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Collocations for IELTS Writing Task 2
Awareness of collocation is written into the Band 7 descriptor for Lexical Resource. This guide shows the word pairs that make essay English sound precise, with examples for common Task 2 topics.
What a collocation is, and why examiners care
A collocation is a combination of words that habitually go together in English: you conduct research (not "make" research), problems are pressing (not "hurrying"), and evidence is compelling. There is often no logical rule — the combination is simply what fluent English uses. That is exactly why collocations are a strong signal to an examiner: they cannot be produced by translating word-by-word from your first language.
In the Writing band descriptors, Band 7 Lexical Resource includes using less common items with some awareness of style and collocation. Wrong combinations ("do a mistake," "big importance") read as Band 6 vocabulary even when the individual words are advanced.
High-value collocations by essay topic
Education
- acquire knowledge — "Students acquire knowledge more effectively through practical work."
- play a crucial role — "Teachers play a crucial role in shaping attitudes to learning."
- academic performance — "Smaller class sizes tend to improve academic performance."
Environment
- tackle climate change — "Governments must cooperate to tackle climate change."
- renewable energy sources — "Investment in renewable energy sources has grown steadily."
- environmental degradation — "Rapid urbanisation often causes environmental degradation."
Technology and society
- raise awareness — "Online campaigns can raise awareness of public health issues."
- pose a threat — "Excessive screen time may pose a threat to children's development."
- widespread adoption — "The widespread adoption of smartphones has changed how people read."
Government and economy
- allocate resources — "Authorities should allocate resources to preventive healthcare."
- impose restrictions — "Some cities impose restrictions on private vehicles."
- economic growth — "Tourism contributes significantly to economic growth."
How to use collocations in an essay without overloading it
- One or two per paragraph is plenty. The goal is natural precision, not decoration.
- Learn collocations inside sentences. Memorizing "impose restrictions" as a pair is fragile; memorizing "Some cities impose restrictions on private vehicles" gives you grammar, preposition, and context at once.
- Group them by essay topic. Task 2 questions repeat a small set of themes — education, environment, technology, health, government. Building a small collocation bank for each theme covers most exams.
- Check the verb, not just the noun. Most collocation errors are verb choices: make progress, reach a conclusion, meet a deadline, draw a comparison.
Quick self-test: which verb goes with "attention" — pay, give, or put? English uses pay attention. If pairs like this feel automatic, your collocation awareness is at the level Band 7 asks for.
Practice this in IELTS Idiom & Vocab Master
The app includes six dedicated collocation categories — verb+noun, adjective+noun, verb+adverb, noun+noun, intensifying, and quantifier collocations — each expression with a definition, example, and quiz.