Most Listen and Repeat advice is about remembering the words. But there is a whole set of points that you lose even when you remember the word perfectly. You get the word right, and you drop its ending.
"Liquids" comes out as "liquid." "Airline's" becomes "airline." "Passes" becomes "pass." The word is there. The little ending is gone. And that small change costs you, because it changes the grammar of the sentence. The good news is that these are the easiest points on the whole task to win back, because you already know the word.
Quick answer
On Listen and Repeat, dropping a word ending is one of the most common mistakes. In our data, about one in eight responses changed or dropped an ending like a plural, a possessive, or a tense marker. The word was correct, but the "s" or the "ed" was gone. These are the cheapest points to recover, because you do not need new vocabulary. You just need to keep the ending you already know.
What the data shows
When we looked at the mistakes people make on Listen and Repeat, a clear group of them were not wrong words. They were right words with the wrong ending. Here are real examples from the data.
Every one of these speakers knew the word. They just lost the ending on the way out. The official scoring guide even names this: a top answer can slip to the next level down when "markers of tense, aspect, or number are missing or incorrect." So the ending is not a small thing. It is part of the score.
A quick note on the numbers. These come from responses scored by the My Speaking Score AI, which we use to find patterns. The point about endings is simply how the task is scored: it checks whether you reproduced the sentence, endings included.
Why the ending disappears
It happens for the same reason words get swapped. When you rebuild the sentence from memory, your brain keeps the core meaning of the word and quietly drops the small grammar parts. "Bags" and "bag" mean almost the same thing to your brain, so it does not hold onto the "s." The meaning survives. The ending does not.
This is why you can feel sure you said it correctly. You did say the word. You just did not say all of it.
Why these are the cheapest points
Most improvement on the Speaking test takes real work: more vocabulary, more fluency, more practice speaking. Endings are different. You are not missing any knowledge. You know that "bags" is plural. You know how to say the "s." The point is sitting right there, and all you have to do is not drop it.
That makes endings the best place to start. It is the fastest score you can pick up on Listen and Repeat.
What to do about it
When you break a sentence into chunks, hold the whole word, ending and all. If the sentence says "liquids," hold "liquids," not "liquid." Notice the plural on purpose.
Then read your transcript after you practice. Endings are hard to hear yourself drop, but they are easy to see. Once you know which endings you tend to lose, plurals, possessives, or past tense, you can listen for exactly those.
See which endings you drop
Take a free practice test on My Speaking Score, do the Listen and Repeat task, and read your response next to the target sentence. Look closely at the small parts of the words. You will probably see a pattern: the same kind of ending, dropped again and again. That pattern is your quickest win.
FAQ
Do word endings matter on TOEFL Listen and Repeat?Yes. The scoring checks whether you reproduced the sentence, including endings. Dropping a plural, possessive, or tense marker can lower your score even though you said the right word.
Why do I drop the "s" on Listen and Repeat?When you rebuild a sentence from memory, your brain keeps the meaning of the word and drops the small grammar parts. "Bags" and "bag" feel the same, so the "s" gets lost.
Which endings do people drop most?Plurals, possessives, and past-tense markers. In our data, about one in eight responses changed or dropped an ending like these.
Why are endings the easiest points to fix?Because you already know the word and how to say the ending. You are not missing any vocabulary. You just have to hold the whole word and not drop the last part.
How do I catch my own dropped endings?Read your transcript next to the target sentence. Endings are hard to hear yourself drop, but easy to see written down.
The takeaway
On Listen and Repeat, you lose real points to missing letters, the "s" on a plural, the "ed" on a verb, the possessive on a name. You knew the word. You just dropped the end of it. These are the cheapest points on the whole task, because you already have the knowledge. Hold the whole word when you practice, read your transcript to find your pattern, and stop giving away points one letter at a time.