Technology & the Internet
Technology & the Internet — 20 high-frequency words, with pronunciation, collocations, word traps and four interactive exercises.
📌 Contents
🎯 Lesson goal
The digital vocabulary you really need 💻: devices, accounts, security and social media. Some of these words are easy to mix up or take tricky prepositions (online, download, upload, log in to). You will also learn to tell device, gadget and appliance apart. 🚀
🗂️ Word Bank
Tap 🔊 to hear the British pronunciation. The IPA transcription is under each word.
📖 Words in context
Marta’s phone · tap a highlighted word to hear it.
Marta's phone is four years old. The screen is cracked, the battery dies at three in the afternoon, and she has lost her charger twice this month. Worse, the messaging app tends to crash every time there is an update.
Last week she tried to log in to her bank account and received a message asking for her password by email. Luckily she recognised the scam immediately: no bank ever asks for that. She changed her privacy settings and decided to back up everything to the cloud before buying a new device.
Now she is careful about what she chooses to post and share. She still uses streaming for films, and she still likes to browse the news in bed — but she no longer trusts the first result that a search engine gives her.
🔗 Collocations & chunks
Words travel in groups: learn the whole chunk, not just one word.
| Chunk / collocation | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| run out of battery | to have no power left | My phone ran out of battery. |
| be online / offline | to be connected to the internet, or not | I'll be offline this weekend. |
| go viral | to spread very fast online | The video went viral overnight. |
| screen time | hours spent looking at screens | I'm trying to cut my screen time. |
| log out of an account | to leave your account safely | Always log out of shared computers. |
| a strong password | a password that is hard to guess | Use a strong password. |
⚠️ Word traps to avoid
| English word | Real meaning ✅ | Watch out ❌ |
|---|---|---|
| actual | real, true (not “current”) | for “at the moment”, use currently |
| library | a place with books to borrow; a set of code | a shop that sells books is a bookshop |
| editor | a person who edits; a program for editing | not the company that publishes books: that is a publisher |
| notice | a written warning or announcement; to see or spot something | not “news”: that is news or a piece of news |
🎚️ Register: when to use them
| Expression | Register | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| DM me. | very informal | only on social media, between friends |
| Send me a message. | neutral | always correct |
| Please find the file attached. | formal | professional emails |
| Users are advised to update the application. | formal / technical | notices, manuals, written texts |
🚫 Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake ❌ | Correct ✅ |
|---|---|
| I have downloaded the app on my telephone. | I downloaded the app on my phone. |
| I logged in my account. | I logged in to my account. |
| The computer is crashed. | The computer has crashed. |
| I made a photo with my telephone. | I took a photo with my phone. |
🎮 Vocabulary gym
Four ways to practise the same 20 words. Your progress is saved on this device.
Tap the card to flip it.
Tap an English word, then its meaning. Eight pairs per round.
Complete the ten sentences with the right word. The clue under each sentence will help you.
- You can use the app on any .💡 a small electronic machine, like a phone or tablet
- My cracked last week.💡 the part of a device that shows pictures and text
- Has anyone got a ?💡 a cable or plug that puts power into a battery
- The lasts about six hours.💡 the part inside a phone that stores power
- It takes a minute to the file.💡 to copy a file from the internet to your device
- I'll the photos tonight.💡 to send a file from your device to the internet
- Never share your .💡 a secret word that lets you in to your account
- You have to with your email.💡 to enter your details to open your account
- I deleted my old .💡 your personal space on a website or app
- The fixed the problem.💡 a newer version of a program, or to install one