English word groups for vocabulary

Academic word list

In this section you can do practice tests for all groups of the academic word list.

The Academic Word List (AWL) was developed by Averil Coxhead at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The list contains 570 word families which were selected because they appear with great frequency in a broad range of academic texts. The list does not include words that are in the most frequent 2000 words of English (the General Service List), thus making it specific to academic contexts. The AWL was primarily made so that it could be used by teachers as part of a programme preparing learners for tertiary level study or used by students working alone to learn the words most needed to study at colleges and universities.
The 570 words are divided into 10 Groups. The Groups are ordered such that the words in the first Group are the most frequent words and those in the last Group are the least frequent.

Group 1

Practice test

sector • available • financial • process • individual • specific • principle • estimate • variables • method • data • research • contract • environment • export • source • assessment • policy • identified • create • derived • factors • procedure • definition • assume • theory • benefit • evidence • established • authority • major • issues • labour • occur • economic • involved • percent • interpretation • consistent • income • structure • legal • concept • formula • section • required • constitutional • analysis • distribution • function • area • approach • role • legislation • indicate • response • period • context • significant • similar •

Group 2

Practice test

community • resident • range • construction • strategies • elements • previous • conclusion • security • aspects • acquisition • features • text • commission • regulations • computer • items • consumer • achieve • final • positive • evaluation • assistance • normal • relevant • distinction • region • traditional • impact • consequences • chapter • equation • appropriate • resources • participation • survey • potential • cultural • transfer • select • credit • affect • categories • perceived • sought • focus • purchase • injury • site • journal • primary • complex • institute • investment • administration • maintenance • design • obtained • restricted • conduct •

Group 3

Practice test

comments • convention • published • framework • implies • negative • dominant • illustrated • outcomes • constant • shift • deduction • ensure • specified • justification • funds • reliance • physical • partnership • location • link • coordination • alternative • initial • validity • task • techniques • excluded • consent • proportion • demonstrate • reaction • criteria • minorities • technology • philosophy • removed • sex • compensation • sequence • corresponding • maximum • circumstances • instance • considerable • sufficient • corporate • interaction • contribution • immigration • component • constraints • technical • emphasis • scheme • layer • volume • document • registered • core •

Group 4

Practice test

overall • emerged • regime • implementation • project • hence • occupational • internal • goals • retained • sum • integration • mechanism • parallel • imposed • despite • job • parameters • approximate • label • concentration • principal • series • predicted • summary • attitudes • undertaken • cycle • communication • ethnic • hypothesis • professional • status • conference • attributed • annual • obvious • error • implications • apparent • commitment • subsequent • debate • dimensions • promote • statistics • option • domestic • output • access • code • investigation • phase • prior • granted • stress • civil • contrast • resolution • adequate

Group 5

Practice test

alter • stability • energy • aware • licence • enforcement • draft • styles • precise • medical • pursue • symbolic • marginal • capacity • generation • exposure • decline • academic • modified • external • psychology • fundamental • adjustment • ratio • whereas • enable • version • perspective • contact • network • facilitate • welfare • transition • amendment • logic • rejected • expansion • clause • prime • target • objective • sustainable • equivalent • liberal • notion • substitution • generated • trend • revenue • compounds • evolution • conflict • image • discretion • entities • orientation • consultation • mental • monitoring • challenge •

Group 6

Practice test

intelligence • transformation • presumption • acknowledged • utility • furthermore • accurate • diversity • attached • recovery • assigned • tapes • motivation • bond • edition • nevertheless • transport • cited • fees • scope • enhanced • incorporated • instructions • subsidiary • input • abstract • ministry • capable • expert • preceding • display • incentive • inhibition • trace • ignored • incidence • estate • cooperative • revealed • index • lecture • discrimination • overseas • explicit • aggregate • gender • underlying • brief • domain • rational • minimum • interval • neutral • migration • flexibility • federal • author • initiatives • allocation • exceed •

Group 7

Practice test

intervention • confirmed • definite • classical • chemical • voluntary • release • visible • finite • publication • channel • file • thesis • equipment • disposal • solely • deny • identical • submitted • grade • phenomenon • paradigm • ultimately • extract • survive • converted • transmission • global • inferred • guarantee • advocate • dynamic • simulation • topic • insert • reverse • decades • comprise • hierarchical • unique • comprehensive • couple • mode • differentiation • eliminate • priority • empirical • ideology • somewhat • aid • foundation • adults • adaptation • quotation • contrary • media • successive • innovation • prohibited • isolated •

Group 8

Practice test

highlighted • eventually • inspection • termination • displacement • arbitrary • reinforced • denote • offset • exploitation • detected • abandon • random • revision • virtually • uniform • predominantly • thereby • implicit • tension • ambiguous • vehicle • clarity • conformity • contemporary • automatically • accumulation • appendix • widespread • infrastructure • deviation • fluctuations • restore • guidelines • commodity • minimises • practitioners • radical • plus • visual • chart • appreciation • prospect • dramatic • contradiction • currency • inevitably • complement • accompany • paragraph • induced • schedule • intensity • crucial • via • exhibit • bias • manipulation • theme • nuclear •

Group 9

Practice test

bulk • behalf • unified • commenced • erosion • anticipated • minimal • ceases • vision • mutual • norms • intermediate • manual • supplementary • incompatible • concurrent • ethical • preliminary • integral • conversely • relaxed • confined • accommodation • temporary • distorted • passive • subordinate • analogous • military • scenario • revolution • diminished • coherence • suspended • mature • assurance • rigid • controversy • sphere • mediation • format • trigger • qualitative • portion • medium • coincide • violation • device • insights • refine • devoted • team • overlap • attained • restraints • inherent • route • protocol • founded • duration •

Group 10

Practice test

whereby • inclination • encountered • convinced • assembly • albeit • enormous • reluctant • posed • persistent • undergo • notwithstanding • straightforward • panel • odd • intrinsic • compiled • adjacent • integrity • forthcoming • conceived • ongoing • so-called • likewise • nonetheless • levy • invoked • colleagues • depression • collapse •

Words may be
classified according to the concepts underlying their meaning. This
classification is closely connected with the theory of conceptual
or semantic fields.

Semantic
field (Ginsburg)
is a closely knit sector of vocabulary characterised by a common
concept, e.g. in the semantic field of space nouns:(expanse, extent,
surface); verbs (extend, spread, span); adjectives (spacious, roomy,
vast, broad).

The members
of the semantic fields are not synonymous but all of them are joined
together by some
common semantic component.

This semantic component common
to all the members of the field is sometimes described as the common
denominator of meaning: 1) the concept of kinship, 2) concept of
colour,3) Parts of the human body etc.

The basis of
grouping in this case is not only linguistic but also
extra-linguistic: the words are associated, because the things they
name occur together and are closely connected
in reality.

Thematic
(or ideographic) groups
are groups of words joined together by common contextual associations
within the framework of the sentence and reflect the interlinking of
things and events in objective reality.

Contextual
associations are formed as a result of regular co-occurrence of words
in similar repeatedly used contexts.

Thematic or
ideographic groups are independent of classification into parts of
speech. Words and expressions are classed not according to their
lexico-grammatical meaning but strictly according to their
signification, i.e. to the system of logical notions (e.g.
tree —
-grow
—
green;
journey —
train,
taxi, bass —
ticket;
sunshine —brightly
—
blue
—
sky).

Another
approach to the classification of vocabulary items into
lexico-semantic groups is the study of hyponymic
relations
between words.

Hyponomy
is the semantic relationship of inclusion existing between elements
of
various
levels. Thus, e.g.
vehicle includes car, bus, taxi;
The hyponymic relationship is the relationship between the
meaning of the general and the individual terms.

A hyperonym
is a generic term which serves as the name of the general as
distinguished from the names of the species-hyponyms. In other words
the more
specific
term is called the hyponym.

Ex.:animal
is a generic term to the specific names wolf, dog or mouse (these are
called equonyms). Dog is a generic term for different breeds such as
bull-dog, collie, poodle, etc.

21. Problems of phraseology.

Phraseology
is a branch of linguistics which studies different types of set
expressions, which like words name various objects and phenomena.
Attempts
have been made to approach the problem of phraseology in different
ways. Up till
now, however, there is a certain divergence of opinion as to the
essential feature of phraseological units as
distinguished from other word-groups
and
the nature of phrases that can be properly termed phraseological
units.

Another
important and so far unsolved problem is the
question of classification.

The
place of the PU in the vocabulary
and the boundaries of this level is one of the great controversial
issue of present day linguistic. English and American scholars treat
PU mostly as problem of applied linguistics, they have concentrated
their efforts on compiling dictionaries of idiomatic phrases
(Collins, A book of English idioms with explanations). The boundaries
of the layer in question are not defined, so the dictionaries include
among their entries not only word combinations but also separate
words interesting from the point of view of their etymology,
motivation or expressiveness.

The
place of proverbs, sayings
with respect to PU is a controversial issue. Proverbs have much in
common with Pus, because their lexical component is also constant,
their meaning is traditional and mostly figurative, they are
introduced in the speech ready-made. They often form the basis for
PU.(Vinogradov). BUT Proverbs independent units of communication
(Amosova). .

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In this blog post, we look at a useful way to help us remember vocabulary – putting words into groups.  We find out how to harness our brain’s natural tendency to understand the world through association (this object is green and has leaves – it must be a plant!) to help us create groups of related words that will help us learn and remember them.  We can create groups based on different things: themes, verbs/nouns and adjectives, synonyms, prefixes – these are just a few that we explore here.

I know what you’re thinking, another post on learning vocabulary! But this technique is different from the visualisation technique or the recognising cognates technique we explored in other blog posts.  And remember, everyone is different and so everyone learns a language differently – and once you have worked out which type of language learner you are and which techniques work for you, you will have a recipe for success!

Grouping By Theme/Context

You will have heard it before, context is key to language learning.  Children learn that “hello” means “hello” because people say it to them when they see them for the first time and not when they are going away (that’s “bye bye”).  They learn that “yummy” is an adjective to describe food but not, say books.  We are no different from children in the way we learn.  When we associate words with a context, we learn and remember them more quickly.  I can assure you that you will remember that “cucchiaio” means “spoon” in Italian much more readily if you are using it to eat soup with than if you ask, “how do you say ‘spoon’?” in a car trip across the Alps and then try to remember it after a fun day’s skiing.

So, how do you group words by theme?  Try drawing and labelling a picture.  Draw a picture of the kitchen in your house and label all the things in there, draw a picture of the human body and label the parts, draw a picture of a car and label that.  If you are learning words that go together or make up a whole, you will remember them more easily.  Learn words about the weather together, learn how to say whether you are well/ill/have a headache/have a toothache together.  Learn words you will use in the classroom together.  Learn words and phrases you will need to use in a restaurant (“I’ll have a…”, “the bill, please!”).  You will remember them better than if you are learning random clusters of words.

Making Nouns and Adjectives out of Verbs

I remember when I learnt this technique to learn three words for the price of one – I was literally excited because it opened my eyes to a new, efficient way of learning!

Think of a verb in the language you are learning.  Let’s take “éclairer” (to brighten/become clear/clarify) in French.  If we look in a dictionary near “éclairer”, we will see “éclaircie” – a clear patch in a cloudy sky (which metaphorically means an improvement in a difficult situation), and “éclaircissement”, clarification.  We will also see the adjective “éclairé”, informed/enlightened.  With this exercise, we have just learnt four words instead of just one.  Try this with verbs you can think of.  You can combine this grouping technique with tools such as tables and diagrams if this will help you.

Learning Synonyms

Another way to learn several words instead of just one word at a time is to learn synonyms.  It is a good idea to use a thesaurus for this exercise.  Think of the word “hungry” in English.  How many synonyms can you think of? “Famished”? “Starving”? “Ravenous”? “Peckish”?  Try looking up  synonyms in the language you are learning and use them in conversation instead of the standard word.  This will help you remember them because you are using them and may impress your friends!

Grouping Words by Prefix

It is likely that the language you are learning will use prefixes (beginnings of words) that have a specific meaning.  Let’s look at Spanish.  If we know that “des-“ means “un-“ or “not”, we can work out that “desconocido” (des-conocido) means “unknown” and “desbloquear” means “to unblock”.  “Descubrir”, literally “to uncover”, means “to find out/discover” (it’s similar in English).  This amazing word is similar in a lot of languages – “scoprire” in Italian is “to uncover” or “discover”, “ontdekken” in Dutch is the same and “odkrywać” in Polish is similar.  These words all have prefixes (s-, ont-, od-) which also mean “un-”, “away” or “from” in the respective languages.  If we identify these little parts of words, we can understand the gist if not the meaning of new words and remember them because of their theme (such as “un-“ meanings).

Can you think of other ways to group vocabulary together?  Share them with us in the comments!

Suzannah Young