Skill 1 : Subject and Verb

You know that a sentence in English should have a subject and a verb. The most common types of problems that you will encounter in the structure section of the TOEFL test are related to subjects and verbs; perhaps the sentence is missing either the subject  or the verb or both, or perhaps the sentence has an extra subject or verb.
example 1 :
........was ringing continuously for  hours.

1. Loudly
2. In the morning
3. The phone
4. The bells

In this example, you should notice immediately that there is a verb (was ringing) but there is no subject. Answer (3) is the best answer because it is a singular subject that agrees with the singular verb was ringing . Answer )1) loudly and answer (2) in the morning, are not the subject, so they are not correct. Although answer (4) bells could be a subject, it is not correct because bells is plural and it does not agree with the singular verb was ringing.

example 2 : 
Newspaper....... every morning and every evening.

1. delivery
2. are delivered
3. on time
4. regularly

In this example, you should notice immediately  that the sentence has a subject (newspaper) but there is no verb. Because answer (2) are delivered, is a verb,, it is the best answer. Answer (1), (3), and (4) are not verb, so they are not correct.

example 3 :
The plane.....landing at the airport in five minutes.

1. it is
2. it really is
3. is descending
4. will be 

 This sentence has a subject (plane) and has part of a verb (landing); to be correct, some form of the verb be is needed to make the verb complete. Answer (1) and (2) are incorrect because the sentence already has a subject (plane) and does not need the extra subject it. Answer (3) is incorrect descending is an extra part of a verb that is necessary because of landing. Answer (4) is the best answer ; will be together with landing is a complete verb.

The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about subject and verbs.
" A sentence in English must have at least one subject and one verb. The first thing you should do as you read a sentence in the structure section of the TOEFL test is to find the subject and the verb."