Part 5 - Grammar Essentials (Word Forms and Verb Tenses)

Part 5 - Grammar Essentials (Word Forms and Verb Tenses)

The TOEIC Listening and Reading exam devotes Part 5 entirely to Incomplete Sentences. Out of the 100 questions in the Reading section, Part 5 contains 30 questions. To complete the entire Reading paper within the strict 75-minute limit, you must manage your time efficiently, aiming to spend no more than 15 to 20 seconds on each Part 5 question. This speed is only achievable if you can recognize grammatical patterns instantly, bypassing the need to read and translate every sentence word for word. By mastering these grammatical structures, you can preserve valuable time for the longer reading passages in Part 7.

Grammar questions make up approximately 40% to 50% of Part 5. The two most heavily tested grammar categories are word forms (parts of speech) and verb tenses. Understanding the structure of English words and sentences allows you to quickly narrow down the choices and select the correct option.

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Word Forms (Parts of Speech)

Word form questions are easy to spot because all four options share the same root word but have different suffixes (e.g., inspect, inspection, inspector, inspected). You do not need to know the meaning of the root word to answer correctly; instead, you must analyze the surrounding words to identify which part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, or adverb) fits the blank.

Suffix Clues for Parts of Speech

Suffixes are groups of letters added to the end of a word to determine its grammatical category. Memorizing these common suffixes will help you identify the parts of speech immediately:

Sentence Position Rules

The position of the blank relative to the surrounding words dictates the required part of speech:

1. Adjectives modify nouns: Look for a blank directly preceding a noun (e.g., a ________ decision -> requires an adjective like careful).
2. Adjectives follow linking verbs: Linking verbs like be, become, seem, remain, and appear require predicate adjectives (e.g., The results were ________ -> requires an adjective like satisfactory).
3. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs:
   • Between an auxiliary verb and a main verb: The system has ________ updated -> requires an adverb like successfully.
   • After a complete clause (Subject + Verb + Object): The team completed the report ________ -> requires an adverb like carefully.
   • Before an adjective: An ________ high number of requests -> requires an adverb like exceptionally.
4. Nouns as subjects, objects, or after prepositions:
   • Following an article (a, an, the), possessive adjective (my, your, its, our, their), or demonstrative pronoun (this, that): The ________ of the new software -> requires a noun like development.
   • Following a preposition: without ________ -> requires a noun or gerund like permission or permitting.

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Verb Tenses and Aspects

Verb tense questions require you to choose the correct form of a verb based on the time frame of the sentence. The TOEIC exam rarely asks you to choose a tense in isolation; instead, the sentence will contain a time marker or a clause that signals which tense is appropriate.

Key Time Markers for TOEIC Tenses

• Simple Present: Used for routines, schedules, and general facts. Look for words like usually, regularly, often, every month, or on Tuesdays.
• Present Progressive: Used for actions happening at the moment of speaking or current trends. Look for markers like currently, now, at present, or at the moment. Note that stative verbs (e.g., know, believe, contain, own) are not used in progressive tenses.
• Simple Past: Used for completed actions in the past. Look for words like yesterday, last week, in 2023, two days ago, or previously.
• Present Perfect: Used for actions that began in the past and continue to the present, or have relevance now. Look for markers like since (followed by a point in time or simple past clause), for (followed by a duration), already, yet, recently, so far, or up to now.
• Past Perfect: Used to indicate that one past event occurred before another past event. The sentence will typically contain a clause in the simple past, introduced by by the time or before (e.g., By the time the manager arrived, the meeting had already started).

Active vs. Passive Voice

A common high-scoring trap on the TOEIC is distinguishing between the active and passive voice.

• Active Voice: The subject performs the action. (e.g., The committee approved the project proposal.)
• Passive Voice: The subject receives the action. Formed using be + past participle.

The Object Trick: To quickly determine whether a verb should be active or passive, look immediately after the blank. If there is a direct object (usually a noun or pronoun), choose the active voice. If there is no direct object (instead, you see a prepositional phrase, an adverb, or the sentence ends), choose the passive voice.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement requires the verb to match the number (singular or plural) of the subject. The TOEIC exam tests this by separating the subject and the verb with distracting phrases:

1. Prepositional Phrase Distractors: A prepositional phrase placed between the subject and the verb does not change the subject's number.
   • The main goal of the new initiatives is to reduce waste. (Subject: goal [singular] -> verb: is [singular], not initiatives [plural]).
2. Collective Nouns: Nouns like management, board, committee, staff, and audience are treated as singular subjects in TOEIC contexts.
3. Indefinite Pronouns: Words like each, every, everyone, someone, nobody, either, and neither are singular.
   • Each of the candidates has submitted a resume. (Subject: Each [singular] -> verb: has [singular]).
4. Gerunds as Subjects: When a gerund (an -ing verb acting as a noun) is the subject, it always takes a singular verb.
   • Implementing new safety guidelines requires extensive training. (Subject: Implementing [singular] -> verb: requires [singular]).

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Summary of Key Suffixes and Parts of Speech

Understanding suffixes is crucial for speed. The table below represents suffix indicators that you should search for:

• Noun indicators: Suffixes like -tion (creation), -ment (development), -ance (assistance), -ence (dependence), -ity (feasibility), and -ness (awareness) indicate abstract concepts or things.
• Adjective indicators: Suffixes like -ful (careful), -less (harmless), -able (available), -ible (sensible), -ive (productive), -ous (dangerous), -al (financial), and -ic (systematic) describe characteristics.
• Adverb indicators: Suffixes like -ly (efficiently) describe the manner of an action.
• Verb indicators: Suffixes like -ate (calculate), -ify (notify), -ize (minimize), and -en (shorten) specify actions.