VOCABULARY LIST PET.pdf

VOCABULARY LIST

Preliminary English Test (PET)

Updated January 2008

PET Vocabulary List

©UCLES 2008

Introduction to the PET Vocabulary List

The PET Vocabulary List gives teachers a guide to the vocabulary needed when preparing

students for the PET examination.

Background to the List

The PET list was originally developed by Cambridge ESOL in consultation with external

consultants to guide item writers who produce materials for the PET examination. It

includes vocabulary from the Council of Europe’s Threshold (1990) specification and other

vocabulary which corpus evidence shows is high-frequency.

The list covers vocabulary appropriate to this level of English and includes receptive

vocabulary (words that the candidate is expected to understand but which is not the focus

of a question), and productive vocabulary (words that the candidate needs to know to

answer a question).

The list does not provide an exhaustive list of all words which appear on the PET question

papers and candidates should not confine their study of vocabulary to the list alone.

How the List is Updated

The vocabulary of English changes over time, with words being added and other words

falling into disuse. In order to maintain its currency, the PET list is updated on an annual

basis by the addition and removal of words, using a corpus-based approach. Suggested

additions to the wordlist are collated and the frequency of these words is obtained by

reference to established corpora (electronic databases). The corpora in question represent

receptive and productive language in general contexts. The main corpora used for the

validation of the PET Vocabulary List are:

• the Cambridge Learner Corpus (CLC) which includes over 20 million words of written

learner English at six levels;

• the British National Corpus (BNC) which includes 100 million words of written and

spoken native speaker data.

Organisation of the List

• Word sets

Some categories of words a learner at this level might be expected to know are not

included in the alphabetical list but are listed separately. Words formed with common

affixes, some compounds and words from some common word sets, e.g. days of the week

are described below and in Appendix 1. Although some ‘grammar words’ (pronouns,

modals, etc.) are included, the ‘Language Specification’ section of the PET Handbook

(available under ‘Downloads’) should be consulted for a more complete listing.

• Exemplification

Example phrases and sentences showing how words might be used are given only where

words with different meanings need to be constrained e.g. the use of case is limited to

‘suitcase’: candidates are not expected to know other meanings, such as ‘a legal case’.

• Prefixes and Suffixes

A list of possible prefixes and suffixes is provided in Appendix 2, and these may be

combined with the vocabulary items in the list as appropriate. Words with an affix which is

not included in the appendix are listed separately in the alphabetical list.

• Compound Words

Compound words are not included in the list where both individual words are present and

the meaning of the compound is literal and transparent, e.g. coursebook , schoolboy ,

shoemaker , underwater . A similar approach has been adopted with two-word and

hyphenated compounds, for example, coffee bar, leisure centre, home-made, open-air .

• Multi-word Verbs

Multi-word verbs are not included in the list if they have a literal meaning and are

composed of verbs and particles already in the list. Examples of ‘literal’ multi-word verbs

are come into , sit down , as in ‘Why not come into the kitchen and sit down?’ If the meaning

of the verb is not transparent, e.g. put through , get along, then the verb is listed and an

example of usage given.

• Topic Lists

In Appendix 3 words have been grouped together under common PET themes, such as

‘House and Home’, ‘Sport’, ‘Food and Drink’.

Unsuitable Topics

Cambridge ESOL examinations must not contain anything that might offend or upset

candidates, potentially affect their performance or distract them during the examination. A

number of ‘sensitive’ topics are considered unsuitable for use in PET, for example, war

and politics, and vocabulary relating to these is not included in the Vocabulary List.

Personal Vocabulary

The content of the PET list is general in nature and is unlikely to cover completely the

productive vocabulary that may be required by all candidates. Candidates should know the

specific lexis they will need to describe themselves and their lives, for example, work,

hobbies, likes and dislikes.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the Vocabulary List are:

abbrev abbreviation or acronym

adj adjective

adv adverb

Am Eng American English

Br Eng British English

conj conjunction

det determiner

exclam exclamation

int interjection

n noun

phr v phrasal verb

plural

prep

preposition

prep phr

prepositional phrase

pron

pronoun

verb

Summary of Points to be noted

• The list does not include every word that may appear on a PET paper.

• The list covers receptive and productive vocabulary.

• It is updated every year.

sing

singular

afford (v)

afraid (adj)

after (prep)

afternoon (n)

afterwards (adv)

again (adv)

against (prep)

age (n)

aged (adj)

agent (n)

agency (n)

ago (adv)

agree (v)

ahead (adv)

aim (n & v)

air (n)

air-conditioning (n)

airforce (n)

airline (n)

airmail (n)

airport (n)

alarm (n)

alarm clock (n)

album (n)

alike (adv)

alive (adj)

all (adj, adv, det & pron)

all right/alright (adv)

allow (v)

almost (adv)

alone (adv)

along (adv & prep)

aloud (adv)

alphabet (n)

already (adv)

also (adv)

although (conj)

altogether (adv)

always (adv)

a.m. (adv)

amazed (adj)

amazing (adj)

ambassador (n)

ambition (n)

ambulance (n)

among (amongst) (prep)

amount (n)

amusing (adj)

ancient (adj)

and (conj)

angry (adj)

animal (n)

ankle (n)

anniversary (n)

announce (v)

announcement (n)

ability (n)

able (adj)

about (adv & prep)

• about 500 students (adv)

• The film is about a small boy.

(prep)

above (prep)

abroad (adv)

absent (adj)

accept (v)

access (n)

• disabledaccess

• internetaccess

accident (n)

accommodation (n)

accompany (v)

according to (prep)

account (n)

accurate (adj)

ache (n & v)

achieve (v)

across (prep)

act (n & v)

• in the second act (of the play) (n)

• to act in a play (v)

• to act strangely (v)

action (n)

active (adj)

activity (n)

actor (n)

actress (n)

actual (adj)

ad (advertisement) (n)

add (v)

addition (n)

• inaddition

additional (adj)

address (n)

admire (v)

admission (n)

• charges/cost/price

admit (v)

adult (adj & n)

advanced (adj)

advantage (n)

adventure (n)

advert (n)

advertise (v)

advertisement (n)

advice (n)

advise (v)

aeroplane (n)

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: