How the words we teach English language learners changed

Most of the adverbs specify degree, frequency, certainty, and extent. Some hedge (somewhat, partly, relatively, possibly, approximately). Others assert (absolutely, definitely, entirely, exactly, precisely). They're all doing the same kind of work: Take a statement and tell you how much of it is true, how often, and how certain. It’s as if the world now requires you to be more precise about everything.

Bread survived both lists. Flour, wheat, harvest and bake didn’t. The word for what sustains us remained essential, while the words for how we’d make it weren’t. That might be the most honest summary of what happened.

The world that made the 2023 list is more regulated, more connected, and in many ways more capable than the one behind the 1953 list. It’s a world further than our kitchen or home, reaching across economies, institutions, and democracies.

Today's vocabulary reflects a life that isn’t self-contained, but rather more systemic. It’s not so much about what’s within arm’s reach, but more about the larger world we navigate through. That sort of long-distance connection requires a particular kind of language: expansive, abstract, and precise. And language, it turns out, can’t help itself. It keeps track.