Vocabulary · Free lesson
TOEIC vocabulary: renew a license, resume a meeting
An office update can mention both an expiring license and a paused meeting. The surrounding facts tell you which action is intended.
Professor Scott MendozaThe short answer
Renew a license means make it valid for a further period. Resume a meeting means continue it after a pause. Ask what is changing: the period of validity or the activity’s paused state?
Further validity: renew. After an interruption: resume.
Renew commonly goes with a license, membership or contract when it continues for another period. Resume describes restarting an interrupted activity, such as a meeting or work. It does not necessarily mean repeat everything from the beginning. These are useful contextual patterns, not an absolute rule: renew has other meanings and can also describe beginning an activity again.
Compare the examples
Please renew your license before it expires.
The meeting will resume at 2 p.m.
She renewed her membership for another year.
A resumed meeting is continuing after a pause. A renewed license has a further period of validity. Neither sentence alone tells you the price or every step required.
Build the meaning step by step
Read the object
license
Find the time clue
valid for another year
Select the action
renew
Try it now
Read the action in context
Read all answers and explanations
You want your expiring license to remain valid for another year. Choose the action.
Renew the license.Renew gives it a further validity period; cancel and expire do not.
“The meeting will resume at 2 p.m. after lunch.” What happens at 2 p.m.?
The interrupted meeting continues.Resume here means continue after the lunch break, not summarize or cancel.
Which detail most clearly signals renewal of a membership?
The membership is valid for another year.Another year of validity fits renewal; the other details concern interrupted activities.
Put it into practice
Keep two office updates distinct
Facts: A license was made valid for another year. A meeting continued after lunch. Write both updates accurately.
We canceled the license and summarized the meeting after lunch.
See a model answer
We renewed the license for another year and resumed the meeting after lunch.
These verbs fit these specific facts. Do not turn this into a rule that renew can never describe an activity restarting.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Can renew ever mean begin again?
Yes. For example, people can renew efforts. That is why the object and context matter more than a one-word translation.
The team renewed its efforts to solve the problem.
Does resume mean repeat from the beginning?
No. It means begin again after stopping, often continuing the interrupted activity. A complete restart would need more context.
We resumed the discussion after the break.
Take it into your day
Use the object and time context to distinguish renewal from resumption.
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