托福独立写作名词用法注意事项

　　托福独立写作对考生词汇运用方面的要求不少，这其中比较重要也是相当基础的一点就是不要用错词汇。然而这看似简单的要求许多同学却偏偏很难做到，总是会在词汇上摔个不大不小的跟头。

　　1. 可数名词要有冠词代词或复数

　　Even expert or scholar specializing in a certain field might cover a vast spectrum of knowledge in order to succeed.

　　During high school, a very important time in a person’s education career, student will learn skill necessary to be successful in university and the work world.

　　第一句句子中的expert和scholar都是可数名词，因此需要在这些词之前加上冠词(定冠词或不定冠词)或物主代词，或变为名词的复数形式。Even experts or scholars specializing in a certain field might cover a vast spectrum of knowledge in order to succeed.

　　第二句句子中的student和skill也都是可数名词，全句应该改为：During high school, a very important time in a person’s education career, students will learn most of the skills necessary to be successful in university and the work world.

　　2. 集合名词的单复数要注意

　　我们来看下面的例句：

　　Technology is developing at a remarkable speed that our ancestors might never have foreseen.

　　在此句句子中，technology 是不可数名词。考生是否可以将这句句子改成：Various modern technologies are developing at a remarkable speed that our ancestors might never have foreseen呢?technology到底是可数名词还是不可数名词?

　　当technology理解为抽象的“科学技术”，即强调总称时，是不可数名词，如例句中的Technology is developing at a remarkable speed中的technology正是对“科学技术总称”的指代。当强调“各种各样”科技产品的时候，此时的technology则是可数名词，如例句 Various modern technologies are developing at a remarkable speed. 这类名词称之为“集合名词”，在托福独立写作中，经常使用的“集合名词”还有government，如：

　　The central government is so concerned about keeping pandas in existence that it is spending millions of dollars trying to determine how to artificially inseminate the giant panda. (中央政府是一级具体的“政府机关”，因此使用可数名词形式)

　　It is crucial for government to setup more funds by attracting larger investments to solve financial problems encountered during the course of environment-related projects. (这里的政府是“行政机关的总称”，因此使用不可数名词形式)

　　3. 名词的首字母大写要求介绍

　　在哪些情况下名词需要对其首字母进行大写(capitalization)?

　　表示月份：February

　　表示历史事件：The Enlightenment

　　表示历史时期：The Middle Ages

　　表示书刊、报纸：The New York Times，The Washington Post

　　表示节日：Christmas，the Spring Festival

　　表示国家(地区)：North America

　　表示专有名词：the Amazon