1. BE CAREFUL OF OBJECTS OF PREPOSITIONS
An object of a preposition is a noun or a pronoun that comes after a preposition, such as
in, at, of, to, by, behind, on, and so on, to form a prepositional phrase.
This sentence contains two objects of prepositions. Exams is the object of the preposition
after and boat is the object of the preposition by.
An object of a preposition can cause confusion in the Structure section of the TOEFL test
because it can be mistaken for the subject of a sentence.
(After his exams) Tom will take a trip (by boat).
Example
With his friend _____ found the movie theater.
(A) has
(B) he
(C) later
(D) when
In this example you should look first for the subject and the verb. You should notice the
verb found and should also notice that there is no subject. Do not think that friend is the
subject; friend is the object of the preposition with, and one noun cannot be both a subject
and an object at the same time. Because a subject is needed in this sentence, answer (B),
he, is the best answer. Answers (A), (C), and (D) are not correct because they cannot be
The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about
objects of prepositions:
OBJECT OF PREPOSITIONS
A preposition is followed by a noun or pronoun that is called an object of the preposition.
If a word is an object of a preposition, it is not the subject.
2. BE CAREFUL OF PRESENT PARTICIPLES
A present participle is the -ing form of the verb (talking, playing). In the Structure section
of the TOEFL test a present participle can cause confusion because it can be either a part
of the verb or an adjective. It is part of the verb when it is preceded by some form of the
The man is talking to his friend.
VERB
In this sentence talking is part of the verb because it is accompanied by is.
A present participle is an adjective when it is not accompanied by some form of the
The man talking to his friend has a beard.
ADJECTIVE
In this sentence talking is an adjective and not part of the verb because it is not accompa-nied
by some form of be. The verb in this sentence is has.
The following example shows how a present participle can be confused with the verb
in the Structure section of the TOEFL test.
Example
The child ____ playing in the yard is my son.
(A) now
(B) is
(C) he
(D) was
In this example, if you look at only the first words of the sentence, it appears that child is
the subject and playing is part of the verb. If you think that playing is part of the verb, you
might choose answer (B), is, or answer (D), was, to complete the verb. However, these
two answers are incorrect because playing is not part of the verb. You should recognize
that playing is a participial adjective rather than a verb because there is another verb in
the sentence (is). In this sentence there is a complete subject (child) and a complete verb
(is), so this sentence does not need another subject or verb. The best answer here is (A).
The following chart outlines what you should remember about present participles:
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
A present is the -ing form of the verb. The present participle can be (1) part of the verb or (2)
an adjective. It is part of the verb when it is accompanied by some form of the verb be. It is an
adjective when it is not accompanied by some form of the verb be.
1. The hoy is standing in the comer.
2, The boy is standing in the corner was naughty.
