In language testing the most important thing to test is naming. All patients with an aphasia or language abnormality will have some difficulty naming and it is easier to name the large objects and harder to name small objects or components of those larger objects. So an easy thing I like to use is the hand.
-"Tell me, sir, what is this?"
-"Hand"
-"And what is this right here?"
-"Finger"
-"...And this one"
-"Right here the hard part, at the end"
-"Fingernail"
Excellent, so he could name all three components of the hand and, therefore, his naming, at least on the screening exam, is normal. If you were to have other aspects of his history or exams to suggest he might have naming problems or language problems, we would proceed to other aspects of language test.