Word of the Week
With its 120th word, Word of the Week has now come to an end. We hope you enjoyed this free feature and that it has given you an insight into the thinking and research behind the English Vocabulary Profile.
All 120 are still available to read in our archive, below. Each Word of the Week in the archive is followed by a link to the full entry for that word on the English Vocabulary Profile. To view the entries, you will need to subscribe to the EVP: to subscribe for free click here.
Word of the week: unfair
The adjective unfair has two meanings, both of which are in the English Vocabulary Profile. The meaning NOT EQUAL seems to be known to learners at an earlier level than the meaning NOT TRUE. The negative prefix un- is possibly the easiest for learners to use, and is often used mistakenly in common learner errors such as ‘unresponsible’ and ‘unpatient’.To view the full entry for unfair on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: high
High is in the EVP as an adjective and adverb – the noun, as in an all-time high, is above B2 level for general English use. There are some strong collocates for the adjective in learner use, which act as a guide to level for each meaning: high prices and high marks belong to senses that are known at an earlier level than the meaning IMPORTANT, as in high priority. Interestingly, the use of low in this way is much less frequent, both for first language users and for learners.To view the full entry for high on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: while
While is a conjunction and a noun. Three separate uses of the conjunction appear to split over three CEFR levels, from A2 to B2. Interestingly, the noun occurs very frequently in the Cambridge Learner Corpus from B1 level, in phrases such as after a while, for a while, and, mainly at B2, once in a while. The variant ’whilst’ is included only for the B2 sense of ALTHOUGH, as there is no evidence of learners using it at lower levels.To view the full entry for while on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
