由于这种语言差异的存在，学英语的中国人很自然地倾向使用具体名词而不是抽象名词，可能是因为汉语善于运用具体名词而在抽象名词的使用上相对较弱的原因。
再举一个大家非常熟悉的"scholarship"为例，作为具体名词，意思是“奖学金”，但很少有人知道它可以作为抽象名词来解释，如：
Drawing on the scholarship of the ancient China, Professor Joseph Needham and his Chinese collaborators at Cambridge University wrote what was to become the colossal 25 volumes of "Science and Civilization in China".
在这里，"scholarship"的意思是学识、学问。书面英语，特别是一篇写得好的申请信中常使用抽象名词。中国申请者在文书方面面临的最大挑战之一是如何学会包括运用抽象名词在内的技巧。
例：
具体： She has become so famous that her name is synonymous to one of the labs in this university.
抽象： She has become an institution in one of the labs in this university.
具体： Mr.Liu is one of the youngest Fellows of the National Society and a most distinguished biochemist.
抽象： Mr.Liu is one of the youngest Fellows of the National Society and a biochemist of considerable distinction.
具体： My US friends took me to a great many historical corners in campus of Harvard and shared with me abundant information, which I could hardly have obtained in any other way.
抽象： My US friends offered me a remarkable orientation of Harvard's history, which I could hardly have obtained in any other way.
具体： You must seek the word, the verb, and the adjective that best captures your ideas, and never be satisfied with the ones that only come close to what you want to convey.
抽象： You must seek the word, the verb, and the adjective that best captures your ideas, and never be satisfied with approximations.
注意，我们承认英语中存在大量的抽象名词，但并不等于说这些词广泛适用。有些时候这些词过于抽象，读者得不到较切实的印象。拿"Miss Wu had great success in her study"这句化来说，"Miss Wu reached the top ladder of her study"就比它形象具体得多了。我们不说"We go to great length of serving customers with courtesy"，而说"We serve our customers with a smile".