Future tense: Be going to vs. Will

We use “be going to” + bare infinitive to indicate

Future plan:            I’m going to have a checkup tomorrow afternoon.

Prediction:              It’s going to rain soon.

We use “will” + bare infinitive to indicate

Promise:                 I’ll call you again.

Offer:                     We will drive you home.

Prediction:              It will probably rain soon.

Prompt decision:    I’ll have my computer checked.

Few/A few, Little/A little

Few/A few are used with plural countable nouns.

•    I have few friends. / I have a few friends.

Little/A little are used with uncountable nouns.

•    I have little money. / I have a little money.

Few/little are negative (= hardly any).

A few/a little are positive (= some).

Much - Many - A Lot Of

All the three words refer to quantity. However, usage varies according to the type of statement and nouns. The following table is the summary.

For example:

•    They have a lot of money.

(“Money” is uncountable noun, and it is in the affirmative statement; therefore, “a lot of” can be used.)

•    I don’t have much/a lot of money.

(“Money” is uncountable noun, and it is in the negative statement; therefore, either “a lot of” or “much” can be used.)

•    There are many/a lot of students in class.

(“Student” is countable noun, and it is in the affirmative statement; therefore, either “many” or “a lot of” can be used.)

•    There aren’t many/a lot of students in class. (“Student” is countable noun, and it is in the negative statement; therefore, either “many” or “a lot of” can be used.)

Some / Any

We can use some and any with both countable and uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns must be made plural when preceded by some or any. For example:

• Are there any students in the classroom?

• There are some students in the classroom.

Uncountable nouns remain singular when preceded by some or any.

• Is there any juice in the fridge?

• There is some juice in the fridge.

Basic uses of some and any

                       Some                                                                Any
1. Affirmatives: I bought some books.           1. Negatives: I didn’t buy any books.
2. Requests: May I have some coffee?           2. General questions:  Do we have any paper left?
3. Offers: Would you like some tea?              3. “No matter who or what”: Any student can do it. 

Vocabulary blog - Economy

Hi everyone!

Today, I’ll discuss some vocabulary related to the economy. You may be familiar with some of these from the news, so don’t hesitate to study more from economic news or newspaper articles.

Economy

• bailout (n.)

- the act of giving money to an organization or a foreign country to help with its financial problem (e.g. Greece has received bailouts from EU countries and the IMF.)

• capitalism (n.)

- an economic system based on private ownership of capital rather than government control (e.g. Capitalism focuses on a free market and individual rights to create prosperity.)

• consolidate (v.)

- to combine things (e.g. The three companies have been consolidated for more capital and investment.)

• deflation (n.)

- a reduction of the general price level of goods or the amount of money in a country’s economic system (e.g. Deflation increases the purchasing power of money.)

• inflation (n.)

- an increase in general price level of goods or the amount of money in a country’s economic system (e.g. Wage rate should be adjusted  to match with current inflation.)

• depression (n.)

- a period when the economy declines and many people are unemployed (e.g. The Great Depression happened in the 1930s.)

• downturn (v.)

- a decline in economic activities (e.g. Many countries around the world have been recently facing an economic downturn.)

• fraudulent (adj.)

- aiming to cheat somebody (e.g. They made fraudulent claims for damages.)

• monopoly (n.)

- the complete control of trade of particular products or services (e.g. In the past, the government had a monopoly on public transportation.)

• subprime (adj.)

- related to the situation where the borrowed money is unlikely to be paid back (e.g. The subprime mortgage was one of the biggest economic problems in the U.S. in the past few years.)

That’s all for today. Hope you learned some new words! See you next time for more words. Bye!

Vocabulary blog - Banking

Hi there!
Hope you are making progress with your test preparations! Today, I’d like to introduce more useful vocabulary related to banking. Let’s check them out!

Banking

• bankrupt (adj./v.)

- being unable to pay debts (e.g. The company was declared bankrupt.)

- to reduce (a person or organisation) to bankruptcy (eg. The strike nearly bankrupted the union.)

• collateral (n.)

- property that you promise to give to somebody if you cannot pay back the money that you borrow (e.g. They put a piece of land up as collateral for bank loan.)

• credit (v./n.)

- to add an amount of money to somebody’s bank account (e.g. Your account has been credited with $4,500.)

- a sum of money paid into a bank account (e.g. You have been paid $4,500 by credit into your account.)

• deposit (v./n.)

- to put money into a bank account (e.g. I had my pay check deposited yesterday.)

- a sum of money paid into a bank account (e.g. You can make deposits at any branch.)

• interest (n.)

- the money that you pay for borrowing money or that you receive when investing money (e.g.  Interest rates have risen by 0.25% this year.)

• loan (v./n.)

- to borrow money from someone (e.g. The bank loaned the money to the company.) 

- the money that a bank lends to somebody (e.g. The company took out a loan for overseas investment.)

• lump sum  (n.)

- an amount of money that is paid at one time (e.g. I have decided to pay a lump sum to get a discount on interest.)

• repayment (n.)

- the act of paying back money such as bank loan (e.g. The loan is due for repayment at the end of the year.)

• withdrawal (n.)

- the act of taking money out of your bank account (e.g. ID card is required for making withdrawals at the bank.)

Hope you find these words helpful for your practice and don’t forget to always keep learning words. See you next time. Bye!

Vocabulary blog - Workplace

Hi there!

I hope you are making progress in learning new words that are helpful for the test. Today, I have some workplace-related words to discuss. I’m pretty sure that you know most if not all of them. Just have another look at them again to review their meaning.

Workplace

• ancillary (adj.)

- providing support to the main work (e.g. We need more ancillary workers to help with cleaning.)

• benefits (n.)

- an advantage provided by the company to employees in addition to normal wage (e.g. Group health insurance is offered as one of the employee’s benefits.)

• colleague (n.)

- a person who you work with (e.g. John went to the conference with his colleagues.)

• dismiss (v.)

- to remove somebody from their job (e.g. He was dismissed from his position for misconduct.)

• labour-intensive (adj.)

- requiring many people or more effort to do (e.g. This task is labour-intensive, so we need to recruit more people.)

• partition (n.)

- a wall which separates each part in an office (e.g. Our offices are separated by glass partitions.)

• punch in/out (v.)

- to record the time when people arrive at/leave from work (e.g. I was late this morning as I punched in at 8.45 a.m.)

• resignation (n.)

- the act of leaving or quitting a job (e.g. He submitted a letter of resignation a few day ago, but it hasn’t been approved yet.)

• stapler (n.)

- a tool used to put staples into paper (e.g. Print all of the documents and use the stapler on my desk.)

• workload (n.)

- the amount of work that has been done (e.g. We need to hire more staff to help with the current workload.)

Vocabulary blog - Technology

Hi there!

Our lives nowadays are more centred around technology, so you can’t avoid using the following words. Brush up your knowledge now!

Technology

• attachment (n.)

- a document sent to somebody together with an email (e.g. Please see the information in the attachment.)

• disconnect (v.)

- to officially cut a connection, etc. (e.g. His line was disconnected as he didn’t pay the phone bill.)

• ex-directory (adj.)

- not listed in the public telephone book (e.g. I don’t know how to contact him as he is ex-directory.)

• handset (n.)

- a mobile/cell phone (e.g. A handset becomes important for daily life as it facilitates communication.)

• intercom (n.)

- a system of communication inside an office (e.g. Staff actually communicate over the intercom.)

• interface (n.)

- the layout of the screen and the menus of a computer (e.g. We should simplify the interface of our website.)

• landline (n.)

- a telephone connection through wires carried on poles or under the ground (e.g. In certain areas, communication still relies on landlines rather than mobile networks.)

• netizen 

- a person who uses the Internet a lot (e.g. Nick became a real netizen as his job requires him to spend three-fourth of his time on the Internet.)

• toggle (v.)

- to press keys on a computer keyboard  to change between features (e.g. He toggled between two programs while working.)

• wireless (adj.)

- without wires (e.g. Wireless mice are commonly used these days.)

Vocabulary blog - Manufacturing

Hi there!
Some of you might work in an manufacturing department or coordinate in one way or another with a production section. If you do, the following words should sound familiar. Let’s check them out!

Manufacturing

• assemble (v.)

- to fit together all the separate parts of something (e.g. The furniture set will be assembled on site.)

• capacity (n.)

- the quantity that a factory or machine can produce (e.g. The maximum capacity of the machine is 1,500 pieces per day.)

• generator (n.)

- a machine for producing electricity (e.g. New generators have been installed for use during the power cut.)

• lead time (n.)

- the time between starting and completing a production process (e.g. The lead time between the placing of order and the delivery of finished products is approximately six months.)

• machinery (n.)

- a group of machines (e.g. The factory has just acquired new machinery for the new production lines.)

• output (n.)

- the amount of something that can be produced (e.g. The output was reduced last year due to the shortage of workers.)

• refinery (n.)

- a factory where a substance is made pure (e.g. My husband works as an engineer in an oil refinery.)

• shift (n.)

- a period of time worked by a group of workers  (e.g. We will be working the night shift next month.)

• warehouse (n.)

- a place where goods are stored (e.g. All of the merchandise is stored in the warehouse before transferring to the port.)

• workforce (n.)

- all the people who work for an organisation (e.g. The company is planning to expand the workforce for the newly established factory.)

Hope you had some fun learning the words. Perhaps, you knew some of them already. See you next time with more vocabulary practice!

Vocabulary blog - Hotel

Hi there!

I believe that most of you have been on vacation and stayed at hotels at some stage. Have you ever come across these words while you were in a hotel?

Hotel

• board (n.)

- the meals that are provided when you stay in a hotel (e.g. We paid $150 two-week board and lodging.)

 • concierge (n.)

- a hotel staff whose job is to help guests by giving them information, etc. (e.g. You can get the information about the sightseeing and public transportation from the concierge.) 

• hospitality (n.)

- generous and welcoming behaviour towards guests (e.g. She works in the hospitality industry, or more specifically, in the hotel business.)

• non-resident (adj.)

- not staying at a particular hotel (e.g. Non-resident guests are required to pay an extra charge for using the lounge.)

• reservation (n.)

- a booking of a seat, a room, etc. (e.g. Please make a reservation at least 7 before arrival at the hotel.)

• self-catering (adj.)

- providing accommodation with equipment necessary for cooking (e.g. We decided to stay in a self-catering accommodation for privacy.) 

• suite (n.)

- a set of special rooms in a hotel (e.g. Our honeymoon suite is still available at a special rate.)

• tariff (n.)

- a list of fixed prices charged by a hotel (e.g. Your mobile-phone tariffs will be charged to your room and will have to be paid upon checkout.)

• upgrade (v./n.)

- To give somebody a better room in a hotel than the one that they paid for (e.g. Your room will be upgraded to single deluxe.)- The process of receiving a better service/product than paid for (e.g. We received an upgrade to a larger room.) 

• vacancy (n.)

- an available room in a hotel (e.g.  We have no vacancies on the weekend.)

Vocabulary blog - Health

Welcome back to another vocabulary session!
Today, we’ll look at vocabulary related to health. Let’s check them out!

Health

• hospitalise (v.)

- to send somebody to the hospital (e.g. He was hospitalised for a car accident.)

• outpatient (n.)

- a patient who comes to receive treatment but does not stay in a hospital (e.g. The outpatient clinic is on the first floor.)

• physician (n.)

- a general doctor who doesn’t do surgery (e.g. You should consult a physician about your symptoms.) 

• medication (n.)

- drugs taken to treat illness (e.g. I feel better after taking medication.)

• prescription (n.)

- a formal list of medicines that a doctor orders you to take (e.g. The doctor gave me a prescription for painkillers.)

• addicted (adj.)

- unable to stop taking drugs (e.g. He became addicted to drugs and needed urgent treatment.)

• casualty (n.)

- a person who is killed or injured (e.g. A lot of car accident casualties have been recorded this holiday season.)

• pharmacist (n.)

- a person whose job is to prepare, give, or sell medicine (e.g. Please wait for your medicine from the pharmacist.)

• allergic (adj.)

- reacting in a negative way to something (e.g. I am allergic to all kinds of flowers.)

• burnout  (n.)

- being extremely tired or ill (e.g. One of my senior colleagues suffers job burnout as he works too hard.)

Vocabulary blog - Marketing

Hi everyone!

There are many words you can learn from reading advertisement or sale promotional materials. Have a look at these words which commonly used in Marketing

Marketing
• commercial (n.)

- a radio or television advertisement (e.g. There are too many TV commercials during the intervals of the talk show.)

• consumer (n.)

- a person who buys goods or uses services (e.g. Consumer demand should be taken into account when creating new products.)

• endorse (v.)

- to declare that you use or support a particular product (e.g. Big brands usually have celebrities to endorse their products in advertisements.)

• flagship (n.)

- the most important product, service, building, etc. that an organisation owns (e.g. Our flagship store is in Paris.)

• gimmick (n.)

- an unusual trick used to persuade people to buy something (e.g. Some companies use gimmicks in their advertisement s to attract consumers.)

• giveaway (n.)

- free stuff given for free along with sold products (e.g. I bought this shampoo because I wanted the giveaway that came with it.)

• launch (v./n.)

- to make a product available on the market (e.g. The new model is expected to be fully launched at the end of the month.)

- the process of introducing a new product (e.g. The product launch of the new model was very successful.)

• merchandise (n.)

- goods that are bought or sold (e.g. The merchandise should arrive at the destination within 7 days.)

• strategy (n.)

- the process of planning something (e.g. Effective strategies have been implemented to increase sales.)

• subliminal (adj.)

- affecting your mind unconsciously  (e.g. The public has been influenced by subliminal advertising that makes them want to buy products.)

Easy, right? Keep learning new words and you will definitely improve your vocabulary which will land you a better score in the test! See you again with some more words. Bye!

Vocabulary blog - Air travel

Hi everyone!
International travelling is always exciting and enjoyable (at least I like to think so)! Today, let’s study the words related to air travel together.

Air travel
• departure (n.)

- the act of leaving a place (e.g. The estimated departure time of the flight is 10.45 a.m.)

• disembark (v.)

- to leave an aircraft upon arrival at destination (e.g. We will disembark at 2.30 p.m.)

• immigration  (n.)   

- the place at an airport where the passports of people coming into a country are checked (e.g. Passengers need to go through the immigration upon landing.)

• long-haul  (adj.)

- involving the transport of passengers over long distances  (e.g. I always have to take long-haul flights to Europe.)

• overbook (v.)

- to sell more tickets on a plane than there are seats available (e.g. The flights are usually overbooked during long holidays.)

• stopover (n.)

- a short stay during  journey (e.g. We had a one-day stopover in Tokyo on the way to Miami.)

• terminal (n.)

- the building at an airport where air passengers arrive and leave (e.g. The second terminal of the airport was opened last month to accommodate the increasing number of international passengers.)

• touch down  (v.)

- to land on the ground (e.g. The plane will touch down in Bangkok in 20 minutes.)

• transit (v.)

- to pass through an area (e.g. We had to transit in Russia.)

• turbulence (n.) 

- sudden and violent changes in the direction that air is moving in (e.g. We can expect some turbulence when we begin our descend in 10 minutes.)

Vocabulary blog - General Business

Hi everyone!

I hope you enjoy practicing grammar and are ready for the test. However, understanding grammar might not be enough for getting a satisfactory score in TOEIC, especially in the Reading Section. You also need to know a fair amount of vocabulary to help you identify which words or phrases fit the prepositional meaning of the sentences (Part 5) and texts (Part 6). In any case, the more vocabulary you know, the better and faster you will understand the passages (Part 7) and identify the correct answers.
Some words have several meanings, but I will focus on business-related words as TOEIC is a professional English test. Therefore, I would like to present some useful words based on the business related topics. Let’s start with

General business

• accept (v)

- take something that is offered  (e.g. We can’t accept their proposal due to unfair conditions.)

• acquisition (n.)

- the acting of getting something (e.g. He’s conducting research on second  language acquisition.)

- something that is obtained (e.g. The latest acquisitions of the museum are a series of 17th century paintings.) 

- acquired properties, especially land or company (e.g. A South American millionaire has made several acquisitions in Asia.)

• approach (v./n.)

- talk to or ask someone for something or offer someone something (e.g. The man has been approached by many entrepreneurs who desire to buy his product for further development.) 

- a way of dealing with something (e.g. we need a whole different approach to the job.)

• bid (v./n.)

- to offer the pay a particular price for something (e.g. We bid $500 for the antique chair.) 

- an offer to pay a particular amount of money for something  (e.g. The company submitted a bid for the contract to build a new plant.)

• broker (v./n.)

- arrange or negotiate a deal or settlement. (e.g. The company brokered a deal with the competitor.)

- a person who buys and sells things for other people (e.g. She has been working as a stock broker since she graduated.)

• buyout (n./v.)

- the purchase of a company's shares to gain its management control and interest (e.g. Wintech Co. is taking a revised buyout bid from one of its competitors.)

- The action of purchasing all company shares (e.g. The board of directors decided to buy out all shares of the targeted company.)

• contract (n./v.)

- an official written agreement (e.g. We have just signed a contract with a construction company.)

- to enter into a formal agreement (e.g. We contracted with a local consultant.)

• deal (n./v.)

- an agreement on particular conditions for buying or doing something (e.g. It seems that they couldn’t close a deal as they failed to agree on the price.)

- to solve an issue (e.g. We dealt with financial crisis as good as we could.)

• merger (n.)

- the act of joining two or more organisations or businesses into one (e.g. The merger between the two companies is expected to take place in three months.)

• reject (v.)

- to refuse to accept or consider something (e.g. The application was rejected due to incomplete documents.)

Hope you enjoyed learning these business-related words! Try to make it a habit to learn new words, especially business-related ones. See you next time for more useful words.

Questions on subject-verb agreement

Subjects and verbs must always agree in English. The basic rule for subject-verb agreement is that singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs. For this reason, you must always identify the real subject in order to choose the correct verb form.

Let’s look at the first example:
1. The number of the students who register for the course __________ .
a) has been rising
b) have been rising
c) are rising
d) risen
The real subject of the above statement is “The number” which takes a singular verb as it is a singular noun in this sentence. The only singular verb among the given choices is a) has been rising.

Look at the next example:
2. All of the tourists’ luggage _______ at the concierge.
    a) leaving
    b) are left
    c) has been left
    d) were left
The subject of the statement is “luggage” which is an uncountable noun, so it is singular. The answer is, therefore, c) has been left.

Using correct verb tenses

To answer questions on verb tenses, you should notice the use of time markers used in the sentence or the tense of the other verb used in the situation related to the action of which verb is missing.
Let’s look at the first example:

1. We___________ for three hours before his plane landed.
    a) waiting
    b) had been waiting
    c) were waited
    d) are waiting
Here you see the time marker “for three hours” which expresses the length of time that the action happened. There are 2 actions: “we wait” and “his plane lands” whereby the former happens and ends before the latter starts. Both actions happened in the past. The action that happened first should be in Past Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous tense (in case the continuity of the action is emphasised) while the action that happened later should be in Past Simple tense. 
The “we wait” action happened and ended before the landing of his plane, so the most appropriate answer is b) had been waiting.
Let’s look at the second example:

2. Generally, people _________ unlabelled products due to safety reasons.
    a) haven’t bought
    b) don’t buy
    c) aren’t bought
    d) buy
You can see the adverb of frequency “Generally” which indicates that the action happens in general. The most appropriate tense should be Present Simple tense as we use this tense for habitual actions or things that happen all the time. Both b) don’t buy and d) buy are Present Simple, but the negative verb makes more sense in this statement. Therefore, the answer is b) don’t buy.
 

Questions with active vs. passive voice

There is a simple way of determining whether active or passive voice is needed. In an active voice sentence, the subject is the person or thing that does the action. In a passive voice sentence, the subject of the sentence is affected by the action of the doer.
Active form = S + V + (O)    The police arrested my uncle.
Passive form = S + be + v.3    My uncle was arrested (by the police).
To answer the question on active and passive voice correctly, you need to identify whether the subject does the action or receives the action.

Let’s look at the first example:
1. More information can __________ from our website.
    a) obtain
    b) be obtained
    c) obtainable
    d) be obtaining
The subject of the above sentence is “information” which cannot do any action, so it cannot obtain anything. “Information” can be obtained by people (receiving the action), so the verb must be in passive form. The correct answer is b) be obtained.

Look at the second example:
2. A car went out of control and _______ into the back of a truck.
    a) crashed
    b) was crashed
    c) crashing
    d) were crashing
Here, the subject is “A car” which crashed or hit another thing. In other words, “A car” is the doer of the action (crashing), so it should be in active form. There are 2 active verbs in the choices: a) crashed and d) were crashing. The subject is singular, so “were crashing” does not fit. Therefore, the answer is a) crashed.

Answering questions with countable vs. uncountable nouns

A very common mistake among English learners is the wrong use of countable and uncountable nouns. While the best way to avoid the wrong usage is to memorise which nouns are countable and which ones are not, there are a few tricks to determine whether a noun is countable or not. The difference between countable and uncountable nouns is that countable nouns can be in either singular or plural forms, but uncountable nouns can be only singular.
In addition to that, countable nouns can come after “a” and “an”, but uncountable nouns cannot.
Therefore, you should know whether the word given is countable or uncountable as it affects the determiner and the –s/-es suffix (a suffix is the ending of a word).
Let’s look at the following example:

1. We still need _______ to support this theory.
          a) more evidence
          b) more evidences
          c) many evidences
          d) an evidence
The missing word is definitely “evidence”, which is given with different determiners and some end with “-s”.
Since “evidence” is an uncountable noun, “evidences” is incorrect as well as “an evidence”. Remember, only countable nouns can have an article before the noun. Uncountable nouns never have the determiner “many” in front of them (that only works with countable ones). Therefore, the correct answer is a) more evidence.
Look at the next example:

2. All online __________ should be made through a secure server.
          a) purchase
          b) purchases
          c) purchasing
          d) that purchase
The word “purchase” in this context is a countable noun which means something that you have bought. Preceded by “all”, it should be in plural form. Therefore, the correct answer is b) purchases.
    

The difference between Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerunds (e.g. learning) and infinitives (e.g. to learn) function as nouns. In other words, they can be subjects of verbs, objects of verbs or objects of prepositions. Some verbs require gerunds as objects while others require infinitives. Sometimes words that come before the blank will indicate whether a gerund or infinitive is needed:

1. The rooms are available for anyone who plans on _______ in North Carolina for a few days.
    a) to stay
    b) staying
    c) stay
    d) stayed
In the example above, the preposition “on” comes before the missing word. Usually, a preposition is followed by a noun, a pronoun, or a gerund (but never an infinitive). Therefore, the correct answer is b) staying.

Look at the next example:
2. You can't expect _________ everything in a few days.
    a) to remember
    b) remember
    c) remembering
    d) that remember
The verb “expect” is followed by an infinitive which is the object of “expect”, so the answer is a) to remember.

Using the correct parts of speech

Sometimes, you will come across questions with very similar given choices of answers like in the 2 examples below. When you see you this, you should know that this question is testing your knowledge of word forms or parts of speech. When answering questions on parts of speech, I suggest that you focus on the words that come before and after the missing word to consider the possible grammatical structure.

Look at the following example:

1. The cloth bag would be more popular if it were more __________.

a) fashion

b) fashioned

c) fashionable

d) fashionista

As you can see, the missing word is after the verb “were” and the determiner “more”, so the most appropriate answer should be an adjective which is c) fashionable as linking verbs like “to be” are often followed by adjectives.

Look at the next example:

2. The problem has not been settled yet. They left the meeting with _________.

a) disappoint

b) disappointed

c) disappoints

d) disappointment

In this example, the missing word comes after the preposition “with”. Normally, a preposition is followed by a noun, a pronoun, or a gerund. Since there isn’t any pronoun or gerund, the only possible answer is d) disappointment, which is a noun.

Dealing with prepositions

People often think that prepositions are just describing placement. However, their use is a bit more complex. When working on a question on prepositions, you should consider what the missing preposition is linking. For prepositions of time, place and movement, there are some rules that you can observe, and we will look at two examples below.

Look at the following example:

1. We are heading ________ Kansas City.

                  a) of

                  b) along

                  c) towards

                  d) underneath

The correct answer is c) towards. The verb “to head” indicates moving in a particular direction. “towards” means “in a direction of”, so “towards” is the most appropriate preposition for “head”.

Sometimes, certain words are used in a combination which we call word collocation. In the following example, you need to know which preposition collocates with “of”.

Look at the next example:

2. The company welcomes all new applicants ________ of educational level.

                  a) concerning

                  b) despite

                  c) except

                  d) regardless

You see here that the missing word is followed by “of”, and the only word collocating (matching) with “of” is d) regardless. The preposition “regardless of” means paying no attention to something. The other three choices are never followed by “of”.

Understanding participles

In English, we use participles, which are formed by a verb + ing or v.3, to modify (or describe) nouns or pronouns. It is important to know when to use verb + ing and when to use v.3. There is an easy way to determine this: If the modified noun/pronoun is the doer of the action, verb + ing will be used. However, if the modified noun/pronoun receives the action, v.3 will be used.
Let’s look at the first example:

1. The amount of money __________ for renovating the shop was over the budget.
    a) spend
    b) spending
    c) to spend
    d) spent
The modified noun is “The amount of money” which was spent for renovating the shop. In other word, it receives the action of spending, so the answer is d) spent.
Let’s look at the next example:

2. The person _________ the event is Ms. Wang’s new assistant.
    a) coordinate
    b) coordinating
    c) coordinated
    d) coordination
The missing participle modifies “The person” who coordinates the event. In other word, he/she is the doer of such action, so b) coordinating is the correct answer.
Remember, always figure out whether the modified noun is doing the action (then use verb + ing) or is the receiver of the action (then use v.3)

How to manage time in the TOEIC test

Hi all!

Last time, we talked about what you should do on the test day and what happens in the test room. Now, you are ready to take the actual test. The level of difficulty is one of the major concerns for test takers, but I would say that the complexity of language used in the TOEIC is not too high to understand as it is a test of communicative English proficiency. If you work in an international environment, or communicate in English regularly, I’m quite certain that just a bit more practice will help you to get a satisfactory score.

The real major problem for most of the test takers is ‘time’. Finishing 200 questions within 120 minutes is not a piece of cake unless your reading skills are near perfect. Why do I mention ‘reading skills’ specifically, but not the ‘listening skills’? Well, it’s because of the fact that the first 45 minutes dedicated to the Listening Part is beyond your control. In other words, you have to listen and mark the answer right away since the audio will be played only one time. There is no time you can save or waste during this part.

However, the next 75 minutes are completely yours to manage. Whether you will finish 100 questions of the Reading Part in time or not totally depends on your time management skills. These are my suggestions:

1.    In Part 5 and 6, read the choices first. By looking at the given choices, you will know what points of grammar you should focus on.

2.    In Part 7, read the questions first. Underline keywords in the questions and scan the passage for them. When you see the keywords, stop there and read the statement to find the answer. In case of main idea questions, you should skim through some parts of the passage such as the title, headings, and the first sentences of the first paragraph.

3.    Remember that the 75 minutes is under your control. Don’t spend more than 45 seconds on each question. If you’re not sure of the answer, skip that question and get back to it when you finish the last one. 

4.    Check your watch regularly and compare with the number of question you have finished. Increase your speed if there are too many questions left unanswered while the time is nearly up.

5.    The last thing I would recommend is that you should mark each answer on the answer sheet right after you decide on it. Don’t mark all 200 answers in the test booklet and transfer them to the answer sheet altogether at the end. Though it depends on individual technique, most of the test takers fail to make it in time. So, just do it one by one.

These are all of my suggestions on time management. I hope you find them helpful for your preparation. Remember that the more you practice, the higher score you get. Next time, I’ll come up with suggested practice resources.

See you then!