Using nouns correctly in TOEFL speaking and writing will help you improve your score. What is a noun? Are there different types of nouns? What can you do to limit your errors with nouns?
Table of Contents
Nouns in TOEFL speaking and writing: Definition
Nouns can be persons, places, or things.
- Person: student
- Place: TOEFL testing center
- Thing: Happiness
The bolded words in the following sentences are nouns:
- Mount Pinatubo’s volcanic eruption was one of the most powerful explosions over the last 1000 years.
- A 7.1 earthquake occurred in Ridgecrest, California.
- The government lowered tax rates on businesses and decreased the regulations in order to encourage small business growth.
Three important clues can help you identify nouns:
- Prefixes and suffixes on nouns: -ment and -tion are common affixes which attach to nouns (testament and dictation)
- The position the nouns occur in the sentence: Nouns common occur as subjects (John went to the opera with his friends.), objects (Jane finished her paper.), and objects of prepositions (At the store Tom purchased some clothes.)
- Words occurring before nouns: Determiners (the money), quantifiers (several books), and adjectives (intelligent animal) typically serve as noun markers.
Nouns in TOEFL speaking and writing: Abstract and Concrete
One way to improve your mastery of nouns involves your recognition of abstract and concrete nouns.
- Abstract: Nouns that we cannot touch or see–nouns representing processes that exist in time (weather, storm, sunset) and nouns representing non-observable things such as faith, belief, and happiness.
- Concrete: Nouns that we can see and touch–nouns naming things that exist in three-dimensional space and are observable such as people, animals, physical objects, and tangible things
Read each category of nouns. What column is abstract? concrete?
| Love | Squash |
| Anxiety | Umbrella |
| Freedom | Car |
| Charity | Door |
| Democracy | Table |
| Depression | Can |
| Liberty | Boy |
| Anger | Building |
| Puzzlement | Book |
Nouns in TOEFL speaking and writing: Common and Proper Nouns
Characteristics of common nouns
- Have more than one referent
- Pick out a member of a set of more than one: insanity, food, seatbelt
- Are usually not capitalized in writing
Proper noun characteristics
- Refer to a unique entity or referent
- Pick out a member of a set but there is only one member of that set: Thanksgiving, President of the United States, Statue of Liberty
- Are usually capitalized in writing
Nouns in TOEFL speaking and writing: Count and Mass
Count nouns describe discrete units and can be pluralized; these determiners care commonly used before count nouns:
- A, an
- Another
- Both
- Each
- Every
- Many
- Few
- Several
Mass/uncountable nouns describe an unbounded mass and cannot be pluralized; to make a mass noun countable, a counting term has to be used to divide a mass into countable units: a piece of information and item of clothing. The below two words are commonly used with mass nouns:
- Much
- Less
Some, all, and the can be used with count and mass nouns.
Read each category of nouns. What column is count? Mass?
| Squirrel | Mud |
| Phone | Water |
| Computer | Air |
| Pencil | Homework |
| Item | Sugar |
| Window | Traffic |
| Person | Noise |
| Bottles | Light |
| Key | Sand |
Quantifiers such as much and less are usually used with mass nouns:
- There isn’t much homework in this grammar class.
- We have less pollution in San Bernardino than we have had in the past.
Count nouns can sometimes be used with a mass meaning:
- Neighborhoods may be allowed to have up to five chickens per household. (count)
- According to many dieticians, eating chicken is healthier than eating red meat. (mass)
Nouns in TOEFL speaking and writing: Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are count nouns used to define a group of objects such as team, pride (of lions), jury.
- Unlike mass nouns, collective nouns can be pluralized: teams, prides, and juries
- Usually collective nouns are treated as singular
Compare the sentences using collective nouns with singular or plural verbs. Is there any difference in meaning?
- The class has decided to go do group projects instead of having a final exam. (The class as a group.)
- The class are discussing among themselves about whether or not they will have a written exam. (The individual members of a group.)
Generic Nouns
Generic nouns are another way to semantically classify nouns:
- Dogs are man’s best friend.
- Cats and dogs sometimes do not get along.
Most generic nouns are used without a determiner like the definite article the or the indefinite article a/an. Conversely, we can still understand generic nouns even when they are used with articles.
- A computer is a useful tool for writing research papers.
- The computer has changed the way students write research papers.
Nouns Quiz
1. The bear showed so much________at the hikers passing by.
A. anger
B. gestures
C. attention
D. smiles
2. Earthquakes cause devastating damage to________________.
A. structure
B. buildment
C. building
D. buildings
3. Because of her___________of flying, Suzette decided to take the train on her trip to Los Angeles.
A. fearing
B. anxious
C. anxiety
D. anxieties
4. _____________were on the freeway today compared to last week at this time.
A. Fewer cars
B. Less cars
C. Much car
D. Many car
5. _____________talking to each other about whether or not they should travel by plane to their next soccer.
A. The team is
B. The team are
C. A team is
D. Team
6. __________must complete the research project by the deadline.
A. Student
B. Every student
C. Every students
D. Most of students
7. Some of________is interesting.
A. the books
B. a book
C. the book
D. book
8. ______________assignments were turned in to the professor by the deadline. (Not many)
A. Few
B. A few
C. Quite a few
D. Several
9. Luke did not have_____________in his chemistry class.
A. a homework
B. many homeworks
C. much homework
D. the homework
10. Both the students and the professor decided to explore_______________in Death Valley, California.
A. geological formation
B. geological forming
C. a geological formations
D. geological formations
May the next TOEFFL exam you take be your last!
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com
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