ANSWERS to TOEFL Structure: #021-030

All explanations were written by Erin Billy, specifically for TestMagic students.

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021.
[Born] Marguerite Johnson in 1928, [author and poet] Maya Angelou has received [awards numerous] for her [works], including Grammy Awards in 1994 and 1996.

Born
author and poet
awards numerous

  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Correction: numerous awards
  • Magic Explanation: This one is simple to explain--we need the adjective before the noun. This one is tricky because in some languages the adjective comes after the noun. In this case, numerous is an adjective and awards is a noun. A simple example of this rule is the phrase little house.

works

 

022. Modern psychological theory allows [for] the concept of [free will], a [recent relatively] development [in] this field.

for
free will
recent relatively

  • Level of Difficulty: Easy
  • Correction: relatively recent
  • Magic Explanation: In English, when an adverb modifies an adjective, the adverb must come before the adjective. A simple example of this rule is the phrase very delicious.  In this case, relatively is an adverb, and it modifies the adjective recent.

in

 

023. One of ______ smallest particles thought to exist, the quark is believed to exist in pairs, together forming a hadron.

what was the
what the
those of the
the

  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Magic Explanation: This sentence already has a main subject and main verb, so we don't need to look at that part of the sentence. We need only look at the first part:

One of ______ smallest particles thought to exist

In this case, we are only missing the determiner the; we cannot add anything else. We can see a simple example of this pattern in the phrase One of the best ways...

 

024. The first [years] of one's education are thought [to provide] the [basic] of one's ability [to learn] in later years.

years

  • Some people think years is wrong because they learn that the word first must modify a singular noun. This is not true. It is very easy to use first to describe a group. For example, we could say The first people I met in the United States were very friendly. When we have first + plural noun, it means the first ones.
    to provide
    basic
  • Level of Difficulty: Medium
  • Correction: basis
  • Magic Explanation: Here, we need a noun, basis. basic is an adjective, so it is wrong. This one is tricky because in some languages (like Portuguese) the word for the noun basis is very similar to the English adjective basic.

to learn

 

025. Most wood will float in water, but if it is ______ , it will sink.

dense enough

  • Level of Difficulty: Medium