Using Collocation to Ace the IELTS – Key Word: Effort

Effort

Verb + Effort

Use the correct form of these verbs:

1. If you want to get good grades, you’d better start ___________ more of an effort. As it is, you’ll be lucky to scrape a pass.
2. Learning a language as a child seems to involve no effort at all, but learning it as an adult ___________ a lot of time and effort.
3. Following record sales over the Christmas period, the staff were___________ for their efforts with a New Year bonus of £300.
4. I’d tackle the problem now if I were you. It’ll only take a couple of hours and it’ll ___________ you a lot of time and effort in the long run.
5. A lot of effort has___________ making this event a success. I’d like to thank all of those who were involved.
6. After ___________ all that effort on training to be a doctor, she decided that she wanted to do something else. What a terrible waste of time!

Adjective + Effort

Use these adjectives to complete the sentences:

1. My father is making a huge effort to stop smoking.
   -Good for him! Tell him I’m also making a ___________ effort to kick the habit! I haven’t had a cigarette for a week!
2. It’s not an easy book to read but it’s extremely interesting. It’s well worth putting in the ___________ effort to understand it.
3. Jon can be so irritating. He made a ___________ effort to help me with the dishes. I think he dried one plate and then went round telling people he had done the dishes!
4. Some people can lose weight virtually overnight, but for most people, dieting requires a ___________ effort of will.
5. Now, for many of our guests this will be their first time abroad, so let’s all make a ___________ effort to make our Russian colleagues welcome.

Common Expressions

Match the two halves of the sentences below:

1. If we fail, it won’t be for
2. This company has invested a great deal of
3. He passed his exams with
4. I know it’s a long climb to the top of the hill, but the view from the top is
5. Everybody on our social committee has put in
6. We’ve started a massive advertising campaign

1. time and effort in setting up training schemes.
2. well worth the effort.
3. in an effort to recruit more blood donors.
4. the minimum of effort. He’s obviously very bright.
5. want of effort.
6. a great deal of effort to make the weekend a success.

Noun + Effort

Use these nouns to complete the sentences:

1. The___________ efforts of local people have resulted in over £10,000 being raised for cancer research in the past year.
2. ___________ efforts in the Congo are being hampered by the on-going civil war.

3. People started to wear yellow badges to show their support for the___________ effort.
4. The only ___________ I won at school was one for effort. At least I tried! And that’s more important than coming first!
5. A lot of grammar study is a___________ of time and effort. Collocation is much more useful.

Notes:

Note the use of the quantifiers every and no in the following common expressions:

• Every effort is being made to rectify the problem.
• We will spare no effort to find out who did this.

‘In an effort to’ means ‘in order to’:

• We’ve reduced our workforce in an effort to cut costs.

If something is a ‘real effort’, it is very difficult:

• Dad’s very weak now. It’s a real effort just to talk.

Answer Key

Exercise 1:

1. making

2. requires

3. rewarded

4. save

5. gone into

6. expending

Exercise 2:

1. determined

2. extra

3. feeble

4. supreme

5. concerted

Exercise 3:

1. e

2. a

3. d

4. b

5. f

6. c

Exercise 4:

1. fund-raising

2. Relief

3. war

4. prize

5. waste

Also check :

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