Collocations for Confident Communication
EXPLORE • ANALYSE • USE • COMMUNICATE
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Democratic institutions debate public priorities at home while diplomacy addresses shared challenges abroad.
Politics shapes public life through elections, legislation and debate; international relations depend on negotiation, clear interests and sustained dialogue.
Explore the readingLexiLink · British Politics / International Politics B2 80 minutes
Complete the tasks, investigate political and diplomatic collocations in SkELL, and write about a current political issue or international relations.
Teacher-facing timing plan; the tasks below follow this sequence.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to recognise and use collocations related to British politics and international relations; interpret them in context; test your hypotheses with SkELL evidence; and write about political decisions or diplomacy using natural English word partnerships.
Study each complete word partnership, its meaning and related expressions before starting the tasks.
Read the text carefully or listen to it. Target collocations are shown in bold.
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In a parliamentary democracy, citizens influence public life by choosing representatives and following political debate. When a country decides to hold an election, political parties present their plans and ask voters for support. Candidates may campaign for office, and citizens cast a vote for the party or candidate they trust. The result can change the balance of power: a party may win a majority, while in a closely divided parliament several parties may need to form a coalition to govern together.
After an election, elected representatives debate national priorities and may pass legislation to put new policies into effect. A parliamentary debate gives government and opposition members an opportunity to challenge proposals, explain evidence and offer alternatives. The governing party usually sets the main agenda, while an opposition party questions its decisions and presents a different programme. These discussions can influence public opinion, although opinions are also shaped by news, personal experience and public discussion.
Political choices at home are connected with decisions abroad. A government’s foreign policy sets its broad approach to other countries, security, trade and international organisations. Maintaining diplomatic relations allows states to communicate through official channels even when they disagree. Diplomats may reach an agreement on trade, climate or security, and governments may sign a treaty to record commitments. Such agreements often require careful negotiation because states have different interests and responsibilities.
When a government believes that another state has broken an international rule or threatens its interests, it may impose sanctions. These measures can apply pressure, but they may also affect businesses and ordinary people, so governments debate their purpose and likely impact. Leaders and diplomats therefore need to consider both national goals and possible consequences. In difficult situations, continued communication can help states reduce tension, prevent misunderstandings and strengthen diplomatic ties.
Political institutions are most effective when people can understand decisions and take part in public life. Citizens can compare party programmes, consider reliable evidence and follow how elected representatives explain their actions. Internationally, dialogue does not remove every disagreement, but it can create ways to manage differences. Whether the issue is a local election or a treaty between states, accurate language helps people discuss decisions, responsibility and possible outcomes more clearly.
Choose True or False according to the text.
Choose the paragraph number (1–5). Some paragraph numbers may be used more than once.
Choose the correct ending. Feedback and the correct answer appear only after you select an answer and check it.
Choose the lexical collocation that best completes each sentence. Unanswered items will not reveal their answers.
Open SkELL. Search each politics-related keyword in Word Sketch, inspect example sentences and open Similar words. For every keyword, record two collocations and try to use different grammatical patterns: for example, verb + noun, adjective + noun, noun + noun, or verb + preposition. Write one original sentence for each collocation, add two candidate synonyms or related words, and note a short example or context that you checked in SkELL. A word that appears in a similar context is not automatically a synonym, so explain whether it can replace the original word in your example. Your notes will be saved in the teacher's spreadsheet when you submit the lesson.
Teacher scoring: up to 10 points for accurate, distinct political and diplomatic collocations, original sentences showing meaningful use, and evidence from SkELL. Similar words are assessed for relevance and contextual interpretation.
Teacher scoring: up to 10 points for accurate, distinct political and diplomatic collocations, original sentences showing meaningful use, and evidence from SkELL. Similar words are assessed for relevance and contextual interpretation.
No separate “Copy cluster notes” button is needed: these structured fields are included in the lesson submission and appear as individual records in the teacher's spreadsheet.
Choose the one expression that does not form a natural collocation. The questions cover political and diplomatic vocabulary and grammatical patterns. Each item has three natural combinations and one incorrect combination. Unanswered items stay hidden; explanations appear only after you choose and check.
Choose the verb or verb phrase that creates a natural collocation about political processes and international relations.
Choose the verb that creates a natural lexical collocation.
Word bank: observe a tradition · hold a celebration · wear traditional dress · pass down traditions · symbolic meaning · cultural heritage · preserve cultural identity · take part in a procession · prepare festive dishes · strengthen community ties
Choose the best correction. Focus on natural lexical word partnerships used to discuss elections, legislation, public opinion and international affairs.
Write at least 100 words on British Politics / International Politics. Use at least eight target collocations from this lesson. Write directly in the box; clipboard paste and drag-and-drop are disabled in this field.
Please compose your paragraph here rather than pasting a prepared text. Normal paste, cut/copy shortcuts and drag-and-drop are blocked in this writing field. This browser restriction supports the task rules but is not a complete plagiarism-detection system.
0 words — 100-word minimum to submit; no maximum
Teacher awards up to 5 points for accurate use of distinct target collocations, a clear main idea and relevant political examples.
Your name and group from the student profile above, your SkELL collocations and original sentences, related words, corpus notes, writing paragraph and available exercise scores will be collected in the teacher's spreadsheet.
Auto-scored sections: reading MCQ, True/False, paragraph matching, Matching, Sentence Completion, Odd One Out, Find the Collocate, Sorting, Lexical Cloze and Collocation Repair (100 points total). SkELL cluster (10) and productive writing (5) are teacher-scored. Maximum lesson total: 115 points.
Vocabulary bank informed by the Lesson 14 topic, “British Politics / International Politics,” in the supplied collocation lesson collection. Definitions, reading and interactive exercises were adapted or written for LexiLink.
LexiLink · Connect words. Build fluency. Lesson submissions are sent to the configured Google Apps Script collector. The teacher must verify the saved row in Google Sheets because the browser cannot read confirmation in no-cors mode.