Improve your Vocabulary for IELTS – Collocation of Incident

Key word: incident

 1         Verb + incident

Use the correct form of these verbs:

highlight         investigate

occur               cause

report              witness

1. There was a serious accident in the middle of town last night. The police have appealed for anyone who __________ the incident to come forward.
2. I saw some older boys bullying one of the first-year students. I felt I had to__________ the incident to the headmaster.
3. A number of windows in our church were smashed at the weekend. The police are __________ the incident.
4. Somebody walked out of the building yesterday with two of our computers. This incident __________ our need to improve our security system.
5. A man was shot dead in the city centre last night. The incident __________ outside the Crown Hotel around three o’clock in the morning.
6. A French jet flew into Russian airspace and__________ a major diplomatic incident.

2          Noun + preposition

Use these nouns in the sentences below:

account of                   investigation    into

knowledge of              reports of

seriousness of             wake of

1. There have been__________ an incident at the airport. The police are already at the scene.
2. Police said there would be a full and thorough __________ the incident.
3. Relations between the countries are strained in the__________ the latest cross-border incident.
4. When she was accused of starting the fire, she denied all __________ the incident.
5. I gave the police a full and exhaustive __________ the incident in the underground.
6. Some of the older pupils were found with drugs. The headmaster has tried to play down the __________ the incident to save the reputation of the school.

Go back and underline the noun + preposition + incident expressions.

3          Common adjective collocations

Choose the most natural collocation from the pair in brackets:

1. The yacht sank after it hit the pier. A tourist with a video camera caught the__________ incident on film. (full / whole)
2. What do you remember most about your days in the army? >Well, apart from a lot of hard work, one __________ incident sticks in my mind, but perhaps it is too unpleasant to talk about over dinner. (single / particular)
3. There was a very __________ incident involving a group of youths outside a pub in London late last night in which a number of people were badly injured. (severe / serious)
4. We are sorry to hear that your money was stolen while you were a patient at this hospital. We are sure this was a(n) __________ incident as this is the first complaint of this kind which we have received. I enclose a cheque for £20 to replace the money you lost. (isolated / remote)
5. News is coming in of a__________ incident involving two passenger trains in the south of India. (main / major)
6. The army said that the recent shelling of civilians was a__________ incident and they wish to assure people that it will not happen again. (regretted / regrettable)

ANSWER KEY

Ex 1:

1 witnessed 2. report 3. investigating

4 highlights 5. occurred 6. caused

Ex 2:

1  reports of                 2. investigation into                3. wake of

4 knowledge of           5. account of                           6. seriousness of

 Ex 3:

1. whole 2. particular 3. serious      4. isolated            5. major     6. regrettable

Also check :

• IELTS Vocabulary books
• IELTS Grammar
• IELTS Vocabulary
• IELTS Listening words
• Sports Vocabulary IELTS
• English Pronunciation in use Intermediate pdf
• Work Vocabulary IELTS
• Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS