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: seem
The verb seem is very commonly used in English, and learners start to understand its value and importance from B1 level, in the two ways listed: seem happy, a nice person, etc. and seem like/as if/to, etc. Its use in the sentence opener It seems is given B2 in the EVP. This is because use of ’It seems’ can result in more complex sentences, as shown the second dictionary example for this sense: It seems to me that she’s in the wrong job.To view the full entry for seem on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: point
How many meanings does the word point have? For the noun alone, the EVP gives ten senses, which are spread over B1 and B2 levels, as well as the B2 phrases be at/on the point of doing sth and up to a point. The most frequent sense in English is that of IDEA, which learners know at B1 level, whereas they appear to acquire the verb earlier, at A2, in the sense of SHOW: ’when you use your finger or a thin object to show where someone or something is.’ This instruction is probably used very early on in the classroom. Further uses of point will no doubt be added at the C1 and C2 levels, which are currently in preparation.To view the full entry for point on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
Word of the week: time
The word time is a long entry in the EVP, as it is in most dictionaries as well. It is in fact the most common noun in the English language. Although the noun does have a few distinct senses, the length of the entry is largely due to its use in many phrases. Learners know a good number of these phrases at B1, including in time, on time, at the same time, as well as the compound adjectives and adverbs full-time and part-time. The phrase from time to time is known at B2, along with the sense HISTORICAL PERIOD. This sense in the EVP contains five dictionary examples, to illustrate various typical uses. The Learner example illustrates the last of these. As the Word family panel shows, the verb form and the related noun timing are known at. It is likely that a further Word family member, the adverb timely, will come in at the C levels, which are currently in preparation.To view the full entry for time on the English Vocabulary Profile, please click here.
