VOCABULARYLISTPreliminaryEnglishTest(PET)UpdatedJanuary2008PETVocabularyList©UCLES20081IntroductiontothePETVocabularyListThePETVocabularyListgivesteachersaguidetothevocabularyneededwhenpreparingstudentsforthePETexamination.BackgroundtotheListThePETlistwasoriginallydevelopedbyCambridgeESOLinconsultationwithexternalconsultantstoguideitemwriterswhoproducematerialsforthePETexamination.ItincludesvocabularyfromtheCouncilofEurope’sThreshold(1990)specificationandothervocabularywhichcorpusevidenceshowsishigh-frequency.ThelistcoversvocabularyappropriatetothislevelofEnglishandincludesreceptivevocabulary(wordsthatthecandidateisexpectedtounderstandbutwhichisnotthefocusofaquestion),andproductivevocabulary(wordsthatthecandidateneedstoknowtoansweraquestion).ThelistdoesnotprovideanexhaustivelistofallwordswhichappearonthePETquestionpapersandcandidatesshouldnotconfinetheirstudyofvocabularytothelistalone.HowtheListisUpdatedThevocabularyofEnglishchangesovertime,withwordsbeingaddedandotherwordsfallingintodisuse.Inordertomaintainitscurrency,thePETlistisupdatedonanannualbasisbytheadditionandremovalofwords,usingacorpus-basedapproach.Suggestedadditionstothewordlistarecollatedandthefrequencyofthesewordsisobtainedbyreferencetoestablishedcorpora(electronicdatabases).Thecorporainquestionrepresentreceptiveandproductivelanguageingeneralcontexts.ThemaincorporausedforthevalidationofthePETVocabularyListare:•theCambridgeLearnerCorpus(CLC)whichincludesover20millionwordsofwrittenlearnerEnglishatsixlevels;•theBritishNationalCorpus(BNC)whichincludes100millionwordsofwrittenandspokennativespeakerdata.OrganisationoftheList•WordsetsSomecategoriesofwordsalearneratthislevelmightbeexpectedtoknowarenotincludedinthealphabeticallistbutarelistedseparately.Wordsformedwithcommonaffixes,somecompoundsandwordsfromsomecommonwordsets,e.g.daysoftheweekaredescribedbelowandinAppendix1.Althoughsome‘grammarwords’(pronouns,modals,etc.)areincluded,the‘LanguageSpecification’sectionofthePETHandbook(availableunder‘Downloads’)shouldbeconsultedforamorecompletelisting.•ExemplificationExamplephrasesandsentencesshowinghowwordsmightbeusedaregivenonlywherewordswithdifferentmeaningsneedtobeconstrainede.g.theuseofcaseislimitedto‘suitcase’:candidatesarenotexpectedtoknowothermeanings,suchas‘alegalcase’.2•PrefixesandSuffixesAlistofpossibleprefixesandsuffixesisprovidedinAppendix2,andthesemaybecombinedwiththevocabularyitemsinthelistasappropriate.Wordswithanaffixwhichisnotincludedintheappendixarelistedseparatelyinthealphabeticallist.•CompoundWordsCompoundwordsarenotincludedinthelistwherebothindividualwordsarepresentandthemeaningofthecompoundisliteralandtransparent,e.g.coursebook,schoolboy,shoemaker,underwater.Asimilarapproachhasbeenadoptedwithtwo-wordandhyphenatedcompounds,forexample,coffeebar,leisurecentre,home-made,open-air.•Multi-wordVerbsMulti-wordverbsarenotincludedinthelistiftheyhavealiteralmeaningandarecomposedofverbsandparticlesalreadyinthelist.Examplesof‘literal’multi-wordverbsarecomeinto,sitdown,asin‘Whynotcomeintothekitchenandsitdown?’Ifthemeaningoftheverbisnottransparent,e.g.putthrough,getalong,thentheverbislistedandanexampleofusagegiven.•TopicListsInAppendix3wordshavebeengroupedtogetherundercommonPETthemes,suchas‘HouseandHome’,‘Sport’,‘FoodandDrink’.UnsuitableTopicsCambridgeESOLexaminationsmustnotcontainanyth...
