Distinguish The Person From The Thing

Skill

Distinguish The Person From The Thing

No description

Nouns in English can refer to persons or things. Sometimes in written expression questions on the TOEFL test the person is used in place of the thing, or the thing is used in place of the person.

Ralph Nader is an authorization* in the field of consumer affairs.
There are many job opportunities in accountant*.

In the first example, authorization is incorrect because authorization is a thing and Ralph Nader is a person. The person authority should be used in this sentence. In the second example, accountant is incorrect because accountant is a person and the field in which an accountant works is accounting. The thing accounting should be used in this sentence.

The following chart outlines what you should remember about the person or thing:

PERSON OR THING

It is common to confuse a person with a thing in written expression questions on the TOEFL test.

Exercise

Complete the following exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned:

Some of the following sentences contain incorrectly used persons or things. Circle the incorrectly used words. Then indicate if the sentences are correct (C) or incorrect (I).

  1. ___ In the evening he relaxes in front of the fire and writes long poets.
  2. ___ Service in the restaurant was slow because one cook had called in sick.
  3. ___ The sculpture worked from sunrise until sunset on his new project.
  4. ___ She has received several awards for her research in engineer.
  5. ___ The economist's radical views were printed in a column in the Sunday newspaper.
  6. ___ You must have remarkable looks to work as a model for Vogue.
  7. ___ He had several critics to offer about the new play.
  8. ___ The gardener worked feverishly after the frost to save as many plants as possible.
  9. ___ The company hired a statistic to prepare marketing studies for the new product.
  10. ___ The famous acting has appeared in more than fifty Broadway plays.

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