Hi there, it’s Riiid TUTOR! In TOEIC, which is an accredited language test, grammar is presented in parts 5 and 6. Part 5 has fill-in-the-sentence questions and for part 6, you must fill in the blanks in lengthier sentences. You won’t be asked the grammar concepts directly, but you have to know grammar to a certain degree to choose the right word to go into the blanks. So, studying English grammar is a must before you take the TOEIC test.
Does anyone not know where to start with when it comes to grammar even after deciding to start studying TOEIC? If you decide to study TOEIC basic grammar, the first grammar concepts you need to know are parts of speech and sentence types. I’ll explain these two concepts today. Let’s start studying TOEIC basic grammar with Riiid TUTOR.
The first step for TOEIC basic grammar! What are the 8 parts of speech in English?
The most basic words we use to make a sentence are called parts of speech. There are eight types of parts of speech in English. That’s why they are commonly called “the eight parts of speech.” Let’s take a look at them one by one.
| <8 parts of speech in English>
1. Noun: the name of a person or thing ex) book (object), John (person’s name), etc.
2. Pronouns: words that replace nouns Ex) he, she, it, etc. |
The first part of speech is noun. Noun refers to the name of a person or thing. John – (a name of a person), book, desk, etc. are nouns.
One thing to note is that it is best to avoid redundancy in English. So, if you have to repeat the same noun in your writing, you need something to replace the repeated noun. The concept that is used here is pronoun, the second type of part of speech in English. Pronouns are words that replace nouns. For example, “John is reading a book. John thinks the book is interesting.” To avoid repeating ‘John’ and ‘the book’, you can use the pronouns “he” and “it” to write “John is reading a book. He thinks it’s interesting.”
| 3. Verbs: words that show action
ex) walk, have, go, etc.
4. Adjectives: words that show the shape or state of a noun ex) excellent, possible, etc.
5. Adverbs: modifiers for verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and whole sentences ex) very, early, etc. |
The next part of speech is verb. If you’re studying TOEIC basic grammar, this part of speech might bother you the most. Verbs are words that show action, and some of its examples would be walk, have, and go. Sentences can be largely divided into sentences that describe the action of the subject (noun, pronoun, etc.) and sentences that describe the state of the subject. Verbs play a pivotal role and change their forms in sentences, as they represent actions.
If a verb represents an action, what part of speech describes the state or shape of the noun? Adjectives play that role. Excellent and possible are some of the examples of adjectives in English.
But adjectives only modify nouns. Then what part of speech modifies verbs and other parts of speech? The answer is: adverb. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and even an entire sentence. However, adverbs cannot modify nouns! Please keep this in mind.
| 6. Prepositions: words used before nouns or pronouns to make modifiers
ex) in, on, etc.
7. Conjunctions: a phrase that connects clauses ex) that, when, etc.
8. Interjection: words that express emotions such as surprise, joy, etc. ex) oh, my gosh |
A preposition is a part of a speech that is used before nouns or pronouns to indicate its relationship with other nouns or pronouns. It can indicate the relative positions, time, direction, possessive relationship, etc. between nouns (pronouns). In and on are some examples of prepositions.
If a preposition indicates the relationship between a noun and a noun, conjunctions can connect them. Like in the sentence, “I ate a chocolate and a cake last night,” ‘and’ connects the noun ‘a chocolate’ with the noun ‘a cake’. Conjunctions can also connect a clause (sentence) with another clause (sentence).
Last but not least, the last part of speech in TOEIC Basic Grammar English is interjection. As you all know, “Oh, my gosh!” is an interjection. It’s a phrase that can express emotions such as surprise, joy, etc.
Do you think you can sort out the eight parts of speech now? But just connecting these individual words doesn’t make a sentence. There is a fixed place for each part of speech in a sentence, and it becomes a grammatically correct sentence when each is placed correctly in the appropriate position. There are four places to put the parts: subject (S), verb (V), object (O), and complement (C). Let’s learn how these four positions are organized to make sentences and for that, we need to learn about the five types of English sentence structures.
TOEIC Basic Grammar – 5 basic sentence structures in English language
| <5 sentence structures in English>
Type 1: Subject + Verb He arrived.
Type 2: Subject + Verb + Complement He is a student. He is kind.
Type 3: Subject + Verb + Object I like dogs. |
To begin with, Type 1 is the most basic form of a sentence, consisting of only a subject and a verb, as in the sentence “He arrived.” Since there are no other components in the sentence besides the subject and the verb, only intransitive verbs that do not require an object can be used in a Type 1 sentence.
Type 2 is a sentence form that has a subject, verb, and complement. A complement is a supplementary word or phrase. A noun or adjective can be placed in the complement position. When a noun comes, it can indicate that the subject and the complement are equivalent, and when an adjective comes, it can supplement the state or property of the subject. For example, in the sentence “He is a student,” the noun “a student” came to the complement position, so it is equivalent to the subject of the sentence, “he.” In other words, he = a student. In the sentence “He is kind,” the adjective “kind” came to the complement position. The adjective “kind” complements the subject “he”.
Next, Type 3 is the most commonly used sentence form, consisting of subject, verb, and object. This is the sentence format that is most frequently presented on the TOEIC. The noun that is subject to the verb is placed where the object comes. Like in the sentence, “I like dogs.”, after the word ‘like’, meaning ‘to have a liking for ~’, the person or thing the subject likes must come. This noun is the object.
| <5 sentence structures in English>
Type 4: Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object. He gave Jane a present.
Type 5: Subject + Verb + Object + Object Complement. He makes Jane happy. People call him John. |
Type 4 is a sentence form in which one more object is added as opposed to Form 3 (subject + verb + object). These two objects are called indirect objects and direct objects, respectively. In the case of the verb ‘give’, you need information about who gives (the subject) what (the direct object) to whom(the indirect object) in the sentence. That’s why there are two objects. In Korean, for example, a direct object, which is the direct object of the verb, precedes the indirect object, but in English, a direct object comes last. Make sure to keep this in mind!
Finally, Type 5 is a sentence with a complement added after Form 3 (subject+verb+object). Recalling what we learned earlier, a complement appeared in the sentence in Form 2, right? The complement of Type 2 sentences supplements the subject, while the complement of Type 5 complements the object. That’s why the complement in the Type 5 is called the object complement. If you look at the sentence “People call him John” as an example, the object complement ‘John’ at the very end of the sentence does not complement ‘people’ but complements the object ‘him’, showing that ‘him’ = ‘John’.
Apply the concept of the 8 parts of speech and 5 sentence structures to TOEIC practice questions!
This time, we will review the eight parts of speech and the five types of sentence structures of TOEIC Basic English Grammar that we have learned so far.
Here’s the first question.
Question 1.
All of the bicycles at Velosport Cycles are available in aluminum ——- titanium frames.
(A) like
(B) or
(C) so
(D) then
Did you solve it?
If you’ve solved it, let’s check the answer.
The answer is (B) or. This problem is about choosing the right conjunction to fit in the blank. If you look at the front and back of the blank, there are two possible materials to choose from, aluminum and titanium. The same component comes out, so the blank should have a conjunction to connect them. Of the four options, (B) and (C) are conjunctions. Among them, (B) is the right answer in terms of meaning. If you think about the concept of eight parts of speech in English that you learned earlier, you would have been able to solve it without difficulty.
Let’s solve one more question together.
Question 2.
The proposal includes ——- of a new factory.
(A) construct
(B) constructive
(C) construction
(D) constructively
If you’re done, let’s check the answer.
The answer to this question is (C). It was a matter of choosing the right part of speech to go into the blank. The sentence in question is a Type 3 sentence consisting of subject + verb + object (______ of a new factory). What comes after the blank is the object of the sentence, so a noun must come in the blank. Therefore, (C) construction, the only noun among the four options, is correct. (A) construct is a verb, (B) constructive is an adjective, and (D) constructively is an adverb. These are not suitable for object position.
How was it? Since you applied the concept to actual TOEIC questions, you’ll remember the eight parts of speech and the five types of sentence structures in English language for a much longer time. We will study TOEIC basic grammar one by one so you can achieve your target TOEIC score.
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