The TOEFL® (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam is available in both computer-based and paper-based formats and covers English grammar, speaking, reading, and writing. The TOEFL® grammar section is the second part of the exam and covers a wide range of English sentence structure and usage; however, those required grammar skills are also important for the other sections of the exam. Parts of speech, verb tenses, clauses, and sentence styles are just a few examples. Reviewing these topics and doing practice exercises will help you achieve a high score.
The TOEFL® grammar exam begins with a review of basic sentence structure and parts of speech. In a set of multiple-choice questions, you’ll need to be able to use prepositions, subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions correctly. The questions usually show a sentence with a missing word or phrase, and you must choose one of four possible answers to complete the sentence correctly. Many TOEFL®-focused websites offer free grammar exercises and even a diagnostic test to help students master these topics. If you’re still unsure after doing some of these exercises, look for a basic grammar book that clearly explains the topics and provides examples.
The TOEFL® grammar section also assesses your ability to use participial phrases, introductory clauses, adverbial clauses, infinitive phrases, and gerund phrases, among other phrases and clauses. You’ll need to know how to avoid dangling modifiers and other misplaced statements by correctly placing the items at the end or beginning of a sentence. Although many online resources exist, grammar workbooks designed for the TOEFL® are the best tools for practicing this section. You can also try looking up the phrase or clause on the website of an English department at a high school or college, or doing a web search on the phrase or clause in question.
The TOEFL® grammar section’s final section covers sentence consistency and design, with a focus on using parallelism in your sentences. Using the correct verb tense for compound sentences, using the correct pronouns to replace nouns, properly using gerunds in a list, and correctly using conjunctions to join parts of a sentence are just a few examples. Because some of these topics overlap with the section on phrases and clauses, the grammar workbooks and websites that can help you prepare for that section can usually help you with this one as well.