a singular or plural verb depending on the noun that follows them:
None
half
some
Most
all
majority
no
any
All of her poems were good
All of her work was good
EXERCISES
Choose the correct form of the verb in the following sentences
1. Every junior high school student (has/ have) to take the final examination
2. There (has/ have) been too many students who have problems in their family
3. The army (is/ are) preparing kinds of weapons to attack the terrorists
4. The jury (was/ were) discussing the rubrics for the competition when I came
5. A pack of small birds (fly/ flies) over this village every morning
6. Our team always (become/ becomes) the winner of the annual competition
7. Either the students or the teacher always (work/ works) together to finish the project
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8. Anybody (is/ are) free to visit this interesting place
9. A pair of trousers (was/ were) already bought by my son
10. Your glasses really (suit/ suits) you
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