Pembahasan Soal TOEFL ITP Bagian Structure dan Written Expression

Dua pekan terakhir, saya kembali mempelajari TOEFL, khusus bagian structure dan written expression. Selain untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis dengan Bahasa Inggris, kebetulan saya ikut membantu adik-adik yang mengikuti ujian seleksi masuk perguruan tinggi. Karena latar belakang pendidikan saya bukan Bahasa Inggris, saya meminta bantuan teman -Rozi Setiawan- alumni Magister Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) Bandung untuk memperbaiki kesalahan yang saya buat. Melihat kertas saya yang penuh corat-coret, kok rasanya sayang jika kertas itu hanya berakhir sebagai bungkus gorengan. Akhirnya, saya memilih untuk menulisnya sebagai Catatan Kecil. Selain agar bisa dibaca kembali saat dibutuhkan, saya berharap catatan ini bermanfaat buat teman-teman yang sedang belajar. Saya juga pernah belajar TOEFL secara otodidak, mengandalkan website dan kelas gratis dari Sekolah TOEFL. Tentu saja Catatan Kecil tidak sebagus Sekolah TOEFL, tapi tujuannya sama, membantu orang lain dalam belajar. Jika terdapat kesalahan, dengan senang hati akan kami terima masukan dari teman-teman. Let's discuss ... 

1) The uncommon and devastating natural disasters in many parts of the world reminded people of the gloomy predictions ... the effects of global warming.

(A) regarding

(B) in agreement with

(C) on top of

(D) according to

2) International companies and investors in China are complaining that China's policies on foreign enterprises are much more restrictive than ... two years before.

(A) were

(B) were they

(C) it was

(D) they were

3) Originally black in color, the razor fish will change into its colors of camouflage ...

(A) because of its danger

(B) as soon as it senses danger

(C) in spite of the danger

(D) there is the sense of danger.

4) Vitamin D is effective for the absorption of calcium needed for our bones and ... of rickets in children, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin D.

(A) to prevent

(B) the prevention 

(C) preventing

(D) preventive

5) ... cholesterol that floats around in our blood comes from consuming too much bad fats, such as saturated fats and trans-fats.

(A) The most

(B) Most of

(C) Since most

(D) Most of the

6) Only recently in February 2014 ... in the Olympic Winter Games, while ski jumping for men has been a fixed event ever since the first Winter Games started in 1924.

(A) was ski jumping for women incorporated

(B) the incorporation of women's ski jumping

(C) women's ski jumping was incorporated

(D) that ski jumping for women was incorporated

7) The deeper the coal mines, ... faced by the miners.

(A) the more numerous the problems

(B) there were numerous problems

(C) the problems are more numerous

(D) more numerous are the problems

8) There is a type of jelly-fish that does not grow bigger than a peanut ... it is the most poisonous creature on earth.

(A) otherwise

(B) however

(C) in spite of

(D) unless

9) ... that primary and secondary schools are too much focused on rote-learning is one of the reasons for the Ministry of Education to make changes in the school curriculum.

(A) It is the notion

(B) The notion is

(C) The notion

(D) As the notion

10) With slow ... growth around the world, investors are searching for startup companies that might give a good return investment.

(A) economy

(B) economic

(C) economist

(D) economical

11) The Ritchter Scale, a system of measuring how strong an earthquake is, ... seismologists to describe an earthquake in quantitative terms.

(A) to enable

(B) enabling

(C) they enable

(D) enables

12) Sophisticated underwater drones were also used in the hunt for the Malaysian airliner that had disappeared in such a ... way.

(A) mystery

(B) mysterious

(C) big mystery

(D) mysteriously

13) Smoke signals, used in the past by the American Indian tribes, were sent to convey simple messages ... had been agreed upon beforehand.

(A) that meaning

(B) its meaning

(C) the meaning

(D) whose meaning

14) Widely known as the land of 'fire and ice', Iceland is famous for its highly active volcanoes- ... side by side with cold glaciers and thick ice.

(A) its existence

(B) they exist

(C) whose existence

(D) existing

15) The local TV station had to withdraw a commercial that ... offensive by the general public.

(A) consider it

(B) to consider

(C) considering

(D) was considered

Mana yang salah dari kata yang digarisbawahi pada kalimat di bawah ini?

16) Easy terms on loans for motorcycles have met the need for a private means of transport, but has simultaneous led to huge, unforeseen traffic problems.

17) Construction of nuclear reactors that generate clean energy has come to a standstill in many countries because the unsolved problem of radioactive waste disposal. 

18) To protect the giant Panda in the wild, the Chinese government banned logging and undertaking expansion of the Panda's habitat by replanting the forest.

19) Fossils found in any sedimentary rock are a good source of informations about insects, animals and plants of the far past.

20) According to World Bank reports, gasoline subsidies in developing countries my in one year amount to $ 125 billions, which is a heavy burden on the government. 

21) Exposure to radiation it may affect an organism as it damages individual cells that may then grow uncontrollably and ultimately form a tumor.

22) More than 60 countries have established agricultural gene banks as they strive preserving the genetic diversity of important food crops.

23) The importance of agribusiness for a developing country is whether it absorbs agricultural surpluses and eventually reduces dependence on food imports.

24) Medical experts have since suspected long that unremitting stress can impair the immunity system or lead to depression, especially among elderly people. 

25) Although it is true that was correspondents and photographers are always working in great danger of their lives, but it was a shock to know the large number of those killed during the war in Iraq.

26) Floating either upstream and downstream from villages deep in Kalimantan, the bamboo raft is never in lack passengers.

27) One of the major ways to understand modern societies are found in the relatively new theories of social science today.

28) Crossbills, an unique type of birds living in the pine forests of North America, primarily feed on the seeds within pine cones which they skillfully draw out with their hard, crossed bills. 

  

29) Whereas tourism in the beautiful western part of Bali is getting overdeveloped, the eastern part of Bali with their highlands and beaches remains unspoiled.

30) The 1300-miles-long Orinoco River in Venezuela begins in the highland of Parima in the south and flows to the Atlantic Ocean in the north-west. 

31) The read-breasted wild geese in the Arctic Circle are in danger of extinction because the continuous melting of the arcticice makes it increasingly hard to find food enough.

32) The government's tax revenues will undoubtedly to rise significantly on account of the sharply increased taxes imposed on properties.

33) In time past the appearance of a comet created fear and hysterical among the people as it was attributed to supernatural causes or perceived as bad omens of disasters.

34) Because astronomers have been able to predict the recurrence of sun and moon eclipses since ages, it was not until 1754 that an astronomer, Edmund Halley, could successfully predict the return of a comet.

35) Almost every university and college now have a placement office where employers and job-seekers can meet. 

36) Offering distinctively comfortable facilities, modern big hotels being ideal venues not only for social gatherings but also for different annual conference or conventions. 

37) Supporting nuclear power to replace fossil fuel in order to reduce global warming actually means exchanging one environmental risk for other.

38) When present your business card to someone in Japan or Korea, you should use both hands and show the card in a way that enables the recipient to read it readily.

39) In the late fifteenth century European countries are competing in sending sea expeditions to find the spice islands and create new trade routes. 

40) F. Sherwood Woodland was the 1995 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry who sounding the alarm of the damage to the thin ozone layer as a consequence of the widespread use of chemicals known as CFCFs.

Answers 

1. (A) regarding = with respect to
2. (D) they were. Ini adalah kalimat perbandingan (comparative) karena ada than.
3. (B) as soon as it senses danger (ketika ikan razor merasakan bahaya). Ini berhubungan dengan arti kalimat (meaning). Aslinya, ikan razor (ikan yang memiliki taring) berwarna hitam. Ikan ini akan mengubah warnanya sebagai bentuk kamuflase ... 
4. (B) the prevention. Kata and menunjukkan bahwa ini adalah kalimat setara, struktur kalimat di sebelah kiri harus sama dengan struktur kalimat di sebelah kanan. Sebelum and ada kata the absorption of (noun), maka setelah and harus ada the prevention of (noun). 
5. (B) Most of karena kalimat ini sifatnya umum, kolestrol yang mengalir di dalam darah kita berasal dari ... Most of the dipakai jika kalimat bersifat khusus. The most untuk kalimat paling (superlative).
6. (A) was ski jumping for women incorporated, kalimat ini adalah inversion, kalimat yang strukturnya dibalik dengan pola Auxiliary Verb + Subject. Kalimat inversion digunakan untuk menegaskan suatu hal. Biasanya diawali dengan kata only, rarely, not until, not since, dan hardly.
7. (A) kalimat harus memiliki pola yang sama.
8. (B) Otherwise untuk mengekspresikan negative result. Ex: This boy had better stop fooling around. Otherwise, he won't learn very much. Sedangkan unless untuk mengekspresikan negative condition. Ex: Unless this boy stop fooling around, he won't learn very much. In spite of sama dengan despite, untuk menyatakan sesuatu yang kontras dan ditempatkan di depan noun. However artinya adalah namun.
9. (A) kalimat soal membutuhkan Subject dan Verb/Auxiliary Verb 
10. (B) growth adalah noun sehingga membutuhkan adjective. Economical juga adajective, namun untuk menyatakan benda yang memiliki nilai ekonomi.
11. (D) kalimat belum memiliki Verb.
12. (B) such a ... way adalah noun phrase sehingga dibutuhkan adjective.
13. (D) kalimat membutuhkan conjunction untuk kepemilikan atau kepunyaan.
14. (B) kalimat belum memiliki subject dan verb.
15. (D) kalimat dalam bentuk pasif Auxiliary Verb + Past participle (V3).
16. Simultaneous (adjective) pada kalimat itu tidak tepat karena led adalah verb. Harusnya simultaneously led (adverb + verb).
17. That generate, harusnya that generates karena construction of nuclear reactors adalah singular subject atau subjek tunggal.
18. Undertaking, harusnya undertook (past tense, V2) karena sebelumnya ada kata kerja past tense, yaitu banned. Conjunction and menunjukkan bahwa kalimat harus setara.
19. Informations, harusnya information karena bentuk singular dan plural (jamak) dari information adalah information, tidak ada informations. Sama halnya dengan kata news. 
20. On the government, harusnya to the government.
21. It may affect, harusnya may affect saja karena kalimat sudah punya subject sehingga tidak membutuhkan it sebagai subject.
22. Preserving, harusnya to preserve.
23. Whether, harusnya that, bukan whether karena whether digunakan bersama dengan or.
24. Suspected long, harusnya long suspected karena adverb + Verb, bukan sebaliknya.
25. Was correspondents, harusnya correspondents karena kalimat tidak memerlukan was.
26. And, harusnya or karena sebelumnya ada either.
27. Are found, harusnya is found karena one of ... adalah singular (tunggal).
28. An, harusnya a karena walaupun unique diawali dengan huruf vocal, dibaca "yunic", diawali dengan huruf konsonan. An digunakan untuk kata yang diawali dengan huruf vocal seperti an hour, an apple, dan lain-lain.
29. Their, harusnya its karena singular.
30. 1300-miles-long, harusnya 1300-mile-long, bukan miles karena kata mile dalam kalimat ini berfungsi sebagai kata sifat, bukan untuk menyatakan jumlah.
31. Food enough, harusnya enough food karena polanya adalah enough + Noun atau  Adjective + enough.
32. To rise, harusnya rise karena setelah modal (will, can, shall, dan might) harus infinitive (V1).
33. Hysterical, harusnya hysteria (noun) karena sebelum kata and adalah fear (noun). Kalimat yang menggunakan and atau or harus setara.
34. Because, harusnya since karena ada not until dan tahun.
35. Almost every, harusnya almost all.
36. Being, harusnya becomes karena kalimat belum memiliki Verb.
37. For other, harusnya with another.
38. Present, harusnya presenting karena 'mempresentasikan'.
39. Are competing, harusnya were competing karena waktu lampau (past tense).
40. Sounding, harusnya sounded karena waktu lampau (past tense)