Breaking News English

The fast pace [at / for] which the Internet has entered and transformed our lives has had an impact [in / on] the words and language we use. It is 20 years since the website Dictionary.com was [creation / created] , and it has looked back at the past two [decades / decadence] to see how the worldwide web has created additional [definition / definitions] to many [commonly / common] used words. Dictionary.com boss Liz McMillan says it's interesting to see, "just how much the [raise / rise] of technology has shaped our word use over time". She said: "To [commemorate / commemorative] the 20th birthday of Dictionary.com, we look back at 20 words that have expanded in meaning over the last 20 years." The website has been [documented / documenting] new lexical uses since, "the [dawn / dusk] of the Internet era".

Perhaps one of the most [easily / easy] recognisable changes is to the word "friend". For centuries, this word has been [a / the] noun. However, with the [meteoric / metre] rise of Facebook, this very common word is [now / known] also a verb, as in, "Can you friend me?" A [variant / vary] of this word is "befriend," which means to become friends with someone (usually in the [really / real] and not cyber world). The word "tablet" used to commonly [refer / defer] to a flat piece of stone, clay, or wood that is used to write on. Now it's more [likely / liking] to mean a touchscreen device that is Internet-enabled. Other words that have new definitions [include / inclusive] "cloud," "wireless," "viral," "tweet" and "troll". There's no [knowing / known] which new words will have new meanings in the next two decades.