WOTW: contract
| - Tim Lake |
今週の #WOTW は ‘contract’ です. The word ‘contract’ is both a verb and a noun with a few quite different meanings, so be careful. Discover more below:
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As a noun the word ‘contract’ means a written or spoken agreement that is enforced by the law.
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- Every member of staff is given a contract of employment.
- We paid the deposit and signed the rental contract. We move in next week.
- The government awarded contracts for the new airport to several different companies.
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The most common meaning of the verb ‘contract’ is quite different to the noun. It means to make smaller or decrease.
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- During the pandemic the world economy contracted.
- The size of the local fishing fleet is contracting.
- The wood will expand and contract with changes in humidity.
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The second meaning of ‘contact’ is related to the noun explained above. It means to enter into an agreement.
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- They contracted with a local farmer to provide food for the restaurant.
- The local government will contract with various companies to implement the SDGs in the city.
- We contacted with him to teach some specific classe on Intercultural Communication.
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There are a lot of small variations on this use of contract. See lexico for more examples and explanation.
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One other meaning of the verb ‘contract’ is to catch a disease.
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- He contracted malaria while travelling in South East Asia.
- Older people are a serious risk of further problems if they contact the flu.
- Over 191,469,012 people have so far contracted COVID-19.
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発音は/ˈkɒntrakt/です。
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この単語は、英語で最もよく使われる3,000の単語のリストであるNew General Service Listからのものです。完全なリストはこちらから。
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