Introduction

The list of general notions is derived from a consideration of what, in general, people deal with by means of language, of what concepts they may be likely to refer to whatever the specific features of a particular communication situation may be.

We present the general notions under eight headings:

1. existential

2. spatial

3. temporal

4. quantitative

5. qualitative

6. mental

7. relational

8. deixis

The following list indicates the sub-classes of the notions selected and presents the various notions in the form of their exponents. Strictly speaking, we should have presented each notion and its exponent(s) separately, but since the large majority of the notions would then have to be referred to by means of the corresponding exponent – the lexical item among is the exponent of the notion among – this would have led to almost constant duplication without any practical gain.

General notions for Threshold Level including recommended exponents

1. 1 Existential

1. 1.1 existence, non-existence

2. There is + NP

3. There's no + NP

4. There isn't any + NP

5. the verbs to exist, to become, to make (as in: She ˈmade a ·new ‚dress.)

6. 1.2 presence, absence

7. here, not here, there, not there, away

8. 1.3 availability, non availability

9. to have (got)

10. There is + NP

11. There's no + NP

12. There isn't any + NP

13. ready (as in ˈWhen will it be ‚ready?)

14. 1.4 occurrence, non-occurrenceto happen

1. 2 Spatial

1. 2.1 location

2. the following adverbs: here, there, everywhere, somewhere, nowhere, (not) anywhere, where?; inside, outside (in) the east/north/south/west to have been to (as in: She has ·been to „Paris.)

3. this, that, these those

4. 2.2 relative position

5. the following prepositions of position:

6. […]