Collocations for IELTS Writing Task 2: 60 Real Pairs

A collocation is just a pair of words that native speakers habitually put together: you pose a threat but you raise a question; you tackle a problem but you address an issue. Getting these right is a large part of what makes writing sound natural rather than translated.

The lists you usually find are organised by topic. This one is organised by the job the phrase does in an essay — because when you are stuck at minute 12 of Task 2, you don’t need “environment collocations”, you need a way to say this causes that.

Naming a problem (10)

Collocation	Example
pose a threat to	Rising sea levels pose a threat to coastal cities.
give rise to	Rapid urbanisation has given rise to overcrowding.
a pressing issue	Youth unemployment is a pressing issue.
a growing concern	Data privacy is a growing concern.
face a challenge	Rural schools face a challenge in recruiting staff.
a widespread problem	Obesity has become a widespread problem.
raise questions about	This raises questions about fairness.
a contentious issue	Immigration remains a contentious issue.
come under pressure	Health services have come under pressure.
reach a critical point	Congestion has reached a critical point.

Giving a cause (10)

Collocation	Example
stem from	The problem stems from poor planning.
be attributed to	The rise can be attributed to cheaper flights.
the root cause of	Poverty is the root cause of much petty crime.
contribute to	Long hours contribute to burnout.
be driven by	Demand is driven by advertising.
a major factor in	Diet is a major factor in heart disease.
arise from	These tensions arise from inequality.
play a key role in	Parents play a key role in early literacy.
be triggered by	The crisis was triggered by a shortage.
account for	Transport accounts for a quarter of emissions.

Giving a consequence (10)

Collocation	Example
have an adverse effect on	Noise has an adverse effect on concentration.
lead to	Automation may lead to job losses.
result in	This resulted in widespread delays.
take a toll on	Long commutes take a toll on family life.
place a strain on	An ageing population places a strain on services.
have far-reaching consequences	The decision has far-reaching consequences.
undermine confidence in	Scandals undermine confidence in institutions.
exacerbate the problem	Building more roads exacerbates the problem.
pave the way for	This paved the way for further reform.
bring about change	Legislation alone rarely brings about change.

Proposing a solution (10)

Collocation	Example
address the issue	Governments must address the issue directly.
tackle the problem	Cities are tackling the problem of congestion.
implement a policy	Several countries have implemented this policy.
impose restrictions on	Authorities could impose restrictions on advertising.
allocate funding to	More funding should be allocated to prevention.
raise awareness of	Campaigns raise awareness of the risks.
take measures to	Schools should take measures to reduce bullying.
introduce legislation	Parliament introduced legislation last year.
invest heavily in	The state has invested heavily in rail.
provide incentives for	Tax breaks provide incentives for recycling.

Describing amounts and trends (10)

Collocation	Example
a significant increase in	There has been a significant increase in demand.
a sharp decline in	The data shows a sharp decline in attendance.
a growing number of	A growing number of people work remotely.
the vast majority of	The vast majority of respondents agreed.
a small proportion of	Only a small proportion of waste is recycled.
rise steadily	Costs have risen steadily since 2010.
remain unchanged	Wages have remained unchanged.
reach a peak	Sales reached a peak in December.
account for a large share of	Housing accounts for a large share of spending.
be on the rise	Cybercrime is on the rise.

Arguing and evaluating (10)

Collocation	Example
there is compelling evidence that	There is compelling evidence that early years matter most.
critics argue that	Critics argue that the policy is unworkable.
proponents claim that	Proponents claim that costs would fall.
on balance	On balance, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
to a certain extent	This is true to a certain extent.
it stands to reason that	It stands to reason that prevention is cheaper.
weigh the benefits against	We must weigh the benefits against the costs.
draw a distinction between	It is important to draw a distinction between the two.
reach a consensus	Experts have yet to reach a consensus.
it is widely believed that	It is widely believed that exercise improves mood.

That is 6 × 10 = 60 collocations.

The ones to use sparingly

Not every phrase above deserves equal use, and this is the part most collocation lists leave out.

Empty openers. It is widely believed that and it stands to reason that are grammatically fine but carry almost no information. Used once, they are natural. Used to open three paragraphs, they read as padding — you have spent eight words saying nothing. If you can delete the phrase and the sentence still works, delete it.

Hedges that hide your position. To a certain extent is useful for nuance, but Task 2 asks for a clear position. An essay that qualifies every claim reads as evasive rather than balanced.

Anything you can’t pronounce comfortably. These are Writing collocations. Several of them — it stands to reason, pave the way for, far-reaching consequences — sound stiff in Speaking. The register split runs through this whole series; see IELTS vocabulary by topic for why it matters.

Where collocations actually earn marks

The mark scheme rewards natural word combinations, and the simplest way to demonstrate them is to build the cause → consequence → solution chain in a single paragraph:

Long working hours contribute to burnout, which places a strain on health services already under pressure. Employers could take measures to limit overtime, though legislation may be needed to bring about change at scale.

Four collocations, one paragraph, and — more importantly — an argument that actually develops. Compare it with the same idea written without them:

Working a lot is bad and makes people ill. This is bad for hospitals. Companies should make people work less.

The second version is not ungrammatical. It is just undeveloped, and undeveloped ideas are what hold most essays below Band 7.

How to learn 60 of anything

Do not try to memorise the tables. Instead:

1. Pick one group per day. Six days covers the lot.
2. Write one sentence per collocation about a topic you already have vocabulary for — environment and education are the obvious pair, since those lists give you the nouns these verbs attach to.
3. Then write one full paragraph using four collocations from different groups. That is the actual skill: chaining them.

Learning them attached to real content is the whole point. A collocation stored on its own is another isolated item; a collocation stored inside an argument about congestion or tuition fees comes back when you need it.