When deciding whether to give a band 7 in IELTS speaking or writing, one of the things that examiners look at is your use of collocations.
'Collocation' basically means using the right words together. Many students know a lot of nouns, but they don't always know the right verbs to use with those nouns.
Here are some useful 'verb + noun' collocations:
- to make a mistake (not 'do' a mistake)
- to do/carry out/conduct research (not 'make' research, not 'a' research)
- to make/take/reach a decision
- to have/gain/lack experience
- to have/face/experience difficulties
Think about this, especially when you are writing essays. Check in a dictionary to make sure you have used the right verb with the right noun.
WOULD YOU MIND IF WE REQUEST 2 TYPES OF COLLOCATIONS IN TERMS OF: ADJECTIVE PLUS NOUN, AND, 2 NOUNS .ONLY ONE EXAMPLE OF THE PREVIOUS TERMS ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING TOPICS: ENVIRONMENT, FINANCE, FAMILY, SUCCESS AND FAILURE,SIZE AND QUANTITY, EMPHASIS AND UNDERSTANDING, EDUCATION, MEDIA,POLITICS,HEALTHCARE,TRAVEL, CRIME AND THE LAW, SOCIAL TENSIONS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, FOOD AND DIET, HE ARTS, THE FASHION, TOWN AND COUNTRY,ARCHITECTURE, BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY,AND, MEN AND WOMEN. FOR EXAMPLE, THE MOST COMMON[ADJ PLUS NOUN AND NOUN PLUS NOUN COLLOCATIONS[USED IN ENVIRONMENT TOPIC AND YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO LEARN.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
REGARDS
Posted by: sulaiamn | June 12, 2011 at 10:38
Hi Simon thank you very much for useful 'verb + noun' collocations: exercise. I would definitely try to use them. I need your help simon regarding one of your lesson which u gave us from cambridge 4 abt writing task 1 here i am going to write this essay as i undestood u neither check nor give feedback its perfectly ok b/c its not an easy job i appreciate ur hard work thanx a ton.Just let me know whether i hv got right idea or not and one thing more i feel difficulty when i start new sentence in essay can u just teach me especially for wrting task 1.
Posted by: rani | June 12, 2011 at 16:41
The bar chart compares the percentage of people living in impoverishment in australia in 1999.
It is clear that in austalia the highest number of single parents were living in poverty, while aged couple were fewer in number.
In australia, 21% of solo parents were living in poverty, whereas 19% of single ,no children.
The level of poverty among couple with children stood at 12%, in comparison with couple, no children was just 7%.
By contrast,6% single aged person were living in poverty ,compared to only 4% of aged couple.
Hi simon in this task i am running short in words how can i describe abt all hosehold and where. plz suggest me . Thanx
regards
Posted by: rani | June 12, 2011 at 17:11
sorry i wrote small a instead of capital A for australia
Posted by: rani | June 12, 2011 at 17:13
Hi Sulaiman,
That's too much for me to do here in the comments area I'm afraid. You can find collocations (within full sentences) for 24 common topics in my ebook.
I'm sure you'll find many good collocations in the individual topic lessons here on the website too. Maybe you could compile your own list as part of your preparation.
...
Hi Rani,
You've got the right idea. For task 1, just think about which element you will put at the start of the sentence (year, country, number etc.). This should help you to start writing.
Posted by: Simon | June 13, 2011 at 15:25
FYI, the Merriam Webster's online dictionary provides collocations along with sentence examples for most words:
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/
Posted by: Martin | June 13, 2011 at 20:50
Great advice. Students should check out Martin's link.
Posted by: Simon | June 14, 2011 at 12:48
Dear Simon.
I alway have trouble in using these words such as make,take/hold/catch, get and so on.
Because them have many means even mighty similar means.
Could you explain and distinguish these words in a distinct topic ?
Thank you so much !
Posted by: Toan | April 14, 2014 at 00:13