Being familiar with collocation is essential for all the English test, whether to use in your speaking and writing for lexical resource scores or for gapfill in the PTE listening or reading, or to find answers through reiterating in the IELTS reading and listening.

This exercise is not just a listen and write in the missing word exercise, but a training in collocations that could help in several of the English test. The idea is that you write down the collocation in the 1st exercise, then you are able to use them in the 2^nd paragraph, reiterated into a different form with a similar meaning.

A. Gap fill predicting and listening for collocations.

The advantage of investing in renewable 1. _________  is that it promotes environmental sustainability, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and decreases the 2._______ on fossil fuels, leading to a 3. _______ and healthier planet for future generations.

Hint: predict answers by thinking about articles with ‘the’ (must be a noun form), articles like ‘on’ or pairing such as comparative and comparative (—— and healthier).

Check your answers with the audio.

Now read this and choose the correct words.

Investing in A. ________energies offers numerous advantages, including promoting environmental sustainability, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and B.________ reliance on fossil C.______. This leads to a cleaner and healthier planet for future generations. Additionally, it d._______ innovation, creates green jobs, and enhances energy security by diversifying energy sources.

B. Gap fill predicting and listening for collocations.

The challenges of reaching net zero 1. ___________are often discussed, but little attention is given to the 2.___________from living in a low-carbon future. Researchers have predicted the air pollution changes resulting from the UK’s sixth carbon budget

By 2030, just over 3. _____of our homes would be well 4.______ with smart-heating controls. Large-scale biomass and wood burning would no longer 5. _____a role with domestic use 6. _________by heat pumps, district heat networks and some use of hydrogen. One in 10 homes will be using these heating systems by 2030. In addition to an increase in electric 7.______and more rural buses, by 2030 active travel, mainly cycling and e-biking, will have offset up to 10% of the 8. _________ growth in road transport.

Low-income areas in the UK have persistently greater air pollution. This A. ____ could be closed through early net zero investments for families in fuel poverty, for those in social B.________ and the private rented sector, and in areas with the greatest deprivation.

Prof Christian Brand of the University of Oxford, who was part of the C.________team, said: “Swapping just 5-7% of car D._______ for e-biking, cycling or walking by 2030 could add 1.1m years of healthy life by 2050. These benefits come from getting people more active, especially in areas where walking and cycling are less common. What’s more, the biggest E. ______ are seen in disadvantaged communities, helping to reduce health inequalities while cutting F.________ emissions.”

Options:

Journeys, Media, Carbon, Research, Gap, Housing, parts, trip, gains, advantage, improvement

Further Self Study for Advanced Learners

This was a very simple lesson, but I hope it demonstrates how you should be using audio and text to focus on collocations and a range of ways to say the same thing. When you read or listen to topics common in the tests, take note of the collocation unique to the topic.

Here are 10 themes in IELTS and PTE Academic to find original text and clips on, and to study the collocations in. Use Youtube, Podcasts and Ted talks by native speakers to note the collocations down. Try to understand them in context, use them in your speaking and writing.

1. Education & Learning
   • Schools, universities, teachers, exams, online learning, lifelong learning.
2. Technology & The Internet
   • Smartphones, social media, AI, online communication, impacts on society.
3. Health & Fitness
   • Exercise, diet, healthcare systems, mental health, healthy lifestyles.
4. Environment & Nature
   • Pollution, climate change, renewable energy, recycling, conservation.
5. Work & Careers
   • Jobs, employment trends, remote work, job satisfaction, work–life balance.
6. Culture & Society
   • Traditions, festivals, globalization, diversity, social changes.
7. Travel & Tourism
   • Holidays, cultural exchange, tourism industry, benefits and drawbacks.
8. Media & Communication
   • News, advertising, mass media, influence of celebrities, freedom of speech.
9. Science & Innovation
   • Space exploration, medical research, inventions, ethics of science.
10. Urban Life & Housing

• and more- these are just a sample of common topics

TIP: Listen and/ or read, write down the collocations in context, that are common. Use them in your writing and speaking. They are a ‘plethora’ of IELTS/PTE podcasts which will give you a ‘myriad’ of 9/ 90 level lexical resource words, but neither ‘plethora’ or ‘myriad’ are what the tests are looking for, they are look for phrases specific to each topic. So as you learn them for the reading and listening exercises, remember to also use them in speaking and writing.