To view the full entry for space on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
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: space
The noun space is first met at A2 in the sense of EMPTY PLACE and interestingly, the learner example refers to technology: a lot of memory space. Most students will also be familiar with an extension of this meaning of space, often used in coursebook instructions for gap-fill exercises. It also appears in the instructions for several tasks in the A2 level KET examination. At B1 level, learners appear to know the meaning BEYOND EARTH, and at B2, the more abstract meaning of AREA AROUND, as in staring into space. The C levels research will investigate whether learners know the use of space in time-related phrases such as in/within the space of ten minutes and whether the verb form is used.Word of the week: basis
There are two meanings for the noun basis at B2 level: the first is in phrases such as on a daily/regular basis, to indicate how often something happens, and the second is to do with the way or method of doing something, as in the learner example on a full-time basis. It is interesting that in both cases, the noun combines with the preposition on. Learners at B2 level struggle to use basis correctly outside its use in prepositional phrases. At the C levels, further meanings and uses are known, including REASON, as in There is no scientific basis for these claims, and the related phrase on the basis of (something). Validation work on the English Vocabulary Profile has drawn on research into phrasal expressions (Martínez, 2010), which shows that this phrase is commonly used by native speakers of English.To view the full entry for basis on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: try
The word try is commonly used in English, and the Cambridge International Corpus indicates that the verb form trying is the most frequent form for first language speakers. Both the verb and the noun are listed in the EVP, as well as two phrasal verbs: try on in the context of clothes at A2 and try out at B2, meaning to use something to discover whether it works or whether you like it. The first meaning to be known by learners, ATTEMPT at A2, is also the most frequent in the first language. The noun try is included at B2 and its most common use is in the singular, in phrases such as give it a try, have a try, etc. The Learner example exemplifies the first of these phrases.To view the full entry for try on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
