Virtuous English AcademySociety & Community — B1 English Vocabulary
This B1 vocabulary list gathers 40 intermediate English words about society & community — people, government and how we live together. 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.
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Using society & community words in English
Social vocabulary is where English grammar starts doing something learners have often never met: turning an adjective into a plural noun for a whole group. The homeless means all homeless people, takes a plural verb, and can never be made plural with an s. This list also contains a genuine false friend — custom is not costume — and several collective nouns that British English treats as plural where American English does not.
What to watch out for
The plus an adjective names a whole group
The homeless, the poor, the elderly, the unemployed and the rich all refer to every member of that group and take a plural verb: The homeless are often invisible. You cannot add -s — the homelesses does not exist — and you cannot use it for one person: for that you need a homeless person. This is a compact and rather formal structure that reads well in essays.
Custom is a tradition, not a costume
A custom is something a group has always done: It is a local custom to eat fish on Fridays. A costume is clothing you put on for a performance or a party. The plural customs has a third meaning again — the border control where your luggage is checked. Three different words hiding behind one root, and mixing them is a reliable marker of a B1 learner.
Collective nouns take plural verbs in British English
Say The government are considering it and The public are angry — British English looks at the people inside the group. American English uses the singular. Population is the exception and stays singular: The population is growing. Note also that society takes no article when you mean society in general — a danger to society — but does when you mean a specific one: the society of the time.
Words learners mix up
Three tables: four words for a group of people and how large each one is, four abstract nouns that behave in ways your own language may not predict, and the vocabulary of taking part.
Four words for a group, from small to very large
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| community | People who share a place or an interest. Countable, and it takes the local community or names one: the farming community. | The whole community turned out to help. |
| population | The number of people living somewhere. Countable, and the verb after it is usually singular. | The population has doubled since 1980. |
| society | Uncountable and article-free when it means people in general: a problem for society. Countable when it names one: a modern society. | Society has changed enormously. |
| nation | A country thought of as its people rather than its territory. Countable, and slightly formal. | The nation watched the results come in. |
Society is the one that goes wrong most, because the article decides the meaning: in society means among people generally, while in a society points at one particular kind. Adding the changes it again to a named organisation, which is how a chess society or a historical society gets its name.
Four abstract nouns that do not all behave alike
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| equality | Uncountable, no article, and it takes of or between: equality of opportunity. | The law is intended to promote equality. |
| freedom | Uncountable in general, but countable when naming one particular liberty: basic freedoms. | Freedom of speech is protected here. |
| welfare | Uncountable. In Britain it means wellbeing generally; in America it means state payments specifically. | The scheme protects the welfare of children. |
| rights | Almost always plural in this sense: human rights, workers’ rights. The singular means something different. | They are campaigning for equal rights. |
The transatlantic gap in welfare is worth knowing before you write about social policy, because a British reader takes child welfare to mean children being looked after, while an American reader may hear a benefits system. The British word for the payments themselves is benefits, which is also plural.
Taking part: four words and their prepositions
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| vote | Verb and noun. You vote for a candidate, against a proposal and on a question. | Nearly sixty per cent voted for the change. |
| election | Countable. Britain holds an election and a candidate stands in one, where America says runs. | The election will be held in May. |
| campaign | Noun and verb. You campaign for something you want and against something you do not. | They have campaigned for cleaner rivers for years. |
| protest | British English says protest against a decision; American English often drops the preposition entirely. | Thousands protested against the closure. |
The protest split is a genuine difference rather than an error on either side: they protested the decision is standard American and reads as a mistake to many British readers, who expect protested against. Note also that the noun and the verb move their stress, so a PRO-test is the event and to pro-TEST is the action.
Collocations that sound natural
Six words from the language of local life and public argument. Several of them are compounds in British English that have no single-word equivalent elsewhere.
citizen
a British citizenbecome a citizensenior citizencitizens’ rights
Countable, and it names a legal relationship with a country rather than where you happen to live. Senior citizen is the polite formal term for an older person, and British officialdom uses it far more than ordinary speech does.
generation
the older generationthe generation gapa new generationfrom generation to generation
Countable, and the fixed phrase from generation to generation drops the articles entirely. The generation gap names the difference in attitudes between parents and children and has been a set phrase since the 1960s.
authority
the local authorityin authoritythe authority to decidethe authorities
Three quite different uses: uncountable for power itself, countable for an official body, and the plural the authorities meaning whoever is officially in charge. The local authority is the British administrative term for a council.
council
the local councila council estatecouncil taxsit on the council
Deeply embedded in British life: council tax is the household charge, a council estate is a group of publicly built homes, and council housing is the general term. None of these compounds translates directly into American English.
majority
the vast majoritya majority ofan absolute majorityin the majority
It takes of plus a plural noun, and the verb usually follows that noun: a majority of people were opposed. The vast majority is the standard intensifier, and minority works the same way with the same prepositions.
donation
make a donationa generous donationa donation to charitydonations are welcome
Countable, and the verb is make. The recipient takes to. British charities also say give, but never do a donation, and the related verb donate is slightly more formal than the phrase with the noun.
Where each word belongs
Seven words carrying a hidden British meaning, a legal definition or a level of formality. Social vocabulary is the area where a small misuse reads as a real misunderstanding rather than a slip.
- publicA British trap hides in one compoundBoth an adjective and a noun: public transport, open to the public. The trap is public school, which in Britain means an expensive private school, while the ordinary free one is a state school. American English uses public school the way most learners expect.
- politicsThree words from one rootPolitics is the activity, policy is a particular plan a government or company follows, and a politician is the person. Mixing politics and policy is among the commonest errors in essays, and only the second is countable.
- ministerBritish · government and churchIn British politics a minister runs a government department and the head of government is the Prime Minister. The same word names a Protestant clergyman, which is why context is doing all the work. American English says secretary for the political sense.
- refugeeA legal status, not a descriptionSomebody who has been forced to leave their country and has been recognised as needing protection. It is a precise status rather than a general word for anybody arriving, and using it loosely in an essay will read as imprecise to a British examiner.
- urbanWriting · the spoken words are differentUrban and rural belong to reports, statistics and essays. In conversation the same ideas are in town or in the city and in the countryside. British English says the countryside with the article, never in countryside.
- globalAdjective · and an overused oneCovering the whole world, and the neutral choice in global economy or a global problem. It has been heavily overused in business writing, where it often means nothing more than international, so an essay is stronger for saying worldwide or naming the actual scope.
- unemploymentUncountable · and the British phrasesUncountable and article-free: unemployment has fallen. About a person the adjective is unemployed, and British English commonly says out of work in speech and on benefits for receiving state support.
Sentences to try
Four frames for writing about social issues. Change the topics to ones you could actually argue about.
- The government are introducing new rules on welfare.
- It is an old local custom in this part of the country.
- The homeless are the group most affected by the change.
- Every citizen has the same basic rights and freedoms.
Questions about society & community vocabulary
Why do we say "the homeless are" and not "the homeless is"?
Because the plus an adjective names the whole group of people who share that quality, and a group of people takes a plural verb: The homeless are sleeping outside. The same structure gives the poor, the rich, the elderly, the unemployed, the young and the injured. Two rules follow from it: you can never add -s, and you can never use it for an individual — one person is a homeless man or a homeless person.
Is a "custom" the same as a "costume"?
A custom is a traditional practice of a community: the custom of shaking hands. A costume is a set of clothes worn for a play, a film or a fancy-dress party. The words are unrelated in meaning despite looking alike, and confusing them is a common false-friend error. Watch the plural too: customs with an s most often means the airport or port authority that inspects goods, as in we went through customs.
Is "government" singular or plural in British English?
British English normally treats it as plural, because it is thinking of the ministers rather than the institution: The government are divided on the issue. American English uses the singular throughout. British writing does allow the singular when the body acts as one unit, especially in formal or legal contexts: The government has announced… The same flexibility applies to the public, the committee and the team, though the police is always plural: The police are investigating.