TOPIK Grammars (문법) Tips


Together with Vocabulary questions, Grammar makes out half of the questions in the first section of TOPIK test. The Grammar part starts from question number 14 up the the 26th question,  and also half of the last  4 questions (normally question number 27 and 29). Just like its brother Vocabulary questions, the Grammar part is also grouped into several types of questions that normally stay the same for several TOPIK.

1. Questions #14-18: Select the most appropriate Grammar

For these first 5 questions, we need to pick up the best grammar among 4 possible options to complete the conversation. There will be two sentences of conversation, one said by 가 and responded by 나. In one of the sentence, there will be empty bracket “(…..)” that we need to fill up with correct grammar. Even though normally the blank appears in second sentence (the one said by 나), there is also some probability that it will come out in the first sentence.

Because it tests out Grammar understanding, almost in every case the basic form of the words is similar, they only differ grammatically. For example, the basic word is “가다”, then the alternative options could be 가곤 하다, 가는 편이다, 갈까 봐요, 갈 테니까, 가도라도, and so on so forth. Just like other common rules, the score for these questions are: 3, 4, 3, 3 and 3 (for questions #14, #15, #16, #17, and #18 respectively).

Here is a sample question of this type, taken from the 29th TOPIK test:

15. (4점)
가: 시청 앞에 왜 이렇게 사람들이 많은 거예요?
나: 오늘부터 세계 문화 축제를 (………. ).
① 시작하거든요 ② 시작하기는요
③ 시작하면 돼요 ④ 시작할까 해요

2. Questions #19-23: Select the wrong Grammar usage

On the next 5 questions, we will deal with Grammar usage. There will be 4 sentences with certain Grammar on each sentence. Our task is to cross out one wrong usage among those 4 sentences. I don’t know why, but the order of points for this type is 4, 4, 3, 4, and 3 (you might find this is not important, but that’s the order of points they give on this part).

For each question, normally the Grammar used in those 4 sentences are somehow related or quite similar. For example, it might be talking about ‘polite words,’ that will test our understanding in using 높임말, such as 주다->(주시다 or 드리다), 만나다 -> 뵙다, 묻다 -> 여쭈다, 있다 -> (있으시다 or 계시다), 데리다 -> 모시다, 집-> 댁, 생일-> 생신, etc. Or it might deal with the notorious passive verbs (피동사) and causative verbs (사동사).

Here is a sample from TOPIK 29.

21. (3점)
① 거실 벽에 오래된 시계가 걸려 있다.
② 나는 3년 전부터 태권도를 배워 갔다.
③ 그는 언제나 내 고민을 잘 들어 준다.
④ 어제 한 숙제를 집에 놓고 와 버렸다.

3. Questions #24-26: Choose similar expression

Quite similar to the first part. However, in this part, we need to find out similar expression compared to the provided one (the one with underline). There will be 2 sentences, a conversation between 가 and 나. Quite straightforward. The points for this part is 4, 3, and 3, accordingly.

If we look back to the 29th TOPIK question, here is one sample of this type:

26 (3점)
가: 1년 만에 고향에 갔는데 몰라보게 변했더라고요.
나: 그렇지요? 너무 많이 변해서 저도 깜짝 놀랐어요.
① 몰라볼수록 ② 몰라볼 텐데
③ 몰라볼까 봐 ④ 몰라볼 정도로

4. Questions #27 and #29: Fill out the blank

In this part, there will be two quite long conversations/reading (3-4 sentences) with two blanks for each passage. One of the blanks will be Grammar question (#27 and #29) while the other one is for Vocabulary (#28 and #30). The blank for questions #27 and #29  is normally for mere Grammar question, that is, picking up the correct Grammar expression based on the conversation/reading context.

Once again, here is a sample of such question that I copy from 29th TOPIK test.

27. 3 Points.
가: 회사 앞에서 공사를 하네요.
나: 수도관이 (…㉠…) 도로가 엉망이 됐어요. 그래서 공사하는 거래요.
가: 요즘 날씨가 추워서 크고 작은 사고가 많은 것 같아요.
나: 그러게요. 당분간 추운 날씨가 계속된다고 하는데 걱정이에요.
㉠에 알맞은 것을 고르십시오.
① 터지나 마나 ② 터지는 바람에
③ 터질지도 몰라서 ④ 터질 뿐만 아니라

That is for today. Thank you for visiting my blog. See you again in the next articles.

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