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: line
The word line is both a noun and a verb in English, but the verb does not feature in the English Vocabulary Profile until the C levels, where further uses of the noun are also added. For this Word of the Week entry, which only covers meanings up to B2 level, in the American English version there is an additional meaning at B1, PEOPLE WAITING, as in the Learner example waiting in line. There is plenty of evidence of idiomatic use by learners at C1 and C2, including the common idioms a fine line, the bottom line and draw the line (at something).To view the full entry for line on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: whose
The word whose is included in the English Vocabulary Profile as a determiner and a pronoun. All three uses shown in the entry are currently given B1. However, there is evidence in coursebook wordlists and other classroom materials to suggest that the interrogative use of the determiner, as in Whose book is this?, is met by learners at an earlier stage than its use in relative clauses. There is only a small amount of data for the meaning ASKING WHO in our 43-million word Cambridge Learner Corpus, and no learner examples of this use before B2, although it should be remembered that this corpus only contains written material and so may not be capturing the full spectrum of learner use. Please use the feedback button to give us your own views on the use of whose in questions. Do you ask your students questions similar to the one above? Do your students ever use whose in this way – and if so, at what CEFR level are they?To view the full entry for whose on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: respect
The word respect is a noun and a verb. Learners appear to know the noun meanings ADMIRATION and POLITENESS at B1, along with the related verb meaning ADMIRE. The phrases in this respect/ in many respects and the formal phrase with respect to are known at B2 level. Other Word family members shown in the panel for this entry are the adjectives respectable and respected. For the C levels, further Word family members are being added, including irrespective and disrespect. Take a look at the entry for disrespect in the new Preview version of the letters DJK, where you will be able to see the extended Word family panel. The C level additions are shown in italics.To view the full entry for respect on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
