1997年1 月份第三篇文章第三段首句：Any attempt to trace the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. 很多学生认为该句子的谓语是make，很显然他们不习惯主谓分离的句子结构。分析四级阅读主谓分离的长难句后，我们不难发现这类句子开始的名词一般就是主语，这是理解句子的突破点(这个规律并不绝对，但在四级阅读中比较明显)。按此方法，上面这个句子的主语是单数形式的any attempt ，谓语便是leads to而不可能是make了。
又如，经常有同学问1995年6 月份考试中下面这个句子怎么理解：Britain almost more than any other country in the world must seriously face the problem of building upwards ， that is to say ， of accommodating a considerable proportion of its population in the high blocks of flats. 该句子的理解关键还在于句子主干的确定。我们发现句子的开头是Britain 这个名词，而后面并没有紧跟的谓语动词，在四级阅读中这是一个很明显的主谓分离的现象。根据上面的方法，我们可以初步确定Britain 是主语，这样句子的理解就不难了。
(2)环环相扣型：
我们先看1993年6 月份四级阅读的一个句子：At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. 该句子相对较长，理解的时候关键是要注意到句子中包含两个定语从句，即“who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account”是用来限定a primary nurse ，而“that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state”
是限定a full-scale health account 的。这里一环扣着一环，使句子变得比较长，这正是环环相扣型句子的特点。理解这样的句子时，一定要有分层的思想，即把长句分割为几个部分分别理解。
再看2002年6 月份四级阅读出现的一个长难句：Tracking whales is but one example of an exciting new world just opening to civilian scientists after the cold war as the Navy starts to share and partly uncover its global network of underwater listening system built over the decades to track the ships of potential enemies. 文章后面根据该句子设计了两个题目，所以考生必须要理解这句话。但是由于句子较长，很多同学并不能较好理解该句子。
但如果借用分层思想，把句子进行分割解剖，这句话就可以分为以下四个简单的部分：①Tracking whales is but one example of an exciting new world;②just opening to civilian scientists after the cold war;③as the Navy starts to share and partly uncover its global network of underwater listening system;④built over the decades to track the ships of potential enemies.这样后面的题目也就迎刃而解了。