‘Minor‘ can be a noun, verb or adjective. As a noun it can mean either a person who is not yet legally an adult, or it can mean a subject at university that is your second main subject. As a verb ‘minor’ means to study a second subject at university. As an adjective it means that something is not very important or not very serious.
Example:
- Even though she was already working and independent, she went to live with her aunt when her parents died because she was still a minor.
- Ellie is majoring in maths and minoring in physics.
- The accident looked terrible, but luckily no-one was seriously injured; they had only minor bruising.
Collocations: When you learn new vocab, make sure that you note collocations too. For this group of words some collocations are:
maximum penalty, maximise outcomes, maximisation of
minor problem, minority of, a minority view
negative attitude
outcome driven, outcome of
to partner with, partnership between
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).
IELTS Vocabulary 32
Complete the sentences below with the correct form of the word.
- To be successful online, it is a good idea to _______________ with other businesses marketing similar products. (maximise, partner)
- There is so much _______________ about the economy these days that it’s depressing. (minor, negative)
- The ______________ wage for this kind of work varies between $30 and $40 per hour.(maximise, negate)
- A _______________ of people take advantage of discounts, but most people are fair in the way they use them. (minor, outcome)
- What was the _______________ of the court case about workers’ rights?(partner, outcome)
Answers (in the wrong order below)
1. partner 2. negativity 4. minority 3. maximum 5. outcome
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