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When you are completing the TOEFL speaking and writing sections, two important sections requiring 26 and 24 points for many students, you will want to score high so that you can get admitted into that university and so that you can clear that health care credential, right? One way to score higher on both of the sections of the TOEFL exam is to improve your language use, one of three categories that TOEFL iBT human raters will use to score your independent and integrated speaking practice tests. Further, to improve your language use, you will want to use a combination of basic and advanced grammar. An advanced type of grammar, appositives–if you use them sometimes in your speaking and writing tasks–will show TOEFL iBT human raters that you have some syntactic variety. Did you notice that I have already used three appositives in this paragraph?
Appositives come from adjective clauses
Appositives are noun phrases that come from reduced adjective clauses. First of all, if you are using adjective clauses, you are making a effort to use more complex sentences, which is good. For example, look at the following two basic simple sentences:
A: My friend is a professor of religious and philosophy studies.
B: My friend came to my house yesterday.
If you make the first sentence a subordinate idea, change “my friend” to “who,” and place it directly after the subject “my friend” in sentence B, you will create a complex sentence involving and independent and dependent clause:
C. My friend, who is a professor of religious and philosophy studies, came to my house yesterday.
What are appositives and how do you form them grammatically?
Reduced adjective clauses, appositives are noun phrases modifying another noun. These adjectival noun phrases can be placed directly before or after the subjects they modify. Or, appositives are placed directly after the noun if it is in an object position. Therefore, if you omit “who is” in sentence C, then you will have sentence D:
D: My friend, a professor of religious and philosophy studies, came to my house yesterday.
Or, in sentence E, the appositive is placed before the subject it modifies:
E. A professor of religious and philosophy studies, my friend came to my house yesterday.
Appositive Writing Practice Exercises (See possible answers at the end of this web page.)
Practice combining the following ten sentences. Make the first sentence in each pair an appositive and place it directly before or after the noun it modifies. First, writing your answers on a sheet of paper, combine the sentences together. Second, practice combining some of the sentences orally. Writing down the sentences and practicing them orally will help you to practice your TOEFL writing and speaking skills.
1. Washington is the capital of United States of America.
Washington and its accompanying suburbs have a diverse population of several million.
2. This national monument is a reserved park in which motorcycles and other off-road vehicles are prohibited.
Many hikers venture into Joshua Tree National Monument.
3. It is a 3400 square foot house sitting on more 2.75 acres of flat land.
Finally, after more than 13 months of searching, Angela and I bought our dream house.
4. US democracy is a form of representative government in which registered voters elect politicians to represent their vested interests.
US democracy has prevailed in this country for more than 200 years.
5. The computer chip is the single most important invention of the last 25 years.
The computer chip allows consumers to store a vast amount of digital data in a very small area.
6. Meiosis is a type of cell division.
Meiosis occurs when plant cells divide when producing gametes and plant spores.
7. The Nile is the longest river in the world.
The Nile River flows for more than 3,000 miles.
8. The Grand Canyon is one of the 7 wonders in the world.
The Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years as the mighty Colorado River cut deep into the rocks.
9. California is the most densely populated state in the United States.
California boasts a population of more than 40 million people.
10. Mark Twain is perhaps the greatest novelist in American culture.
Mark Twain is most famous for his books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
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Answer Key
1. Washington, the capital of United States of America, and its accompanying suburbs have a diverse population of several million.
or
The capital of United States of America, Washington and its accompanying suburbs have a diverse population of several million.
2. Many hikers venture into Joshua Tree National Monument, a reserved park in which motocycles and other off-road vehicles are prohibited.
3. Finally, after more than 13 months of searching, Angela and I bought our dream house, a 3,400 square foot house sitting on more 2.75 acres of flat land.
4. US democracy, a form of representative government in which registered voters elect politicans to represent their vested interests, has prevailed in this country for more than 200 years.
or
A form of representative government in which registered voters elect politicians to represent their vested interests, US democracy has prevailed in this country for more than 200 years.
5. The computer chip, the single most important invention of the last 25 years, allows consumers to store a vast amount of digital data in a very small area.
or
The single most important invention of the last 25 years, the computer chip allows consumers to store a vast amount of digital data in a very small area.
6. Meiosis, a type of cell division, occurs when plant cells divide when producing gametes and plant spores.
or
A type of cell division, meiosis occurs when plant cells divide when producing gametes and plant spores.
7. The Nile River, the longest river in the world, flows for more than 3,000 miles.
or
The longest river in the world, the Nile River flows for more than 3,000 miles.
8. The Grand Canyon, one of the 7 wonders in the world, was formed over millions of years as the mighty Colorado River cut deep into the rocks.
or
One of the 7 wonders in the world, the Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years as the mighty Colorado River cut deep into the rocks.
9. California, the most densely populated state in the United States, boasts a population of more than 40 million people.
or
The most densely populated state in the United States, California boasts a population of more than 40 million people.
10. Mark Twain, perhaps the greatest novelist in American culture, is most famous for his books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
or
Perhaps the greatest novelist in American culture, Mark Twain is most famous for his books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com
http://onlinetoeflcourse.com