TOEFL Writing Vocabulary - Essential Words for the TOEFL Writing Test

TOEFL Writing Essential Words - Part 1 - advantage and advantageous

In today’s post, you are going to learn the words advantage and advantageous.We are going to talk about their meanings, what prepositions to use with them, and common collocations. By the end of this post, you will know how to use them properly in your TOEFL speaking and writing tasks.

Okay! The definition of the noun advantage reads as follows: An advantage is a quality or condition that puts something in a favorable or superior position. Simply said, an advantage is a characteristic that makes something better than something else.

We often use "advantage" to talk about the benefits of a thing or person. For instance, the following three sentences use the  word"advantage" to describe the benefits of living in a big city:

1. The advantage of living in a big city is that there is plenty of entertainment.
2. One advantage of living in a big city is that there is plenty of entertainment.
3. One of the advantages of living in a big city is that there is plenty of entertainment.

However, only if the "advantage" is used in the very beginning of a sentence we say ‘advantage of something’. When using expletive constructions like “There are/is” it would sound wrong or unnatural to say “There are many advantages of living in a big city’. Many students make this mistake. Here you should use the prepositions in/to as in the following two sentences:

1. There are many advantages to living in a big city
2. There are many advantages in living in a big city.

Often we simply paraphrase here and say:

1. Living in a big city has many advantages

Okay! Now! If we want to specify the alternatives we are comparing to, we normally use the preposition over as in “have an advantage OVER sth.” Since advantage refers to a position superior to another thing, it is kind of natural to use OVER here to say that is is higher than the other thing. So ‘A has an advantage over B’. means that A is in a favourable or superior position compared to B. This phrase is commonly used when talking about competition in business, sports or even evolution.

Let me give you some examples here:

1. Our company has an advantage over our competitors.
2. The New York Knicks have a clear advantage over Miami Heat
3. Humans have an evolutionary advantage over other animals.

Instead of using  “to have an advantage” all the time you can say “to be at an advantage” as well. In this case, how could you change the three sentences? We can change the phrasing as follows:

1. Our company is at an advantage over our competitors.
2. The New York Knicks are at a clear advantage over Miami Heat
3. Humans are at an evolutionary advantage over other animals.

Especially in business, "advantage" is often used together with the adjective “competitive” to highlight the competitive environment businesses are in. For example, if you say

1. Our company has a competitive advantage over Google.

There are many other verbs which can be used together with advantage. For instance, you can “gain an advantage”, “win an advantage”, and “develop an advantage” or “Sth. can give or offer you an advantage” and you can “take advantage of sth.”

To make these more specific, let’s have a look at some more examples.

1. Our company gained/won a competitive advantage over our competitors by reducing costs.
2. During the process of evolution, humans developed an intellectual advantage over other animals.
3. By reducing costs we could develop a competitive advantage over our competitors.
4. My English skills gave/offered me a clear advantage over other applicants.
5. You should take advantage of all the resources bestmytest.com offers to improve your English.

"Advantage" is often used with “to” as well, as in the following phrases.

1. To one’s advantage
2. To advantage

If something is ‘to one’s advantage’ it means that something gives an advantage or is beneficial to someone. Here are example sentences

1. The ice cream store was able to turn the hot weather to its advantage.  
2. It is to your advantage to invest wisely.
3. The new regulations will work to our advantage.

And then there is ‘to advantage’. To say that sth. shows the best of somebody/something. For example,

1. The photograph showed him to advantage.
2. Her shoes showed off her legs to advantage
3. Plan your space to its best advantage

Okay! Now you know how to use the word advantage. Let’s shortly talk about its adjective form “advantageous”. “Advantageous” means good or useful in a particular situation. It is often used with the preposition ‘to‘, for example,

1. The new tax system is advantageous to higher-rate taxpayers.
2. Living in university dormitories is advantageous to students.
3. The company believes the new location is advantageous to the growth of its business.

Alright! This is the end of the post. I hope you enjoyed learning about the various usages of the word "advantage". As this word will for pretty sure pop up in your TOEFL and IELTS exam, we suggest you familiarize yourself with this word. If you have any questions, feel free to let us know in the comments below.

TOEFL & IELTS Writing Essential Words - Part 2 - disadvantage and disadvantageous

In today’s post, you are going to learn the words disadvantage and disadvantageous. These two words are often used in TOEFL and IELTS exams. In this post, you will learn how to use them with proper prepositions and common collocations. So let’s get started!

Okay! The definition of the noun disadvantage reads as follows: A disadvantage is a quality or condition that puts something or someone in an unfavorable or inferior position compared to others. We often use “disadvantage” to talk about the shortcoming of a thing or a person. For instance, the following three sentences use disadvantage to describe a shortcoming of living in the countryside:

1. The disadvantage of living in the countryside is the poor quality of education.
2. One disadvantage of living in the countryside is the poor quality of education.
3. One of the disadvantages of living in the countryside is the poor quality of education.

However, only if disadvantage is used at the very beginning of a sentence we say ‘disadvantage of something’. When using expletive constructions like “There is/are” it would sound wrong or unnatural to say “There are many disadvantages of living in the countryside. Many students make this mistake. Here you should use the prepositions in/to as in the following two sentences:

1. There are many disadvantages to living in the countryside.
2. There are many disadvantages in living in the countryside.

At a disadvantage/To one’s disadvantage

The phrase “at a disadvantage” means being in an unfavorable position in comparison to others. We often use adjectives like ‘competitive’, ‘clear’ and ‘distinct’ before the word disadvantage. For example,

1. At a clear disadvantage
2. At a distinct disadvantage
3. At a competitive disadvantage

Alright! So how do we use the phrase at a disadvantage? The phrase ‘at a disadvantage’ can be used in the following sentence patterns:

Here are example sentences for the first sentence pattern:

1. His lack of formal education puts him at a clear disadvantage in the business world.
2. The new tariff policy will place my company at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace.

And, here are example sentences for the second sentence pattern:

1. You'll be at a disadvantage playing tennis against someone as skilled as Jimmy.
2. Children from poor families are at a distinct disadvantage in education.

Okay! Now let’s look at the other phrase to one’s disadvantage. If something is to your disadvantage or works to your disadvantage, it creates difficulties for you. So

Here are examples

1. My lack of formal education is to my disadvantage in the business world.
2. I hope my lack of experience won't be to my disadvantage.
3. It is to your disadvantage to not take this opportunity.
4. The new tariff policy will work to our disadvantage.

Disadvantageous

Okay! Now you know how to use the word disadvantage. Let’s talk about its adjective form “disadvantageous”. “disadvantageous”  describes things that cause somebody or something to be in a worse situation compared to others. Here are examples:

1. We have to resell the property at a disadvantageous time.
2. Minority groups find themselves in a disadvantageous position.

Also, we often see the phrase ‘be disadvantageous to’.  For example,

1. Living off campus is disadvantageous to students.
2. The company believes the new regulation is disadvantageous to the growth of its business.

Disadvantaged

Another adjective is ‘disadvantaged’. Its meaning and usage are different from “disadvantageous".

The adjective ‘disadvantaged’ describes someone or something lacking the things (such as money or education) that are considered necessary for an equal position in society. So! People who are disadvantaged or live in disadvantaged areas live in bad conditions and lack a good education, resources, or reasonable standards of living. 

Let’s look at some examples.

1. Research shows that men from disadvantaged backgrounds experience lower rates of marriage.
2. Nowadays employers are reaching beyond their usual networks and hire more people from disadvantaged populations.
3. Aborigines are the most disadvantaged ethnic group in Australia.
4. Scholarships, grants, and financial aid make studying abroad affordable for disadvantaged students.

Also, ‘disadvantaged’ is often used with adverbs like ‘socially’ and ‘economically’ as in the following sentences

1. Research shows economically disadvantaged children enter school with less developed cognitive skills than their peers..
2. In addition to higher smoking prevalence, socially disadvantaged workers smoke more heavily and are less successful in quitting smoking compared to other workers.

Alright! This is the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed learning about the various usages of the words disadvantage, disadvantageous and disadvantaged. You should also check out our other post on advantage and advantageous. 

TOEFL Writing Essential Words - Part 3 - indicate, indicative, indication, and indicator

In today’s post, we are going to look at four important words in TOEFL and IELTS exams. The words we are looking at today are  "indicate", "indication", "indicator", and "indicator". We will also look at how to paraphrase sentences using one or another. So let’ get started.

Let’s first look at the word “indicate”. To indicate sth. means to point something out or to present evidence. There are two patterns:

1. indicate that + Subject + Verb
2. indicate + Noun

Let’s look at some example sentences using the first pattern:

1. Estimates indicate that more than 60 percent of the yearly retail sales in the U.S. are credit transactions.
2. Evidence indicates that people have always been predominantly right-handed.
3. The drastic disappearance of Foraminifera in these layers of rock indicated that something had happened at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.

Here are example sentences using the second pattern:

1. The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide indicates the global pollution of water and air.
2. Record profits in the retail market indicate a boom in the economy.
3. An increase in crime indicates a decline in moral standards.

Alright! Now I am going to talk about the noun “indication”. An indication is an act of indicating something, so you can say it is a clue or a suggestion.

When paraphrasing, you can use "give sb. an indication of" or "be an indication of" instead of "indicate". For example:

• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide indicates the global pollution of water and air.

Here the above sentence be paraphrased to

• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide gives scientists an indication of the global pollution of water and air.
• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide is an indication of the global pollution of water and air.

Here is another example:

• Record profits in the retail market indicate a boom in the economy = Record profits in the retail market are an indication of a boom in the economy.

Alright! There is another noun called “indicator”. "Indicator" is an object that indicates the state or level of something.

Some people confuse “indicator” with “indication”. Let me try to explain the difference.

Considering this sentence:

• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide indicates the global pollution of water and air.

From the above sentence, we can say that

• The number of amphibians worldwide is used as an indicator of global pollution of water and air.

(As you can see, an "Indicator" is an object that indicates the state or level of something.)

Alright! Let’s look at more example sentences using the word "indicator":

1. Nitrogen oxides are used by scientists as an indicator of economic activity and of the effectiveness of pollution-control measures.
2. Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.
3. The stock market is seen as a leading indicator of economic growth.

You might hear a lot from newscasters about "economic indicators." These are figures, such as the rate of unemployment or inflation that indicate where we're headed economically. Here is an example sentence:

• Economic indicators suggest that prices will go up.

Alright! A quick quizz! Does the following sentence make sense to you?

• High crime rates are an indicator of a decline in moral standards.

The answer is no. You can change the sentence as follows:

• High crime rates are an indication of a decline in moral standards.
• Crime rates are used as an indicator of a decline in moral standards.

Alright! Let’s look at the final word today. “indicative”. Indicative means suggestive or serving as a sign of something.

The phrase "be indicative of" basically means "is an indication of". Therefore, when paraphrasing, you can use "be indicative of" or "is an indication of" instead of "indicate". Let's look at the following example:

• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide indicates the global pollution of water and air.

Can be paraphrased to

• The drastic decline in the numbers of amphibians worldwide is indicative of the global pollution of water and air.

Okay! Here are more example sentences:

1. Thin tree rings are indicative of slow tree growth. [=Thin tree rings indicate that a tree has grown slowly]
2. Provocative images in the media are indicative of the vibrant competition in the media.

Okay! This is the end of the post. I hope now you know how to use indicate, indication, indicator, and indicative correctly. Next time you are writing a sentence using the verb “indicate”, try to paraphrase it uusing, indication, indicator, or indicative.

TOEFL Writing Essential Words - Part 4 - advance and advancement

In today’s post, you are going to learn the words advance and advancement. These two words are often used in TOEFL independent essays when the topics are related to the impact of technology.

The word advance can be a verb and a noun. The original meaning of the verb advance is “to go or move forward”. This can be used to describe actual physical movement, but is more often used to describe progress or improvement. Here is an example for each:

• To advance = moving forward
• Physical movement: The troops advance towards the capital.
• Progress or Improvement: Technology advances so quickly, I can hardly keep track.

Advance can also be used as "to bring something forward,". In this case advance is a transitive verb, so there must be an object after it. We often use this to describe topics or skills we personally “make progress in” The following sentences are quite useful and often heard in daily conversations.

1. I advanced my knowledge of English by studying abroad.
2. I want to advance my career in banking.

Finally, advance can have a more timely focus as well. So, when something advances it could mean that it is progressing in time, or when we advance something we are bringing it forward in time. Let me give you two examples for a more time-focused use of “advance”

1. As the twentieth century advanced, other forms of entertainment rapidly took over
2. The bank advanced me 500USD today.

The latter means that the bank gave or lend you money before a due date. The bank basically brought the money forward in time. If you wanted to ask someone for an advance payment you could ask: “Could you advance me 500USD until Tuesday?” for example.

The noun advance has the same underlying meaning as “to advance”, so “an advance” is “a certain move forward” or “a specific improvement”. It is a countable noun and is normally used with the preposition ‘in’. Here are some example sentences

1. Scientific advances in diagnostic tools make it possible to identify new diseases more quickly.
2. Advances in technology led to the industrial revolution.
3. Recent advances in technology now make the smartphone more popular than the desktop computer.
4. Huge advances in the development of anti-depressants greatly help people who suffer from depression.

As I told you before “to advance” can be used for money as well. The same is true for the noun, so “an advance” can also be the money paid before its due date. In business, we often take “advance payments” for security reasons in international trade. The following examples can help you understand.

1. She asked for an advance on her salary.=
2. The bank will give you an advance of 95% of the purchase price.

Okay, moving on. Let's talk about advancement. Students are often confused about the difference between “advance” and “advancement”. Although they are very similar, it should be not too complicated to differentiate them with the right definition in your mind. The difference is that “advance” describes individual and tangible improvements,, while advancement refers to the overall process of improvement. Also, the "advancement" is more used with the preposition “of” whereas "advance" is used with the preposition "in". For example:

• Our company has made significant advances in our mobile phone technology.

BUT:

• Advancement of technology is a crucial factor for national growth.
• The advancement of modern medicine has lengthened many people's lives. (Note that advancement is normally used together with “of”)

Alright! This is the end of the post. I hope you enjoyed learning about the various usages of the word advance.

TOEFL Writing Essential Words - Part 5 - Words that express the meaning of difference and variety

In this post, we are going to look at words that express the meaning of difference and variety. We are going to look at two groups of words today. The first group of words we will be looking at includes words related to variety, in particular, the words "vary", "varied", "varying", "various", "variety". For the second group of words, we will be looking at words that show the difference and will talk about "differ", "differentiation", "differentiate". You are maybe using one or the other of these words already. Today we want to discuss the different meanings and usages of these sometimes confusing words so that you can use them correctly and do not get points deducted from your TOEFL exam. :) Let’s find out in today’s post!

Vary

In the first group, we will start with the word “vary”.

The verb "vary" can be used as a transitive or intransitive verb. For those who are not familiar with these terms: transitive means with an object and intransitive without. When it is used as a transitive verb, it means to change something. Often we use the verb vary when you're talking about changing up our usual routine. For example,

1. If your schedule changes at work, you might have to vary your sleeping habits.
2. I try to vary my diet by eating different kinds of foods.

Vary, however, is more often used as an intransitive verb, to express the meaning “to be different”.  Here, the preposition “from” is often used with ‘vary’. Let’s look at two patterns using the phrase ‘vary from’. The first one is

[A] vary/varies from [B] to [B]

It means [A] is different for each [B]. Here are example sentences:

1. The effects of this medicine vary from person to person.
2. The shape of the moon varies from day to day.
3. The textbooks vary from school to school.

The second pattern is

[A] vary/varies from [B] to [C]

It means sometimes [A] is [B], and sometimes [A] is [C]. Look at the following examples:

1. The weather alternatively varies from rainy to sunny in the summer.
2. Reviews of the new movie vary from positive to negative.
3. Colors vary from light to dark.
4. This music varies from loud to soft and fast to slow.
5. His mood varies from happy to sad depending on the time of day.

"Vary" is also often used with the preposition "in" when things are different in size, amount, degree, but are still part of the same general class. Here are examples:

1. Subspecies vary considerably in size
2. Diamonds vary in size.
3. Chromosomes vary in number and shape among living things

Varied

Okay! The next word is “Varied”.

Varied is an adjective. Think of "varied" as describing something that has many altered forms or sth. that has been changed often. For example,

1. There are many varied ideas on how to improve the economy.
2. The artist has painted in varied styles as his interests have changed over the years.
3. A varied workout routine will keep you from getting bored.

Also, we can say something is varied when it covers a wide range of things. For example,

1. We try to eat a more varied diet.
2. She has varied [=diverse, various] interests.
3. Moving on to the next word “various”

Various

Various is an adjective that describes several different kinds of things, like a candy shop that is home to various sweets, from lollipops to chocolate fudge. If you have various interests, you might love hip hop, movies from the 1940s, fixing cars, and reading fashion magazines. Various can convey the meaning of “numerous” or “many”, like when you say, "Various people want to get involved with the park clean-up." This means a lot of people want to help.

Varying

Moving on the next word “varying”. A lot of people are confused about the difference between various and varying.

As you just learned, various means "different" in the idea of more than one kind of thing. On the other hand, varying means "different aspects or features" of the same kind of thing.

Here are examples using the word varying,

1. Dress in layers so that you will be comfortable in varying room temperatures.
2. Clients may have varying experience. There is a spectrum ranging from inexperienced, first-time clients to highly experienced, seasoned clients.

Variation

Variation means a change or slight difference in condition, amount, or level. If we talk about variations from accepted standards, we often talk about important or critical things that need our attention. The word variation is used with the preposition ‘in’. For example,

1. A variation in a heartbeat pattern can tell a doctor that a heart attack might be imminent.
2. The variation in weather temperatures from what is expected indicates that our climate is changing due to global warming.
3. The more genes you look at, the more variation you’ll find,
4. Some scientists estimate height is influenced by as many as 93,000 genetic variations.

Variety

Let’s look at the next word which is “variety”.

Variety is a noun that is a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality. For example, if you got a variety pack of chocolates, you would get a pack of chocolates that has milk chocolate, dark chocolate, almond chocolate, etc.

The phrase ‘a variety of’ or ‘a great/wide variety of’ is often used. Here are example sentences:

1. This shopping center offers a variety of leisure activities
2. Our national park is home to a variety of wildlife including birds and types of bats.
3. Students are offered a wide variety of courses in this department.
4. People attend college for a variety of reasons.

Variety can also describe different things that are classified under one category or type. For example,

1. There are fifty varieties of fish.
2. 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
3. It is important for farmers to understand what varieties of crops can grow in different seasons.

Finally, you might have heard the word ”a variety show”. A variety show is entertainment that includes a number of different and unrelated acts, like fire eaters, string bands, comedians, lounge singers, and spoon players.

Woo! That’s a lot of words already. But we are not done yet :) We still haven’t looked at the second group of words, which talks about the difference. I suppose most of you know how to use the words ‘different’ and ‘difference, so we won’t cover these two in this post.

Differ

Okay! The first word in this group is the verb to differ. It means to be different from something else. You will often see the following patterns with the word differ

1. A differ/differs from B
2. A differ/differs from B to B
3. _________ (multiple similar things) differ in C

The first one  “A differ/differs from B” means A is different from B. For example,

1. English differs from Spanish in that it is not pronounced as it is written.
2. Korean cuisine differs from English cuisine, because it is much spicier.

Notice the preposition “in” in the first sentence. The pattern is

A differ/differs from B in ___ (what aspect is difference)

So you can change the second sentence to

1. Korean cuisine differs from English cuisine in that it is much spicier.

Okay! Let’s look at the next pattern “A differ/differs from B to B”. It means [A] is different for every [B]. In this case, it is the same as ‘A vary/varies from B to B’. Here are example sentences:

1. Laws on pollution differ widely from country to country.
2. Textbooks differ from school to school.

The third pattern is ‘___ (a group of similar things) differ in C”.  This pattern means C is the characteristic that identifies the difference among a group of similar things. Here is an example sentence:

1. Although they are similar in many respects, bonobos and chimpanzees differ greatly in social and sexual behaviours.

Differentiate

Okay! The next word is “differentiate”.

To differentiate is to identify the differences between things. You often see two patterns with the word differentiate.

1. differentiate between A and B
2. sth. differentiates A from B

The pattern “differentiate between A and B” means to see or show a difference between A and B. For example,

1. Joe is color-blind and cannot differentiate between red and green.
2. The camouflage of octopuses makes it difficult for their predators to differentiate between them and rocks.   

But “sth. differentiates A from B” means A has the quality or feature that makes A different from B. For example,

1. The ability to speak differentiates humans from other animals.
2. Although both whales and sharks are aquatic animals, the fact that whales are mammals differentiates whales from sharks.

Differentiation

The noun form of ‘differentiate’ is differentiation.

So the pattern of ‘differentiate between A and B’ can be paraphrased to “make a differentiation between A and B ”. For example,

1. Joe is color-blind and cannot differentiate between red and green. = Joe is color-blind and cannot make a differentiation between red and green.

Other example sentences of the word ‘differentiation’ are as follows:

1. Product differentiation is an important aspect of business.
2. Companies should work hard to achieve differentiation in products.

Ending

Okay! This is the end of today’s post. I suggest you look at this post a couple of times to learn how to use the words and phrases we taught you today. You should create your own sentences when learning these words. Next time you encounter these words, you should be able to understand them better and use them correctly.

TOEFL Writing Essential Words - Part 6 - dominate and predominate

Today’s post is an advanced lesson for a lot of TOEFL and IELTS test takers. During your TOEFL and IELTS preparations, you probably came across the following words: dominate, dominant, dominance, domination, predominate, predominant, predominance, and predominantly.

A lot of students look up these words in the dictionary but still don’t truly understand them. So in today’s post, we are going to look at each of these words and give you various examples to demonstrate how to use them. This way you will understand the difference between them and will be able to use them correctly.

So let’s get started!

Dominate VS Predominate

The first words we are looking at are "dominate" and "predominate".

Difference #1

While both of them can be used interchangeably in some sentences, normally "dominate" is used to mean “to have or exert power or influence over something/somebody” "Predominate" on the other hand is mostly used as “to be the most common”. However, dominate can mean “to be the most common”, as well, and this is where it gets confusing. But more on this later. Lets talk about dominate in the sense of “to rule or control something.” first.

Dominate is almost always used with an object. We often see it used in business and sports. Let’s have a look at some examples:

• The Chicago bulls dominated the NBA in 1996.
• Our company dominates the market for operating systems.
• Google and Facebook dominate the fast-growing market for online advertising.

You may encounter the word "dominate" in your history or politics class, as well. Like in the following textbook sample:

• The Han Dynasty of China has dominated much of ancient East Asia for a long time.

As said before, "dominate" can also mean ‘to be the most common”. This usage appears quite often in TOEFL academic lectures or passages. So, let’s look at some TOEFL academic style example sentences:

• Invertebrates dominate deep sea regions = Invertebrates are the most common species in deep-sea regions. 
• Mars' atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide. = Carbon dioxide is the most abundant gas in Mars' atmosphere.

Since we are using dominate with the meaning “to be the most common”, predominate, in this instance, is a synonym, so let's have a look now. I could say “Invertebrates predominate in deep-sea regions.” instead of “invertebrates dominate deep-sea regions.” I will explain why "in” is necessary for that sentence to make sense.

Remember we cannot always replace dominate with predominate. Take this sentence here for example:

• Our company dominates the market for operating systems.
• Here dominate means have power and influence over the market.

If we use the verb predominate, the sentence becomes

• Our company predominates in the market for operating systems. (awkward!)

That’s not completely wrong, but native speakers wouldn’t normally write or say it like that. This is because “predominate” is not often used in the sense of “controling or ruling something” while "dominate" is.

Let me give you a better example using predominate:

• It appears that oak trees predominate in this forest. (Here it means oak trees are the most common trees in this forest)

Difference #2

You're going to learn why "in" was used, so pay attention :)

There is another difference between dominate and predominate. The verb “predominate” is an intransitive verb, meaning it doesn’t take an object, whereas dominate is a transitive verb, meaning it does take objects. That is why we used “in” with predominate before.

Let’s look at the following example sentence using “dominate”

• Carbon dioxide dominates Mars’ atmosphere.

As you can see, the verb “dominates” takes the object, which is “Mars’ atmosphere”.

We can change this sentence using predominate because dominate here means being the most common. But we cannot simply exchange the two words. We have to write it like this:

• Carbon dioxide predominates in Mars' atmosphere.

So we have to use the preposition “in” here, since  “predominate” doesn’t take a direct object.

Let’s look at more example sentences of the verb “predominate” where the same applies: :

• Cottages predominate along the beach. (This means most of the buildings along the beach are cottages)
• Rain predominates in the tropical regions.  (This means that there is a great deal of rain in the tropical regions)
• Older people predominate in this neighborhood.

The word predominate is sometimes used with the preposition “over”. So when “A  predominates over B” means “A is more common than B”.  Let’s look at the following examples:

• In the surface soil, oxygen generally predominates over carbon dioxide.
• In this area immigrants predominate over local people.
• Pine trees predominate over oak trees in this park.

You should make sure that you understand the difference between “dominate” and "predominate" as this is crucial to understand the differences between the following words: "dominance" and "predominance", and "dominant" and "predominant" later.

To help you, we have summarized the differences for you here. As a rule of thumb, you should use 'dominate" when you want to express the meaning of “control or power” and when you have an object. You should use predominate when you refer to something being the most common or is widespread in a certain area. Use dominate when you speak about the influence of something. and predominate when you talk about numbers.

Dominance VS Predominance

Let’s look at the nouns. “dominance” and “predominance”.

Similar to the verbs, the noun “dominance”means power and influence over others. And  “predominance” means the state or condition of being most common. Let’s look at an example:

• The ongoing and increasing dominance of English in world culture and commerce will continue to provide many advantages to Britain in many areas.

Here we imply “There is a greater influence of English over other languages in world culture”

If we replace “dominance” with “predominance” like the following sentence

• The ongoing and increasing predominance of English in world culture and commerce will continue to provide many advantages to Britain in many areas.

We imply “There is a greater commonness of English over other languages in world culture”

So we can change dominance to predominance in this sentence but it changes the meaning slightly from “English being influential” to “English being widespread”.

Let’s look at another example using "predominance"

• There is a predominance of older people in the neighborhood. (This means there is a greater number of older people in the neighborhood)

Please note that the noun “dominance” isn’t really used for the state or condition of being the most common. So, the following sentence is incorrect

• There is a dominance of older people in the neighborhood. (incorrect)

However, since the verb “dominate” can be used in the sense of “to be common”, you could use the verb ”dominate” here,

• Older people dominate this neighborhood.

Here are more examples using “predominance”:

• Despite the predominance of female teachers in school, administrative positions are held mostly by men. = Despite most of the teachers in school being women, administrative positions are held mostly by men.
• The predominance of individualist feminism in English-speaking countries is a historical phenomenon.
• There is an overwhelming predominance of female images in prehistoric art.

As we know, “dominance” means the power and influence over others, so the phrase “gain dominance” is often used. For example:

• Hollywood continues to gain dominance in the international film market. = Hollywood’s dominance in the international film market continuously increases.

Dominant VS Predominant

So far we have looked at “dominate”, “predominate”, “dominance”,  and ‘predominance“. Let’s look at “dominant” and “predominant”.

Both adjectives are often used interchangeably, but at the same time, there are occasions where you can use only one of them. Take these two sentences for example.

• Newspapers play a dominant role in shaping public opinion.
• Newspapers play a predominant role in shaping public opinion.

Both sentences are correct, but the first sentence is recommended. Why you ask? You can stick to our rule of thumb here: We want to talk about the influence Newspapers have, so we should use dominant. Here the meaning of dominant is “influential”. But be prepared to see both versions.

When we want to refer to the meaning of “being common”, dominant and predominant are both often used. But even then, using predominant is recommended.  The following sentence helps to demonstrate this:

• The most predominant color in this room is beige.

So using our rule of thumb here, we should use "predominant". What we want to say is that beige is the color mostly used in the room. However, here many people use dominant as well, especially when we mean that the beige color gives the room an overall atmosphere.

So you could also say “the dominant color in this room is beige”.

While we use dominant and predominant often interchangeably, there are examples where predominant does not work. One example comes from genetics, In genetics there are so-called dominant genes. These are genes which define heritable characteristics even if only one parent carries the genes for those characteristics.  Among others, dominant can be used for dominant genes, dominant traits, dominant characteristics or even dominant behavior. For example:

• (Correct!) Brown hair is a dominant trait. (This means brown hair is dominant)
• (Incorrect!) Brown hair is a predominant trait.

Let's look at more examples using the word "dominant".

• The university plays a dominant role in the local economy.
• Money is the dominant force in consumer societies.

And here are more examples using the word "predominant".

• Red is the predominant color in the painting.
• Religion is the predominant theme of the play. (This means in the play they are displaying many things that are related to religion).

Domination

The final word we'll discuss in this article is “Domination”.

The noun “domination” is different from “dominance”. Dominance means “the condition of being dominant”, which basically means “have power or influence over others”, while the noun domination is the "act of dominating somebody or something. It can also refer to the condition of being dominated.”

Did you notice the difference? Let’s look at some examples using domination.

• It wasn’t until the First World War that the U.S began to seriously challenge the British domination of South Africa.
• European domination of India led to a rise in Indian nationalism.

So why do we use domination here? Because here we want to emphasize the act of dominating something. For instance in “European domination of India” we are implying that Europe actually exerts its power over India by military and economic means.

The terms “political domination”,“market domination”, “economic domination” and “military domination” are often used. Here are example sentences:

The most effective method for market domination is to create a niche market.

• You're more likely to succeed at market domination if your business faces little or no competition.
• Political domination is a crucial aspect of colonialism.