‘Tense’ comes from the Latin words ‘tendere’ and ‘tensus’ which meant ‘stretched.’ It came into English in the 17th century and was used to talk about our emotions in 1821 when there was a reference to ‘nervous tension.’

Of course today it is also used to talk about the different forms of a verb (present perfect tense, simple past tense and so on).

When you learn new vocab, make sure that you note collocations too. For this group of words some collocations are:
tension between, tension caused by, tense moment
termination pay, bus terminus, terminal cancer, interminable nagging, terminally ill
theme of, sub-theme of
and thereby achieve
uniform approach, uniform design

Check the meanings of the words if you don’t already know them. Check the meanings of the various forms as sometimes they are different. You can check them at Time4english by clicking the words (http://www.time4english.com/aamain/lounge/awl.asp).

Vocabulary for IELTS – Academic Word List 95

Complete the sentences. Choose the correct word and then use the correct form of the word.

1. She lost her job, but at least the ______________ pay was good. (uniform, terminate)
2. IELTS students don’t usually perform ______________ across all four skills. (uniform, tense)
3. There was a _______________ moment in the conversation when it seemed that the leader was insulted by a comment the journalist made. (theme, tense)
4. He didn’t score any goals in the last game _______________ losing his position as top goal-scorer in the competition. (thereby, terminate)
5. Throughout his time as Prime Minister, there has been an ongoing ______________ of disparaging all ideas related to development of renewable energy. (theme, thereby)

Answers (in the wrong order)
5. theme   3. tense   2. uniformly   1. termination     4. thereby