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VOCABULARY LIST
Business English Certificate (BEC)
Preliminary
BEC Preliminary Wordlist
© UCLES 2006
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Introduction to the BEC Preliminary Wordlist
The BEC Preliminary Wordlist gives teachers a guide to the vocabulary needed when preparing students
for the BEC Preliminary examination.
Background to the list
The BEC Preliminary Vocabulary list was originally developed by Cambridge ESOL in consultation with
external consultants to guide item writers who produce materials for the BEC Preliminary examination. It
includes vocabulary from the Council of Europe’s Threshold (1990) specification and business-related
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 BEC Preliminary question
papers and candidates should not confine their study of vocabulary to the list alone.
How the list is updated
Usage of business language can change rapidly, as shown by the growth of email correspondence and
associated vocabulary in the last ten years. In order to maintain its currency, the wordlist 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 business and general contexts. The main corpora used for the validation of the BEC
Preliminary wordlist 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, including four million business-oriented words;
•
a web-derived corpus of business-related articles which includes 120,000 words from US and UK
business articles.
How the list is organised
•
Word sets
Some categories of words which a learner at this level might be expected to know are not
included in the alphabetical list but appear separately in Appendix 1. These include word sets
such as numbers; days of the week; months of the year; countries and languages.
•
Exemplification
Example phrases and sentences are given only where words which can be used with different
meanings have been restricted in the extent of their usage at BEC Preliminary level. For
example, trust is exemplified as it will only be used on a BEC Preliminary paper with the meaning
of having confidence in someone or something, and not with the meaning of a financial
arrangement (such as trust fund or trust unit ).
•
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. Unemployment , for example, is not included on
the alphabetical list, as it is formed from a word on the list – employ – in combination with two of
the allowable affixes – un and ment .
BEC Preliminary Wordlist
2
© UCLES 2006
Words with an affix which is not included in the appendix appear within the alphabetical list.
Reliability , for example, is listed, as the suffix – ity is not included in Appendix 2, as it is
considered to be difficult for this level.
•
Compound words
Compound words are not included in the list where both individual words are present and where
the meaning of the compound is literal and transparent, eg businessman . A similar approach has
been adopted for two-word and hyphenated compounds, for example, leisure centre and hand-
made .
•
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 and sit
down . If the meaning of the verb is not transparent, eg put through , get along , the verb is listed
and an example of usage given.
•
Topic Lists
As Business English is considered to be a domain in itself, there are no separate topic lists for
BEC Preliminary.
Personal Vocabulary
The content of the BEC Preliminary wordlist 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, their lives and their work.
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
determiner
det
exclam
exclamation
int
interjection
noun
n
phr v
phrasal verb
pl
plural
prep
preposition
prep phr
prepositional phrase
pron
pronoun
sing
singular
verb
v
Summary of points to be noted
•
The list does not include every word that may appear on a BEC Preliminary paper.
•
The list covers receptive and productive vocabulary.
•
Prefixes and suffixes used at this level appear in an appendix.
BEC Preliminary Wordlist
3
© UCLES 2006
A
• With his experience, he will be a
useful addition to the team.
additional (adj)
address (n & v)
• Could I have your email address?
(n)
• The MD addressed the
conference. (v)
adjust (v)
administration (n)
administrative (adj)
administrator (n)
admire (v)
admission (n)
• Admission to the conference is by
ticket only.
admit (v)
• He admitted there were production
problems.
• This ticket admits two people to the
exhibition.
adult (adj & n)
advance (n)
• Could you let me know in
advance?
• I’d like to make an advance
booking.
advanced (adj)
• We need someone with advanced-
level word-processing skills.
advantage (n)
advert (n)
advertise (v)
advertising (n)
advice (n)
advice note (n)
advise (v)
aeroplane (n)
affair (n)
• He had a lot of important affairs to
take care of.
affect (v)
afford (v)
afraid (adj)
after (prep)
after-sales service (n)
afternoon (n)
afterwards (adv)
again (adv)
against (prep)
age (n)
aged (adj)
agency (n)
• Let’s use an advertising agency.
agenda (n)
agent (n)
a.m. (before noon) (adv)
abbreviation (n)
ability (n)
able (adj)
• able to go
about (adj & prep)
• The company has about 500
employees. (adj)
• The report is about share prices.
(prep)
above (adj & prep)
abroad (adv)
absence (n)
absent (adj)
accept (v)
access (n & v)
accident (n)
accommodation (n)
accompany (v)
according to (prep)
account (n)
• I’d like to open a bank account.
• Our company has an account at
Transport Solutions.
accountancy (n)
accountant (n)
accounting (n)
accounts (n)
accuracy (n)
accurate (adj)
achieve (v)
acknowledge (v)
acquaintance (n)
acquire (v)
acquisition (n)
across (prep)
act (v)
action (n)
• The company has reasons for its
actions.
• Industrial action has affected
production.
• We need to develop an action plan.
active (adj)
activity (n)
actor (n)
actual (adj)
ad (abbrev) (advertisement or advert)
adapt (v)
add (v)
addition (n)
•
In addition, I’d like to order a new
printer.
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BEC Preliminary Wordlist
© UCLES 2006
anniversary (n)
• The company celebrated its 50 th
anniversary.
announce (v)
annoy (v)
annual (adj)
annual report (n)
annual return (n)
another (adj)
answer (n & v)
answer phone (n)
antique (adj & n)
anxious (adj)
any (adj & pron)
anybody (pron)
anyhow (adv)
anyone (pron)
anything (pron)
anyway (adv)
anywhere (adv)
AOB (abbrev) Any Other Business
apart from (prep)
apartment (n) (Am Eng)
apologise (v)
apology (n)
appear (v)
appearance (n)
applicant (n)
application (n)
application form (n)
apply (v)
appoint (v)
approach (n & v)
• What approach are you going to
take? (n)
• We may approach the bank for a
loan. (v)
appropriate (adj)
approval (n)
approve (v)
approx. (abbrev) approximate(ly)
approximate (adj)
architect (n)
area (n)
• We’re looking for extra
warehousing in the Leeds area.
• He became area manager after
two years.
argue (v)
• They argued about the marketing
strategy.
arithmetic (n)
around (adv & prep)
arrange (v)
arrival (n)
arrive (v)
• I’ve been to the travel agent to
book a flight to Hong Kong.
• He’s our agent in Japan.
ago (adv)
agree (v)
agricultural (adj)
agriculture (n)
aim (n & v)
•
His aim was to become MD. (n)
•
We aim to increase turnover by 5%
this year. (v)
air (n)
• He’s going by air instead of by
train.
air-conditioned (adj)
air-conditioning (n)
airline (n)
airmail (n)
airplane (n)
airport (n)
alarm (n)
• The bank installed a new security
alarm.
alike (adv & adj)
• They think alike. (adv)
• The two products are very alike.
(adj)
all (adj, adv, det & pron)
allow (v)
allowance (n)
• holiday allowance
almost (adv)
alone (adv)
along (adv & prep)
aloud (adv)
alphabet (n)
already (adv)
alright (adv/adj)
also (adv)
alternative (n & adj)
although (conj)
altogether (adv)
always (adv)
amazing (adj)
ambassador (n)
ambition (n)
ambitious (adj)
among (amongst ) (prep)
amount (n)
amusing (adj)
analyse (v)
analysis (n)
and (conj)
anger (n)
angry (adj)
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BEC Preliminary Wordlist
© UCLES 2006

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