Virtuous English AcademyTechnology & Internet — A2 English Vocabulary
This A2 vocabulary list gathers 30 elementary English words about technology & internet — phones, computers and life online. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
- #A2
- #DailyLife
- #Flashcards
- #Definitions
- #Examples
- #Pronunciation
Using technology & internet words in English
Technology vocabulary spreads fast between languages, so many of these words will already look familiar. That is exactly where the danger is: the word is borrowed but the grammar around it is not. English says on the internet, keeps software uncountable, and splits log in the verb from login the noun. Nearly every mistake learners make on this list is a mistake about the small words, not the technical ones.
What to watch out for
Software and hardware cannot be counted
There is no a software and no softwares. Say some software, a piece of software, or switch to the countable words program, app or application. The same holds for hardware, equipment and information — a group of technical nouns that behave like furniture rather than like computer. Note also the spelling split in British English: a computer program, but a television programme.
On the internet, in an email
Things are on the internet, on a website, on a screen and on your phone. But information sits in an email, in a message and in a file. You go online as one word, and you search for something. I saw it in the internet is the single most common preposition error on this topic.
Two words for the verb, one for the noun
You log in to a site, and what you type is your login. The same pattern runs through the whole area: you back up your files and keep a backup; you set up an account and follow the setup. As a rule, the two-word version is the verb and the one-word version is the noun. Download and upload are exceptions that work as both without changing shape.
Words learners mix up
Technology words arrive in every language looking identical, so the meanings feel safe. What does not travel is the direction a verb points in, whether a noun can be counted, and which of two near-identical words a website is actually asking you for.
Which way is it moving?
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| download | To bring a file from the internet onto your device. It comes towards you, and the source takes from. | I downloaded the form from their website. |
| upload | To send a file from your device out to the internet. It goes away from you, and the destination takes to. | She uploaded the photos to the shared folder. |
| update | To replace something with a newer version. Both verb and noun, and the noun is countable: a security update. | My phone is installing an update. |
| connect | To join two things so they can work together. Takes to for a network and with for a person. | I cannot connect to the wifi. |
The download-and-upload pair is decided entirely by direction, which is why a bad connection is described as slow to upload rather than the other way round. Note that update has a second everyday life outside technology — I will update you tomorrow means I will tell you the latest news — and there it takes a person as its object.
The internet, a website, and being online
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| internet | The whole global network. It takes the, and the preposition is on: on the internet. | I read it on the internet. |
| website | One organisation’s set of pages. One word, countable, and you go to it or find something on it. | Their website has the opening times. |
| online | One word, and both an adjective and an adverb. It never takes the: I bought it online. | The course is entirely online. |
| app | A program on a phone or tablet. Short for application, and now the ordinary word rather than the slang one. | There is an app for the bus timetable. |
The three prepositions here cause more errors than any of the technical vocabulary: something is on the internet, on a website and in an email or a file. And online resists everything — no article, no preposition, no plural — so I am in online and on the online are both wrong where the bare word is right.
What a website asks you for
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| account | Your registered identity on a service. You create, log in to or delete one. | You need an account to leave a comment. |
| password | The secret word or string that proves the account is yours. Countable, and one word. | I have forgotten my password. |
| file | One saved item — a document, a photo, a song. Countable, unlike the software that opens it. | Send me the file as an attachment. |
| data | Information stored or sent. Almost always treated as uncountable in modern English: the data is. | The app uses very little data. |
Account is worth a second look, because the same word covers your bank account and your login, and only context separates them. Data was once a Latin plural and a few careful writers still say the data are, but in everyday and business English the singular has won and is the safer choice at this level.
Collocations that sound natural
The phrases below are the ones you will need when something stops working, which is when learners most often reach for a translation and produce a sentence nobody says.
password
forget your passwordchange your passworda strong passwordenter your password
You enter or type a password; you do not write or put it. If the site rejects it, the message is usually incorrect password.
email
send an emailreply to an emailcheck your emailsan email address
British English happily counts them — I have three emails to answer — although the uncountable a lot of email also exists. The verb email somebody needs no preposition: I will email you tonight.
battery
the battery is lowcharge the batterythe battery ran outbattery life
A battery runs out, goes flat or dies — three ways of saying the same thing, and flat battery is the British one.
file
open a filesave a fileattach a filedelete a file
The thing sent with an email is an attachment, and the verb is attach: I have attached the report.
app
download an appopen the appa free appthe app crashed
When a program stops working suddenly it crashes, and when it stops responding it freezes. Both are the ordinary words, not slang.
message
send a messageleave a messageget a messagea voice message
You leave a message when the person is not there and send one when they are. British English also uses text as a verb: text me when you arrive.
Where each word belongs
Three of these are ordinary words that behave oddly in this topic, one is plural-only, and one is a genuine false friend that changes what you have said about a person.
- socialCareful · not <em>sociable</em>Here it belongs to the fixed phrase social media. A person who enjoys company is sociable or outgoing, not social, so he is very social reads oddly. The informal plural socials for social-media accounts is very recent and best avoided in writing.
- headphonesPlural onlyLike trousers and glasses, it has no singular: my headphones are broken. To count them use a pair of headphones. The small ones inside your ear are earphones or earbuds.
- deviceFormal · covers everythingThe umbrella word for phones, tablets and laptops, and it belongs to instructions and settings pages rather than to conversation. Out loud, people name the thing: on my phone, on my laptop.
- clickVerb · with <em>on</em>You click on a link or a button, and double-click is one hyphenated word. On a phone nobody clicks — the verbs are tap and swipe.
- searchVerb · with <em>for</em>You search for something, or you search a place to find it — the two patterns mean different things. In practice people say look it up or use the brand name as a verb, which is why I googled it is now ordinary English.
- printerMachine names in <em>-er</em>English builds machine names by adding -er to the verb: printer, scanner, charger, speaker. The verb for producing paper is print out, and the result is a printout, one word.
Sentences to try
Four frames with the prepositions that cause the trouble. Say them with the devices you actually use.
- I found the article on a website yesterday.
- Could you send me the file in an email?
- I need to download the new software.
- My laptop battery is running out.
Questions about technology & internet vocabulary
Do I say "on the internet" or "in the internet"?
On the internet. English treats the internet as a platform or surface you put things onto, in the same way as on television, on the radio and on a website. In is reserved for containers — in an email, in a file, in a document — because those genuinely hold the content inside them. The related adverb is written as one word with no article: I am online, go online, never in online.
Is "software" countable?
No. Software is uncountable, so it takes no a, no plural and a singular verb: The software is out of date. If you need to count, use a piece of software, or change the word to a program, an app or an application, all of which are countable. Hardware, equipment, data and information follow the same pattern, which is why informations and softwares both sound immediately wrong to a native speaker.
Is it "log in" or "login"?
Two words when it is the action, one word when it is the thing. You log in to your account, and your login is the username you use to do it. English does this consistently with phrasal verbs that have become nouns: back up the files and keep a backup; set up the printer and follow the setup; check in at the airport and go to the check-in. If you can put a word between the two halves, you need the two-word verb.