Situation Collocation for IELTS: A List to Boost Your Score

Prity Mallick

9 min read

Updated On Sep 18, 2025

Strengthen your vocabulary with lists of situation collocations for IELTS. Learn how to use them in context with meaning, clear examples, and exercises designed to boost accuracy, fluency, and overall lexical range for IELTS band scores of 7 and above.

Lists of Situation Collocations for IELTS to Boost Your Score
Situation Collocation for IELTS: Practice Exercises
Notes
Answer Keys for Practice Exercises Situation Collocations

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In IELTS Writing and Speaking, the word ‘situation’ frequently appears when describing problems, conditions, or real-life contexts. Examiners expect candidates to use natural, academic collocations with situation instead of repeating simple words like ‘problem’ or ‘case’. Using precise collocations such as ‘handle a situation’, ‘critical situation’, or ‘a change of situation’ can make your language sound more fluent and authoritative.

In this blog, we will explore different situation collocations, categorized into verb, adjective and noun to help you enrich your IELTS vocabulary.

Lists of Situation Collocations for IELTS to Boost Your Score

When you choose to use top important collocations for IELTS instead of single words, you will be showing the examiner your flexibility, fluency, and developed vocabulary skills, which are necessary for a Band 7.0 or higher score.

With that in mind, the following tables will present the lists that contain different situation collocations that are used in the IELTS. The meanings and original example sentences in the IELTS style for each collocation related to 'situation' will be available in each table.

Verb + Situation Collocations

These verb + situation collocations describe actions taken to deal with or describe a situation.

Verb + Situation	Meaning	Example Sentence
Handle a situation	manage or deal with circumstances	Good leaders know how to handle a situation under pressure.
Assess a situation	evaluate or analyze conditions	Before making decisions, it is vital to assess a situation carefully.
Adapt to a situation	adjust to new conditions	Migrants often need to adapt to a new situation in a foreign country.
Face a situation	confront or deal with conditions	Students face a situation where competition for jobs is intense.
Improve a situation	make conditions better	Government policies can improve a situation of poverty.
Control a situation	take charge of circumstances	The police acted quickly to control the situation.
Create a situation	cause a set of circumstances	The new rule created a situation of confusion among workers.
Monitor a situation	watch or track developments	Authorities are monitoring the situation after the natural disaster.
Depend on a situation	be influenced or determined by it	The success of the project may depend on the situation in the global market.
Comment on a situation	express an opinion about conditions	The minister refused to comment on the situation until further information emerged.
Review a situation	examine or evaluate it again	The board will review the situation before implementing new policies.
Misunderstand a situation	fail to interpret conditions correctly	Tourists often misunderstand a situation due to cultural differences.

Situation + Verb Collocations

These situation collocations show how a situation behaves or changes over time.

Situation + Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
Situation arises	a condition comes up unexpectedly	A difficult situation arose during the negotiation process.
Situation worsens	becomes more severe or difficult	If unemployment rises, the economic situation worsens.
Situation improves	gets better	The health situation improved after vaccinations were introduced.
Situation changes	circumstances become different	The political situation changed rapidly after the protests.
Situation deteriorates	gradually gets worse	Without immediate action, the environmental situation may deteriorate.
Situation stabilises	becomes steady again	After months of uncertainty, the financial situation stabilised.
Situation calls for	requires or demands action	The crisis situation calls for immediate government intervention.
Situation continues	persists without change	The drought situation continues despite relief efforts by the authorities.
Situation returns	comes back to a previous state	The economic situation returned to normal after the reforms.
Situation turns	changes in an unexpected direction	The peaceful situation suddenly turned violent during the demonstration.

Adjective + Situation Collocations

Adjectives describe the nature, seriousness, or urgency of a situation.

Adjective + Situation	Meaning	Example Sentence
Difficult situation	a challenging or hard condition	Many students face a difficult situation when balancing work and study.
Critical situation	an extremely serious condition	The hospital was in a critical situation due to lack of staff.
Emergency situation	a sudden, urgent condition	The government must respond quickly in an emergency situation.
Complex situation	a condition with many factors	Immigration often leads to a complex situation in cities.
Real-life situation	a practical or actual condition	IELTS speaking questions often reflect real-life situations.
Dangerous situation	a harmful or risky condition	Firefighters are trained to act in dangerous situations.
Awkward situation	an embarrassing or uncomfortable condition	He was caught in an awkward situation during the interview.
Unforeseen situation	an unexpected condition	Travellers often need insurance for unforeseen situations.
Current situation	the present set of conditions	The current situation in the job market is highly competitive.
Desperate situation	a hopeless or very difficult condition	Refugees were in a desperate situation after losing their homes.
Delicate situation	a sensitive or fragile condition	Diplomats must handle a delicate situation with care during peace talks.
Ideal situation	a perfect or most suitable condition	An ideal situation for students is when study and work are balanced effectively.
Impossible situation	a condition with no possible solution	Sometimes, exam questions feel like an impossible situation for unprepared students.
Catch-22 situation	a paradoxical or no-win condition	Fresh graduates often face a Catch-22 situation: no job without experience, and no experience without a job.
Volatile situation	a highly unstable or changeable condition	The volatile situation in global markets affects international trade.

Noun + of + Situation Collocations

These situation collocation structure highlights specific aspects or states of a situation.

Noun + of + Situation	Meaning	Example Sentence
Change of situation	a shift in conditions	After a change of situation, many workers chose remote jobs.
Analysis of situation	study or examination of conditions	The analysis of the situation revealed gaps in the education system.
Understanding of situation	awareness of conditions	Teachers need a better understanding of students’ situations.
Description of situation	explanation of circumstances	The journalist gave a clear description of the situation.
Improvement of situation	positive development	International aid led to an improvement of the situation in rural areas.
Deterioration of situation	worsening of conditions	Climate change is causing a deterioration of the situation globally.
Advantage of situation	benefit or positive aspect	One advantage of the situation is that employees can now work from home.
Facts of situation	reality or actual details	The lawyer presented the facts of the situation to defend his client.
Handling of situation	management or control of circumstances	Effective handling of the situation prevented a major crisis.
Misunderstanding of situation	incorrect interpretation of conditions	The conflict arose from a misunderstanding of the situation between the parties.
Gravity of situation	seriousness or critical nature	The gravity of the situation was clear after the earthquake struck the city.
Side of situation	particular aspect or perspective	From the economic side of the situation, reforms were urgently required.

Explore our Vocabulary for IELTS to boost your IELTS vocabulary!

Situation Collocation for IELTS: Practice Exercises

In order to boost your understanding and application of the situation collocations for IELTS, it is recommended to practice in the following exercises.

Exercise A: Use the correct form of these verbs.

comment on depend on handle

review misunderstand improve

John’s calm approach prevented a nasty argument from developing during the meeting. You have to admire the way he ___________ the situation.
It would be unwise to ___________ the situation in Kashmir without knowing all the facts.
Would you come to my aid if somebody attacked me? => Well, it would ___________ the situation.
I thought the man you were with was your husband. I didn’t realise he was your brother. I’m so sorry. I totally ___________ the situation.
The refugees have no fresh water or sanitation. There’s little anyone can do to___________ the situation.
Before we throw any more money at the problem, I think we should___________ the situation and see what worked and what didn’t.

Exercise B: Complete the sentences with these adjectives.

current desperate delicate ideal

impossible Catch-22 volatile difficult

We’re trying to buy a house, but everywhere is too expensive for us. We’re in an ___________ situation.
You’ll need to handle this very sensitively. It’s a very___________ situation.
We can’t allow the___________ situation to go on any longer. We need a change.
The news report from the Sudan showed the ___________ situation people are in. They have no food, very little water and no medical supplies.
I think she coped admirably with a very ___________ situation. It was a real ‘can of worms’.
I can’t get the job because I don’t have the right experience and I can’t get the experience until I get a job. It’s a___________ situation.
The house we want to buy is in an ___________ situation with wonderful views of the mountains.
The political situation is very___________ – the army could start a coup at any time.

Exercise C: Use the correct form of these verbs.

arise calls for continue

return turn deteriorate

The situation___________ prompt action. We must do something quickly.
Let’s get out of here. The situation could ___________ nasty at any moment.
The situation is___________ day by day. Soon, there will be no food, water or medical supplies left.
This situation can’t___________ . I simply won’t allow it to go on any longer.
Three days after the riots the situation has___________ to normal.
I don’t have the time to think about it now. I’ll worry about it when the situation ___________ .

Exercise D: Complete the sentences with these nouns.

advantage facts handling

misunderstanding gravity side

I don’t think you fully realise the ____________ of the situation. We could all lose our jobs.
Our school has been closed for repairs, so we are taking full ____________ of the situation and going on a short holiday.
I’m glad you can see the funny____________ of the situation. Not many people would.
It’s important that we don’t let our prejudices blind us to the____________ of the situation.
Her ____________ of the situation was masterly. She dealt with the problem very professionally.
His inappropriate reaction was obviously based on a complete ____________ of the situation.


Notes Note the following expressions: I’m in a no-win situation. Whatever I do will be bad. Note this question: What would you have done in my situation? We talk about the economic/political/social situation.

Answer Keys for Practice Exercises Situation Collocations

Ex A: 1. handled 2. comment on 3. depend on 4. misunderstood 5. improve 6. review

Ex B:

1 impossible 2. delicate 3. current 4. desperate

5 difficult 6. Catch-22 7.ideal 8. volatile

Ex C: 1. calls for 2. turn 3. deteriorating 4. continue 5. returned 6. arises

Ex D: 1. gravity 2. advantage 3. side 4. facts 5. handling 6. misunderstanding

To conclude, mastering situation collocations is a smart way to improve your vocabulary. These expressions work across all four skills - Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking—and help you sound precise and academic. Whether you are describing an awkward situation in IELTS Speaking Part 2 or writing about an improvement of the situation in Task 2, collocations show examiners that you can use English naturally and effectively.

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