The paper proposes that the Basic Concepts Classification (BCC) could serve as the controlled vocabulary for the Semantic Web. The BCC uses a synthetic approach among classes of things, relators, and properties. These are precisely the sort of concepts required by RDF triples. The BCC also addresses some of the syntactic needs of the Semantic Web. Others could be added to the BCC in a bottom-up process that carefully evaluates the costs, benefits, and best format for each rule considered.