1. UCI Extension
Paper-Based TOEFL Workshop
Clauses, Subjects, and Verbs
Structure and Written Expression Skills 1-5
Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test
Tutorial prepared by Marla Yoshida
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2. What is a clause?
• A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb.
• Every sentence has at least one clause. Some have more.
• These sentences have one clause:
[Kittens are cute.]
[The students have been studying in the library.]
• These sentences have more than one clause:
[Kittens are cute,] [but spiders aren’t.] (2 clauses)
[The students [who have been studying] are tired]
[because studying is hard work.] (3 clauses)
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3. Every clause needs a subject and a verb.
• Some clauses have one subject and one verb:
[The library is full of books.]
• Some clauses have more than one subject:
[The library and the bookstore are full of books.]
[The students, the teachers, and everyone in the
audience applauded.]
• Some clauses have more than one verb:
[Cats chase mice and take naps in the sunshine.]
[The students studied all night and then fell asleep in
class.]
• All of these sentences have just one clause.
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4. The verb needs to match its subject.
• A singular subject needs a singular verb:
[The library is full of books.]
• A plural subject needs a plural verb:
[The libraries are full of books.]
• Sometimes singular and plural verbs are the same, for
example, when the verb is in the past tense:
[The student studied.] [The students studied.]
• or when there’s a modal:
[The student must study.] [The students must study.]
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5. You need to be able to find the subject.
• Sometimes it’s hard to tell which word is really the subject of
a clause. Other words can get in the way and make you
think they’re the subject. The subject is not always the word
just before the verb.
[The kitten is cute.]
[The kitten with big, green eyes is cute.]
[The kitten, my sister’s new pet, is cute.]
[The kitten sleeping in the kitchen is cute.]
• Kitten is still the subject, even though other words come
between it and the verb.
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6. Be careful of objects of prepositions.
• A preposition is a word that shows a relationship with a
noun, like in, at, with, under, or during. A preposition is
followed by a noun. This noun is called the object of the
preposition. The preposition and its object together are
called a prepositional phrase.
[The windows (of that house) need to be repaired.]
[(In my opinion,) the price (of movie tickets)
is too expensive.]
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7. Be careful of objects of prepositions.
• An object of a preposition cannot be the subject of a clause.
The subject of the first sentence is windows (not house), so
the verb is plural. The subject of the second sentence is
price (not tickets), so the verb is singular.
[The windows (of that house) need to be repaired.]
plural
plural
[(In my opinion,) the price (of movie tickets)
is too expensive.]
singular
singular
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8. Be careful of appositives.
• An appositive is a noun that comes before or after another
noun and has the same meaning. It gives more information
about the noun.
[The teacher, (Mr. Smith,) forgot to grade the tests.]
appositive
(Mr. Smith = the teacher)
[(A quick learner,) Mary memorized all the irregular
verbs in ten minutes.]
appositive
(A quick learner = Mary)
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9. Be careful of appositives.
• An appositive usually has commas around it.
• An appositive is not the subject of the sentence. The noun
that the appositive describes is the subject.
[The teacher, (Mr. Smith,) forgot to grade the tests.]
subject
[(A quick learner,) Mary memorized all the irregular
verbs in ten minutes.]
subject
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10. You need to be able to find the main verb.
• Main verbs can have many forms: Different tenses, active
or passive forms, modals followed by a verb, etc.
[The teacher grades tests every day.]
[The teacher is grading tests now.]
[The teacher has graded 35 tests so far.]
[The teacher has been grading tests for five hours.]
[The teacher will be grading tests until midnight.]
[The teacher must grade lots of tests.]
[The tests have all been graded.]
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11. Be careful of present participles.
• Sometimes it’s hard to tell which word is the main verb. You
might find a word that looks like a verb, but it’s really being
used as another part of speech).
• Present participles (the -ing form): If a present participle has
a form of the verb be before it, it’s really a verb. It’s one of
the progressive tenses. (be + ing = progressive)
[The children are playing soccer.]
[The teacher was grading tests.]
[The students have been sleeping during class.]
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12. Be careful of present participles.
• The present participles in these sentences don’t have a
form of be in front of them. They’re not the main verb of the
clause. They’re being used as adjectives to describe nouns.
[The children playing soccer are noisy.]
[The teachers grading tests in the office are tired.]
[The sleeping students are not learning anything.]
(But this is really a verb!)
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13. Be careful of present participles.
• These present participles are also not the main verb of the
clause. They’re being used as nouns. When an -ing form is
used as a noun, we call it a gerund.
[Playing soccer is good exercise.]
gerunds
[The teachers enjoy grading tests.]
[Reading a book is easier than writing one.]
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14. Be careful of past participles.
• Past participles: If a past participle has a form of the verb
have before it, it is really a verb. It’s one of the perfect
tenses. (have + past participle = perfect)
[Chris has played the piano for ten years.]
form of
“have”
past
participle
[We had eaten] [before we went to school.]
[The students have been sleeping during class.]
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15. Be careful of past participles.
• Did you notice that this same sentence was used as an
example twice?
[The students have been sleeping during class.]
have + pp
be+ing
• That’s because it has both have + past participle and
be + ing. It’s the present perfect progressive tense.
Isn’t that cool?
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16. Be careful of past participles.
• Past participles can also be used in another way. If a past
participle has a form of the verb be before it, it is also really
a verb. It’s a passive verb form. (be + past participle =
passive)
[The house was destroyed by a fire.]
[We discovered ] [that our car had been stolen.]
[Someday my garden will be filled with flowers.]
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17. Be careful of past participles.
• The past participles in these sentences don’t have a form of
be or have before them. They’re not the main verb. They’re
being used as adjectives to describe nouns.
[Soccer is a game played by millions of people.]
[I want a garden filled with flowers.]
[The broken window needs to be fixed.]
[Our stolen car has been found by the police.]
(But this is really a verb!)
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18. Summary
In this section, you have learned about these things:
• Every clause needs a subject and a verb.
• The verb needs to match its subject.
• You need to be able to find the subject of a clause.
• You need to be able to find the main verb of a
clause.
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