Government and society vocabulary: the words that lift a frequent topic.
Public spending, services and policy run through Task 2 and Part 3, from where money should go to how the state should act. The ideas are familiar; the marks are in precise, topic-specific language. Swap the everyday word for the right collocation and the same point reads a band higher.
Why this matters. Lexical Resource is a quarter of your mark, and on a familiar topic the examiner has read the plain version a thousand times. The lift is not rarer words; it is accurate collocation used naturally. A common phrase used correctly beats a showy word used wrongly, every time.
Four clusters that cover most Government questions.
You do not need a glossary. You need a handful of accurate collocations in each of these areas, ready to deploy.
Government & spending
public spending · allocate funds · a government subsidy · taxpayers’ money
How the state raises and spends money, the base of many Task 2 questions.
Governments must decide how to allocate limited public funds.
Public services
public services · healthcare and education · infrastructure · the welfare state
What the state provides, the things spending is weighed between.
Well-funded public services underpin a fair society.
Policy & regulation
introduce legislation · impose regulations · enforce a ban · a policy measure
How government acts, the verbs Part 3 reaches for.
The government introduced legislation to curb emissions.
Society & the citizen
social cohesion · civic responsibility · the public interest · reduce inequality
The social goals policy serves, where balanced answers land.
Strong public services support social cohesion.
Choose the precise verb of government
The weak answer says “the government should do something”. The lift is the exact action: fund, subsidise, regulate, legislate, enforce. The right verb signals you understand how policy actually works.
The same point, from Band 6 to Band 8.
At Band 5
Government is discussed with very general words (the government, money, rules), with vague verbs (do something about it). Precise terms (subsidise, legislation) are missing.
At Band 6
“The government should spend more money on hospitals and schools instead of other things.” The idea is fine, but “spend money on” and “other things” are general.
At Band 7
“Governments should allocate more public funding to healthcare and education rather than to prestige projects.” Topic collocations (allocate public funding) carry real information.
At Band 8+
“Directing taxpayers’ money towards essential public services, rather than subsidising private industry, tends to do more to reduce inequality and strengthen social cohesion.” Precise lexis, abstraction, and a controlled complex sentence.
The upgrade most worth making.
Each swap takes a vague, everyday phrase and replaces it with the collocation an examiner expects on this topic. Use them where they fit naturally, not all at once.
| Instead of… | Use… | For example |
|---|---|---|
| government money | public funds / taxpayers’ money | Public funds should be spent wisely. |
| spend money on | allocate funding to | The state allocates funding to schools. |
| help with money | subsidise | Governments subsidise renewable energy. |
| make a law | introduce legislation / legislate | Parliament introduced legislation on data. |
| make rules | impose regulations | Regulators impose strict safety rules. |
| make people follow a law | enforce | Police enforce the new law. |
| help for poor people | the welfare state / social support | The welfare state provides a safety net. |
| roads and public works | infrastructure | Investment in infrastructure boosts growth. |
Two cautions. Stay balanced and impersonal, weigh competing priorities rather than insisting the government “must” do one thing. And avoid slang for the state (the top people). For the general method, see vocabulary & cohesion →
Say it another way.
The Lexical Resource descriptors reward paraphrase, and an answer that echoes the question’s own words proves nothing about your range. Each row takes a phrase the question will hand you and shows the version worth writing instead.
| The question says… | You can write… | For example |
|---|---|---|
| the government should pay for it | the state should fund it / it deserves public funding | Whether the state should fund the arts is a question about what taxes are for. |
| make a law about it | introduce legislation / legislate | Parliament introduced legislation within a year of the scandal. |
| make companies follow rules | impose and enforce regulations | Regulations matter only as far as anyone enforces them. |
| money the government spends | public funds / taxpayers’ money | Every subsidy is a claim on taxpayers’ money and must earn it. |
| helping the poorest people | the welfare state / social support | The welfare state is insurance everyone pays and hopes never to claim. |
One caution. Paraphrase the idea once, early, and then move on. Recycling every synonym you know reads as display, not control, and control is what the band descriptors actually reward.
Twenty to drill.
Choose the more precise, topic-appropriate option for each gap. Press Check answers for your score and the reason behind each one. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ten to produce.
Recognising the right word above is the easy half. Now type the word each sentence needs. The first letter is given, and every answer appears somewhere on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Then use it where it counts. Now take it into the exam. This is a set topic in the essay question bank, so drill it there next, and let the word upgrader ladder the plain words you still fall back on.
You can collect topic words. Using the right one, accurately, under timed pressure is the work.
Memorised “big” words used wrongly cost marks; precise collocations used naturally earn them, and the difference is hard to judge in your own writing.
In a lesson I mark your topic vocabulary the way an examiner does, where a collocation is exactly right, where it is forced, and where a plain word would have been stronger. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English; the first lesson doubles as a full assessment. This page is drawn from the vocabulary work in The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking.
The book of the method
The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking
The method this site drills for free, written down properly: five response frameworks, thirteen grammatical structures taken to automation, vocabulary by band, pronunciation with audio demonstrations one scan away, and first-language guidance for eight language families. 614 pages, built from more than two thousand documented one-to-one lessons. Most guides teach every candidate the same English; this one starts from what your first language makes you do.
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