Ch2. TOEIC Strategy — Grammar Mastery: Parts 5 & 6

RC Overview

The Reading Comprehension section has 100 questions with approximately 75 minutes.

Part	Type	Questions
Part 5	Incomplete Sentences	30
Part 6	Text Completion	16 (4 texts × 4 questions)
Part 7	Reading Comprehension	54
Total		100

Time management: Aim for 20–30 seconds per Part 5 question. The faster you finish Parts 5–6, the more time remains for Part 7, where most points are scored. Skip difficult items and return later.

20 Core Grammar Patterns

Pattern 1: Parts of Speech

The most frequently tested pattern. Look at the blank’s position to decide whether a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb is needed.

Position rules:

Noun slot: article/possessive + ___ ; or preposition + ___
Adjective slot: be verb + ___ ; or ___ + noun
Adverb slot: before/after a verb; before an adjective or adverb; at the start of a sentence
Verb slot: subject + ___ + object/complement

Memorize word families in sets of four:

Noun	Verb	Adjective	Adverb
decision	decide	decisive	decisively
consideration	consider	considerable	considerably
management	manage	managerial	—
approval	approve	approved	—

Pattern 2: Verb Tense

Choose the tense using time-signal words in the sentence.

Signal word	Tense
yesterday, last year, ago	Simple past
tomorrow, next week, soon	Future
by + future time	Future perfect
since, for + period, recently, already	Present perfect
when + past, while + past progressive	Past / past progressive

“Sales ___ steadily since last year.” → have increased (present perfect)
“The project ___ by next Friday.” → will have been completed (future perfect)

Pattern 3: Active vs. Passive

Choose passive when:

No object follows the blank (the action receiver is the subject)
The agent is unknown or unimportant
“The document ___ by the director.” → was signed
“The new policy ___ next month.” → will be implemented

If a direct object follows the blank → active voice.

Pattern 4: Subject-Verb Agreement

Match verb number to the subject, ignoring intervening phrases.

Watch out for:

Modifying phrase between subject and verb:
“The manager of all departments is…” (subject = manager)
Collective nouns (staff, committee, team) → singular verb:
“The staff is meeting tomorrow.”
Either A or B / Neither A nor B → verb agrees with B (closer noun):
“Either the manager or the employees are responsible.”
Indefinite pronouns:
- Singular: each, every, either, neither, anyone, everyone
- Plural: both, several, many, few

Pattern 5: Relative Pronouns and Adverbs

Antecedent	Subject	Object	Possessive
Person	who	whom	whose
Thing/animal	which	which	whose / of which
Either	that	that	—

How to choose:

Blank followed by a verb → subject relative pronoun (who, which, that)
Blank followed by subject + verb → object relative pronoun (whom, which, that)
Blank followed by a noun → possessive (whose)

Relative adverbs:

Antecedent	Adverb
Place (city, office…)	where
Time (day, year…)	when
Reason	why
Way / manner	how

Pattern 6: Prepositions

Time prepositions:

Preposition	Use	Example
at	specific time	at 3 p.m., at noon
on	date / day	on Monday, on June 5
in	month / year / season / morning/afternoon	in March, in the morning
by	deadline (completion)	by Friday
until	continuation to a point	until midnight
for	duration	for two weeks
since	from a past point until now	since 2020
during	throughout an event	during the meeting

High-frequency preposition phrases:

as of [date]: effective from / as at
due to / owing to / because of: before a noun phrase
in spite of / despite: although (before a noun phrase)
in addition to: besides, as well as
with regard to / regarding: concerning
prior to / before: earlier than
following / after: subsequent to

Pattern 7: Conjunction vs. Preposition

Conjunction + clause (subject + verb); preposition + noun (phrase).

Conjunction	Preposition equivalent
because + clause	because of + noun
although/though + clause	despite / in spite of + noun
while + clause	during + noun
when + clause	upon / at the time of + noun
so that + clause	for the purpose of + noun

“Although it rained, the event continued.” ✓
“Despite the rain, the event continued.” ✓
“Despite it rained…” ✗

Pattern 8: Conditional Sentences

Type	Structure	Meaning
Real (Type 1)	If + present, will + base	likely future condition
Unreal (Type 2)	If + past, would + base	hypothetical present
Past unreal (Type 3)	If + past perfect, would have + p.p.	hypothetical past

“If we receive your order by noon, we will ship it today.” (Type 1)
“If she were available, she would attend.” (Type 2)

Patterns 9–20: Quick Reference

Pattern	Key rule
9. Articles (a/an/the)	Specific/known → the; first mention or countable → a/an
10. Gerund vs. infinitive	”enjoy/avoid/finish + -ing”; “want/agree/decide + to”
11. Participle phrases	Dangling modifier: subject of main clause = doer of participle
12. Comparative/superlative	Two items → -er / more; three or more → -est / most
13. Parallel structure	”A, B, and C” — all the same grammatical form
14. Pronoun agreement	Pronoun matches antecedent in number and gender
15. Causative verbs	have/make/let + object + base; get + object + to-inf
16. Reported speech	”He said he was tired.” (backshift in tense)
17. Negation	barely/hardly/seldom = semi-negative; avoid double negatives
18. Inversion	”Not until…” / “No sooner…” → inverted auxiliary + subject
19. Noun clause	”I know that he left.” / “whether” for yes/no indirect questions
20. Vocabulary in context	Choose by meaning in sentence, not dictionary definition

Part 6 Strategy

Part 6 adds one unique question type not found in Part 5: sentence-insertion questions. Otherwise, the grammar rules above apply.

Sentence-insertion approach:

Read the full paragraph, not just the immediate context
The inserted sentence must flow logically from the preceding sentence and into the following one
Look for pronoun referents and discourse connectors (“However,” “In addition,” “As a result”)

Part 6 vocabulary questions: the correct word must fit both grammatically and contextually with the whole passage — not just the blank’s immediate surroundings.

Practice Quiz

Q1. Which word correctly fills the blank? “The ___ of the new product line will be announced next week.”

(A) launch (B) launching (C) launched (D) launches

(A) launch — noun slot (the + ___ + of); “launch” is the noun form.

Q2. Choose the correct form: “The manager as well as the employees ___ in the training session.”

is — “as well as” is a parenthetical phrase, not a compound subject; the subject remains “the manager” (singular).

Q3. Choose the correct connector: ”___ the heavy rain, the outdoor event was not cancelled.”

(A) Although (B) Because (C) Despite (D) While

(C) Despite — the blank is followed by a noun phrase (“the heavy rain”), so use the preposition despite, not the conjunction although.