Why Collocation is Important in IELTS ?
Why collocation is important in IELTS to get high Band Scores?
Collocations are a combination of two or more words to express your views in a better efficient way. As the word suggests, Co – meaning together and location – meaning place.
It is essential to learn collocation to make your English sound fluent and natural. One of the examples of collocation is “heavy rain” instead of “strong rain”, which conveys the desired message. Hence, the usage of such appropriate words at the right place can help you to convey your message correctly.
The correct use of collocations is an essential part of improving your English level and boosting your IELTS score. Using collocations correctly allows you to write and speak more like a native speaker and they are also one of the things that examiners look out for when marking your tests.
Learning new words as part of a collocation is a much more effective way of improving our vocabulary than simply learning single words by themselves.
Collocations are two or more words that naturally go together. They sound ‘correct’ to a native speaker. Using other combinations that do not form natural collocations might sound ‘incorrect’.
How Can Collocations Improve My IELTS Score?
IELTS examiners will be listening out for effective use of collocations when you are doing your speaking test. They will also look for good use of them in your writing test. In short, appropriate and accurate use of them will help boost your score.
Does that mean that you should learn a long list of them? NO!
Instead, you should make collocations part of your vocabulary building process. When you learn a new word, you should find out which words it collocates with. A quick Google search will help you find all the main collocations easily.
You can then write down example sentences containing the collocations. This will help you remember the word more effectively, so you will be broadening your vocabulary and this will help you in all parts of the test.
Few common mistakes are observed in IELTS writing test which should not be done.
Something
This word is not seen in any formal writing and it is considered as an informal word. As writing of Ielts is formal and these things should be avoidable. For instance, One must do something whenever he is free” is informal sentence.
“One must do random chores in free time.” is a formal sentence which should be used in IELTS writing.
So-so
This word is used to describe ordinary things or the quality of products such as food or taste. Try replacing it with ‘; average; ordinary; uninspiring’.
Good
This word is a very basic adjective that goes well with almost every noun. Try using other adjectives that illustrate the scenarios in a better way, such as an excellent exam grade, or exceptional flavor.
Bad
This is the antonym of good, and again it is too basic for writing. Try using more specific words that suits the sentence, for example: ‘inadequate performance; incompetent skills; damaging effect’.
So
This is frequently used interchangeably with ‘very done. though neither is formal enough for writing. One may replace it with ‘vastly; immensely or excessively’
Every coin has two sides (Idioms)
You should avoid idioms in writing test, but you may use these in the speaking test to get higher band score.
More and more
One of the two words will be sufficient to convey the same meaning. Simply replacing it with the word ‘more and more’.
And so on, or so forth, or etc.
If they are not worth listing then it is better to avoid them. Put a full stop on the list that you are trying to convey.
Kids
This word can be used to express people in a wide range of age. Try replacing it with more specific words such as ‘youngsters; teenagers; youth; adolescents; children; or infants’
Crazy
This refers to wild or aggressive behavior but can be quite IELTS; words such as ‘irresponsible; questionable; misguided’ are better choices for writing.
