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ESL Word of the Day – Implement
Sunday, January 23, 2011 @ 09:01 AM
Implement
(Verb) - to take action or make changes that you have officially decided should happen.
Example: We have decided to implement the committee's recommendations; It is time to implement our plan.
Did you know...? The word 'implement' was in the Oxford Dictionary's top 200 most-viewed words last year.
Implement is one of those English words with two very different meanings. I have found when lecturing to ESL students (mainly African) that the ambiguity of English can be very confusing. In the first lecture, I would a slide of the Concise OED entry for “house”, to get them used to not taking a word to literally.
One can say that English is inherently ambiguous.
Hi Hugh, thanks for your comments. Yes, you’re right. I decided to focus on one meaning only so as not too overload with too much information. But do you think it is more useful to include different meanings? Interested in your views…