Vocabulary: Technology and Progress

Technology and Progress

From the moment we are born we have no other choice but to to deal with technology, therefore, some basis vocabulary is something really useful for our survival in real life, hence, here we go:

Progress Words

When you write and speak about computers and technology, very often you will be asked to say how technology has changed or progressed.

notes

Progress is an uncountable word, while advance is countable. So you say that "digital technology is an advance" but you cannot say that "digital technology is a progress".

Impact Words

Another common topic is to talk about what effect computer technology has had on our lives.

notes

Be careful with the difference between "affect" (generally a verb) and "effect" (generally a noun). Just to confuse you, in English they sound exactly the same.

"impact" and "influence" are often used with the preposition "on".

Technology and Computer words

It is very easy to keep on repeating the same word without knowing it. One way not to do so this is to change the form of the word or to use ir in a different phrase.

notes

Be careful with the spelling of technology.

A "technophile"loves technology and a "technophobe" hates it. In speaking, you could use the less formal word "geek" for technophile, but I would avoid it writing.

Adjectives

notes

It is normal to use hyphens (-) in adjective phrases such as "state-of-art" when they are used before nouns ("this technology is state of the art").

"obsolete" is similar in meaning to "outdated", but is a stronger word to show that the technology is so old that it cannot be used any longer.

It is normal to write  "high tech" rather than "high technology".

Device words

This is a rather confusing set of words to describe different kinds of objects.

notes

A "device" is often something fairly small that allows you to complete a task. There is a strong collocation (very common phrase): "labour-saving device".

"Equipment" is an uncountable word so you need to say "a piece of equipment". It is a very general use word that can be used to describe almost anything mechanical.

"Gadget" is a word often used to describe objects that are either small or have a less serious purpose.

"Appliance" is typically used in the phrase "electrical applicances" (eg irons and kettles) that are less advanced technology.

Other useful words

This is a selection of other words that may come in useful when discussing technology.