7 highly useful vocab words for the ESL student

 

to be in custody – this is when the police believe someone has committed a crime and they take the person to the police station to question him/her. The person will either be arrested and charged with a crime or allowed to go free. i.e. The police currently have a person in custody who may have been the person who robbed my house. They are still investigating, however. Or: That guy who got into a fight in the local bar and hurt Joe is in custody right now. The police are trying to decide whether to charge him with a crime. Joe had to go to the hospital but it looks as if Joe might have started the fight.

solemn – something very formal and serious, usually a ceremony or event. i.e. For a few years after the 9/11 attacks in New York City, there was a very solemn and moving ceremony each year to remember the innocent people who died. Government leaders and family members would speak about this tragedy and prayers would be said and very emotional music would be played. Or: My father had been a soldier, so when he died the US Army performed a very solemn ceremony at his grave. Soldiers fired their guns and a person played a very sad song on a bugle (a type of horn instrument).

to curb something – to reduce something, do something less then one usually does it. i.e. If Bob wants to lose weight, he needs to curb the amount of beer he drinks. Or: I want to start saving more money, I need to curb my spending. (a curb is the area between a sidewalk and the street; it is connected to the sidewalk and higher than the street and a person parks his/her car next to it)

to be slated to begin on a date – to be scheduled to begin on a certain date. i.e. The rollout of our new product has been slated to begin on January 4^th. Or: Construction on our street has been slated to begin next week. We won’t be able to park our cars on our block next week. (a slate is a flat piece of rock that students used to write on over 100 years ago – it was easy to erase writing from a slate and so one slate could be used over and over again)

to be charged with a crime – this happens after a person is arrested, if the police are sure he committed a crime. A person will be formally charged or accused of the crime and have to go on trial. A trial is in a courtroom with a judge. If a person charged with a crime wants a jury, then 12 people will be chosen to listen to the case and decide whether he/she is guilty or innocent. i.e. The police arrested Joe because they believed he had stolen his roommate’s smartphone. The phone was discovered, however, in the apartment before Joe could be charged, so the police merely let him go. Or: Right now they are investigating Trump for various wrongdoings, but there might not be enough evidence to actually arrest and charge him with a crime.

to summon someone, a summons – to call someone is to summon someone, a summons is like a ticket the police give someone indicating he has to go to court because he has been accused of a minor crime. i.e. It was time for dinner and Bob’s wife summoned him from the garage into the kitchen to eat with the family. Or: In New York City, if someone is caught drinking alcohol publicly the police will not arrest him/her because that takes too much time. They will issue the person a summons, indicating that the person must appear in court, before a judge, to determine whether the person was guilty of that minor “crime”.

an aficionado – (uh FISH ee un AH dough) someone who really likes or is into something (this is a Spanish word, used in English). i.e. I like soccer (football) but Joe is a real soccer aficionado. He watches a few games every week and knows a lot about the different teams and players. Or: It is safe to say that I am an art aficionado. I love going to art museums and galleries and I read and write about art.