Step 3 – Evaluate Your Grammar Competencies

The third step to successfully pass the TOEFL iBT Exam is learning basic and advanced sentence structures, verb tenses, word forms, word choice, parallel structures, and so on. Think about the importance of grammar. A car can not run without its engine, right? Most certainly, a language can not exist without its grammar. Without having a knowledge of grammar, you will be limited in your reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills.

“What do I get in these seven video lessons totaling 37 minutes of instruction?”

This lesson focuses on one of the most baffling and mysterious areas of writing: punctuation. Most TOEFLers and college writers in general  have difficulty with semi-colons ( ; ) colons ( :  ),  apostrophes ( car’s), periods ( .  ), question marks ( ? ), exclamation points ( ! ),  and dashes ( — ).  This lack of knowledge prevents them from advancing their writing skills. Furthermore, it may prevent them (and maybe you!) from scoring higher on the writing section of the TOEFL if they have a lot of mistakes with these punctuation marks. After this lesson, you will be much better equipped with when to use each of the punctuation marks taught in this lesson.

The first video spends 10 minutes teaching you 3 easy-to-understand rules using the semi-colon, all designed to help you make your writing more navigable for your readers (And this includes the TOEFL iBT human raters who will read your writing). Of course, I teach through illustration, meaning I will give you plenty of example sentences to help you understand.  You will also learn 4 specific situations when you should not the semi-colon.

The second video spends 8 minutes teaching you 3 easy-to-understand rules about when to use the colon. Additionally, you will learn 3 rules about when not to use the colon.  Learning how to use the colon is another step which will help you to elevate your writing skills to an acceptable collegiate level.

The third video spends 7 minutes teaching you 6 easy-to understand rules about how to correctly use the apostrophe, perhaps the most confusing punctuation mark to non-native and native speakers alike.  This video will also explain two common misuses of the apostrophe so that you can avoid these mistakes in your writing.

The fourth video spends 3 minutes explaining  5 rules about when to use or not use the period.  Now you may be thinking, “I know when I need to use the period, so I do not need this lesson.”    But let me ask you this, “When referring to organizational names, academic degrees, and designations for eras, should you use periods?  How about titles of address?  Do you need periods with those?”

The fifth video spends 2 minutes explaining 3 rules about when to use the question mark, particularly focusing on one rule that will definitely make your writing advance to a higher level.  Even with something as simple as a question mark, you will learn something new in this video.

The sixth video spends about 3 minutes explaining the exclamation point, especially helping you to structure your ideas so that they have exactly the right emphasis to meaningfully engage your readers.  And that is a good thing, trust me.

The seventh and final video spends almost 5 minutes explaining the dash.  You will learn how to form the dash and how it compares to the colon and the comma.  In all, you will learn 3 important uses of the dash.  After this video, you will no  longer need to avoid using this punctuation mark because you will have the confidence of when to use it in writing and why.

“Why is it important to use correct punctuation? Who cares?”

Let me ask you this, “Do you think traffic signals are important for drivers?” Of course, they are, right?

Like traffic signals such as stop signs, red lights, and yield signs, all of which make it easier for drivers to navigate their ways through complex roads, punctuation help your readers navigate through the complex grammatical structures of your writing. If you use punctuation correctly, you are communicating much more effectively as a writer. Of course, the better you can communicate, the higher your TOEFL writing score will be. Finally, having a sound understanding of punctuation will help you to better understand reading passages, which also means you can improve your TOEFL reading score as well.

“What else do you include in this lesson? Will I get to practice what you teach?”

Yes, you will get dozens, hundreds, and even more practice exercises to help you in every imaginable area of English grammar, particularly as it relates to collegiate writing. Upon the purchase of this lesson, I will give you access to the same web site that my undergraduate composition students at California State University, San Bernardino use. You will get practice exercises in writing, grammar, research, and you will be able to see how research papers are organized and formatted.

“OK. This lesson sounds right for me. But I am still not sure if I want to buy your lesson?”

Having taught more than 200 English grammar and 200 TOEFL classes since 1994 at California State University, I have a combined total of 3,400 hours of classroom teaching. And that doesn’t count the 1st and 3rd year composition classes I have taught at the same school since 1997. When it comes to grammar and particularly how to use it to advance your speaking and writing proficiencies, you will NOT find anyone more qualified than I. Buy this lesson because I am qualified to teach you the lesson, and I am genuinely interested in helping you score higher on TOEFL iBT speaking and writing. You will not be disappointed with my instruction.