TOEIC: Using Grammar, Vocabulary & Parts of Speech

Parts 5 & 6 of TOEIC, incomplete sentences and error recognition are very difficult because they both test your grammar skills as well as your vocabulary. Reviewing grammar is very important for the test, and (more important) your basic English language learning.

Today, we'll look at techniques to build your vocabulary and improve your grammar. 

 

There is a lot of free material on the Internet, of course. The websites listed in this blog have a lot of grammar exercises that you can download and print for free. If you'd like a textbook, there are many available in bookstores and on Amazon. 

Here is one  I recommend:

Essentials of English Grammar is an excellent textbook for general ESL study and practice. Every chapter has many exercises for each grammar point. So, it's also a very good text for people interested in taking TOEIC (or other English language tests). You can order it here.

Grammar

Let's look at an example of an incomplete sentences question:

The launch of the new smartphone wasn't very__________

a) unsucessful
b) successful
c) successive
d) successfully

First, think of the parts of speech each word is from in the sentence:  

noun (person, place, thing, idea)
verb (go, buy, eat, run, etc)
preposition (to, at, in, on, with, etc)
article (an, a, the)
adjective (beautiful, new, old, heavy, etc)
adverb (quickly, easily, slowly, etc)
intensifier/modifier (very, quite, a bit, really, etc)

Second, find the subject of the sentence. In this example, the subject is "The launch". 

Then look at the words before the blank. There's the negative past tense of the verb be, and the intensifier very. 

Next, think about similar sentences you may have read when studying or practicing. For example:

The steak at the new Italian restaurant is very good.

article, noun, preposition, article, adjective, adjective , verb, intensifier, adjective

Subject: the steak

What is the correct answer for the example question?

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
The correct answer is b. The final word has to be an adjective.

a is incorrect because it is a negative adjective. Words like unfriendly don't usually have a negative verb before them. But, be careful, you could see sentences like "He's not an unattractive man". 

c is wrong because it's the wrong word. Successive is an adjective, but it's not the correct adjective for this sentence. 

d is an adverb which is used to talk about actions (She finished her lunch quickly). 

Vocabulary Building

 Learning new words is very important if you're going to improve your TOEIC scores. To build your vocabulary (and your grammar skills), you must read as much, as often, as you can. Native English speakers don't think about grammar very much when speaking in general conversation, but grammar is very important in writing. 

So, read books, novels, signs, memos, newspapers, webpages, etc. Reading will teach you how grammar is used, and help you learn new words, and expressions.

In parts 5 and 6 of TOEIC don't worry to much about the meaning of every word you don't know. Managing your time in TOEIC is very important. Trying to find the meaning of every new word can cost you a lot of time. 

Again, think of parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. One way to tell what part of speech a word is from is to look at the end (the suffix) of the word, for example:

  

Examples of usual ending (suffixes) for:

Nouns

tion/sion (shun): lotion, decision, attention

ment: basement, payment

or/er/ar: doctor, ladder, cellar, driver

ness: kindness, sweetness, happiness

Adjectives

ful: beautiful, wonderful, help

able: comfortable, available, likeable

ive: active, decisive, passive

y: happy, sloppy, angry 

al: mental, local, special

Adverbs

ly/ily: quickly, hardly, happily

Remember: this is just a guide. The problem with English grammar rules is that there are (too) many exceptions to the rules. That's why, again, reading is so important. 

Here are links to incomplete sentences and error recognition (parts 5 and 6) of TOEIC.

NOTE: You can also use these strategies and techniques in part 7 of TOEIC, reading comprehension.