Basic English Vocabulary

For Global Communication

25% of all that is spoken, read, or written. (10)

Ten Words, they are:

and, be, have, I, it, me, of, the, will, you.

50% of all words used by adults (51)

a, about, all, are, as,

but,

can, come,

day, dear, do,

for, from,

get, go, good,

had, he, hear, her,

if, in, is,

letter,

much, my,

no, not,

on, one, our,

put,

say, she, so,

that, there, they, this, time, though, to,

very

was, we, when, with, would , write,

your, yours.

200 most used nouns (pictured things)

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army,

baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button,

cake, camera, card, carriage, cart, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow,, cup, curtain, cushion,

dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop,

ear, egg, engine, eye,

face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame,

garden, girl, glove, goat, gun,

hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house,

island,

jewel,

kettle, key, knee, knife, knot,

leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock,

map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle,

nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut,

office, orange, oven,

parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump,

rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root,

sail school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun,

table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers,

umbrella,

wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

Words describing "operations". (96)

a, about, after, again, against, all, almost, among, and, any, as, at,

be, because, before, between, but, by,

come,

do, down,

east,, enough, even, ever, every

far, for, forward, from,

get, give, go,

have, he, here, how,

I, if, in,

keep,

let, little,

make, may, much,

near, no, north, not, now,

of, off, on, only, other, out, over,

please, put,

quite,

say, see, seem, send, so, some, south, still, such,

take, than, that, the, then, there, this, though, through, till to, together, tomorrow,

under, up,

very,

well, west, when, where, while, who, why, with,

yesterday, you.

Words describing "qualities" (General). (100)

able, acid, angry, automatic,

beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown,

cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut,

deep, dependent,

early, elastic, electric, equal,

fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full,

general, good, great, grey,

hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow,

important,

kind,

like, living, long,

male, married, material, medical, military,

natural, necessary, new, normal,

open,

parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable,

quick, quiet,

ready, read, regular, responsible, right, round,

same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet,

tall, thick, tight, tired, true,

violent,

waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise,

yellow, young.

Words describing "opposites". (50)

awake,

bad, bent, bitter, blue,

certain, cold, complete, cruel,

dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry,

false, feeble, female, foolish, future,

green,

ill,

last, late, left, loose, loud, low,

mixed,

narrow,

old, opposite,

public,

rough,

sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin,

white, wrong.

Nouns describing "general things" (392)

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt attention, attraction, authority,

back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn , burst, business, butter,

canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve,

damage, danger, daughter, day, death, death, debt, decision, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust,

earth,, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert,

fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame,, flight, flowers, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit,

glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide,

harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour,

ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron,

jelly, join, journey, judge, jump,

kiss, knowledge,

land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list look, loss, love,

machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number,

observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner,

page, pain, paint, paper,, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant, play,, pleasure, point, poison, polish,, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push,

quality, question,

rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room,, rub, rule, run,

salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement,, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system,

talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn twist,

unit, use,

value,, verse, vessel, view, voice,

walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year.

These basic rules apply:

Plurals add 's'

Derivatives add 'er', 'ing'.

Adverbs end in 'ly' from qualifiers.

Add degrees with 'more' and 'most'

Question by inversion and 'do'.

Measurement, numerals, currency,

calendar, and international terms in English form.

From this basic list of almost 900 words, a rich, effective English vocabulary can be developed.