Maung Maung Myint Thein (University of Technology) - American Language Usage and Grammar

The Usage and Grammar for TOEFL iBT

Vocabulary and grammar for

( 1) Word Forms

A word has related forms.

Noun : The decision was two months ago.

The decision was made two months ago.

Verb : We decided to move to a bigger house.

We decided to move to a bigger house.

Adjective : His decisive action brought order to the meeting

His decisive action brought order to the meeting.

Adverb : She acted very decisively.

She acted very decisively. Nouns are used to describe people, places, physical objects, things, ideas, and actions.

Subject : The doctor came immediately. The doctor arrived suddenly.

Compliment : My father is a doctor.

Object : We saw a doctor.

Some adverbs and adjectives are the same. late

late late late

(Adv) (Adv)

Clause

Sentences are made up of clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

Independence Clause

An independent clause contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete idea.

There are three types of sentences in Independent clauses. These are:

1. simple sentence 2. compound sentence
2. complex sentences .

Simple sentence

It is made up of an independent clause with a subject and a verb.

eg The cat ran under the tree.

SV The cat ran under the tree.

Compound sentence

A compound sentence has two ( sometimes more than two) independent clauses connected by the conjunctions and, but, or, not, or yet.

eg The cat ran and the dog chased it.

S VSV

The cat ran and the dog chased it.

Complex sentence

Complex sentences are made up of one or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause is an incomplete sentence. It needs to be connected to an independent clause.

e.g. The cat that I saw.

The cat I found.

eg Last night the black cat that I saw ran in the street

The black cat I saw on the street last night ran under the tree.

Dependent Clause

A dependent clause has a subject and a verb , but it is not a complete sentence.

eg that she wanted

when they played with it.

A dependent clause is combined with an independent clause to form a sentence.

eg The DVD that she wanted was on sale.

The DVD she wanted is already on sale.