Collocations With "WORK" in English

WORK collocations

work noun

¹ effort/product of effort

ADJ.

hard

It's hard work trying to get him to do a few things for himself. It doesn't require skill?it's a matter of sheer hard work.

| arduous, back-breaking, challenging, complicated, demanding, difficult, gruelling, intensive, labour-intensive, tiring, tough

The show is the product of two years' intensive work.

| rewarding | heavy

They employ a couple of young men to do the heavy work.

| donkey

I did the donkey work (= hard work requiring little skill) but I hired a professional builder for the tricky bits.

| light

She's only allowed to do a little light work because of her bad arm.

| easy | close

I need to wear glasses for close work.

| physical | delicate | dangerous | dirty

Engine maintenance is dirty work. (figurative) The drugs gang used children to do their dirty work for them.

| humdrum, monotonous, repetitive, tedious | fascinating, interesting | purposeful

Many unemployed people welcome the chance to do purposeful work, even if unpaid.

| valuable

The research institute needs funds in order to carry on its valuable work.

| paid, unpaid | professional | men's, women's

They think that looking after children is women's work.

| intellectual, mental | creative, imaginative | practical fieldworkpaperwork| investigative | undercover

(see also , ) The scandal was revealed after months of undercover work by journalists.

| leg legwork)

(also Her job as a market researcher involves a lot of legwork (= walking around to collect information).

| course coursework| written

(also ) His written work is the best in the class.

| individual | group | project | collaborative, joint

classroom activities involving collaborative work between children The report is the joint work of an economist and a sociologist.

| remedial

The poorly designed bridge needs remedial work to make it safe.

| background, preliminary, preparatory | follow-up | honest

He preferred to make his money from honest work rather than from gambling.

| good, nice

(informal),

outstanding, sterling

Nice work, James! I'm impressed.

In accepting the award, she mentioned the sterling work of her assistants.

| careful, meticulous, painstaking | poor, shoddy, sloppy | charitable, humanitarian | community, youth | ground-breaking, innovative, pioneering

He did pioneering work on microbes. |

experimental | academic, commercial, educational, environmental, scientific | building, construction | your own

Is this all your own work (= did you do it without help from others)?

QUANT.

bit, piece

It was an interesting piece of work.

VERB + WORK

carry out, do, put in

All the construction work was carried out in 2001. I've got lots of work to do today. She's put in a lot of work on the design.

| get done, have done

I think I'd better try and get some work done. We're going to have some building work done on the house.

| produce

Work produced on a word processor tends to look more professional.

| get, have

We get far too much work at this time of year.

| take on, undertake

I've taken on more work than I've got time to do.

| create, make

Big football matches make a lot of work for the police.

| begin, commence, get down to, set about/to, start

They began work on the project towards the end of the year. Stop talking and get down to work. We set to work on the outside of the house (= for example, painting it).

| go about

She went cheerfully about her work.

| carry on, continue | complete, finish | halt, hold up, stop

Work on the project was halted.

| lose

They lost the work to a competitor.

| undo

The new president spent the first year undoing the work of his predecessor.

| oversee, supervise

The assistant

| set sb to

She set them to work painting the fence.

| require

To carry out accurate market research requires a huge amount of work.

| hand in

We're supposed to hand in this work tomorrow.

WORK + VERB

come

The work comes in bursts according to the time of year.

| wait

That work can wait until tomorrow.

| go

How's the work going this morning?

| involve sth

What does the work involve?

| begin, start | continue, go on | come to a standstill

Work came to a complete standstill when rumours of redundancies started to circulate.

| cost

How much will the work cost?

WORK + NOUN

ethic | rate

Her boss told her she had to increase her work rate.

| programme, schedule | surface

Work surfaces should be left clear and clean.

PREP.

at ~

He's been hard at work all morning.

| ~ on

I have to do some work on the engine before it'll be ready to drive.

| ~ with

She's done a lot of work with disadvantaged children.

PHRASES

a backlog of work

It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.

| keep up the good work

The hotel manager thanked the staff for their efforts so far and told them to keep up the good work.

| your life's work

The art collection was his life's work.

| make light/short work of sth

(= to do sth quickly and easily) Mike made short work of fixing the engine.

| never/not a stroke of work

She never does a stroke of work.

| pressure of work

Pressure of work forced him to cancel his holiday.

| work in progress

The showroom has been designed so that people can see work in progress.

² job

ADJ.

lucrative, well paid | badly paid | full-time, part-time | permanent | temporary | regular, steady

He hasn't been in regular work since he left school.

| casual

In the college vacations he does casual work in the local hospital.

| freelance | voluntary | skilled | semi-skilled | unskilled | manual | indoor, outdoor | daily, day-to-day, everyday, routine

People went about their daily work despite the war. Ambulance crews alternate between emergency and routine work.

| piece

It's piece work, so how much you earn depends on how fast you can work.

| administrative, clerical, office, secretarial | managerial | domestic | social | research | agricultural, farm | building | nice

(humorous) A hundred grand for two days a week? Nice work if you can get it!

VERB + WORK

have

He's got a bit of freelance work at the moment.

| look for

He got made redundant, so now he's looking for work again.

| find, get

Full-time work is hard to find.

| go to

I go to work on the bus.

| go out to

Some mothers of young children choose not to go out to work.

| start | finish, knock off

What time do you finish work?

| stop

She stops work at the end of this month.

| give up

Just before he was sixty, he decided to give up work.

| go back to, return to

She has just returned to work after the birth of her child.

| coordinate

Sales reps meet up monthly to coordinate their work.

WORK + VERB

go

Work's going well at the moment.

| start

What time does work start in the morning?

| finish

WORK + NOUN

hours

Employees must not make personal calls in work hours.

| place workplace| area, environment, room workroom| station workstation| roster, schedule | experience

(also ) (also ) (also ) He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.

| permit | incentive

High income tax can undermine work incentives.

| practice

An independent report has described some work practices in the industry as old-fashioned.

PREP.

at ~

‘Where's Diane?’ ‘She's at work.’ We had a party at work.

| in (your) ~

With so much unemployment, I'm lucky to be in work. It's important to be happy in your work.

| off ~

She's been off work with a bad back since July.

| out of ~

He's been out of work since the factory closed.

| through ~

I met him through work.

PHRASES

a line of work

‘What line of work are you in?’ ‘Computing.’

| a place of work

³ book/music/art

ADJ.

classic, fine, great | definitive, seminal

Her book is still considered the definitive work on beetles.

| influential | erudite, scholarly | ambitious | literary | dramatic | critical | autobiographical, biographical | artistic | art artwork)

(also The artwork in the book is superb.

| abstract, figurative, graphic | choral, orchestral, piano | collected, complete

the collected works of Stephen King

| early | late, mature

Picasso's mature works

QUANT.

series | collection, exhibition

VERB + WORK

compose, produce, write

Beethoven composed his greatest works towards the end of his life.

| commission | perform, play | hear, read, see

Her work can be seen in most of the major European galleries.

| conduct, direct, edit, produce, publish, put on

Over the next two years, the theatre is putting on the complete works of Brecht.

| display, exhibit, show

The town hall is exhibiting works by local artists.

WORK + VERB

be called sth, be entitled sth

a work entitled ‘Forward Pass’

PREP.

in a/the ~

She's studying the theme of death in the works of Beckett.

| ~ by

a work by an unknown eighteenth century writer

PHRASES

an exhibition of sb's work

The gallery is staging a special exhibition of Monet's early works.

| a work of art/fiction/literature

The building is hated by some and considered a work of art by others. (humorous) They discovered that his CV was a complete work of fiction.

| a work of genius

Her latest novel is a work of genius.
More information about ART WORKS

ART WORKS:

of art a piece/work of art

Michelangelo's Pietà is a magnificent work of art.

collect ~

She collects Jacobean portraits.

display, exhibit, show ~

The works will be displayed in the new wing of the museum.

~ be (put) on display/exhibition/show ~ go on display/exhibition/show

paintings put on show for the first time The photographs are on exhibition until the end of September.

house ~

An annexe was built to house the sculptures.

a series of ~

a series of paintings by Van Gogh

a collection/exhibition of ~

an exhibition of early 20th century French masterpieces

an art/photographic/photography exhibition

The open art exhibition will allow new artists to exhibit their work.

by ~

a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth

⁴ (also

works

) building/repairing

ADJ.

extensive, major | road roadworks| maintenance, repair, restoration | demolition

(also )

VERB + WORK

carry out

We are planning to carry out major works on the site.

| plan | announce

WORK + VERB

continue, go on

The works will continue until the end of July.

PREP.

at the ~

A contraflow is in operation at the works near Junction 5.

⁵ works: factory

VERB + WORK

open | close (down), shut down

WORK + VERB

turn sth out

The works at Bury turned out thousands of television sets a week.

| open | close (down)

WORK + NOUN

foreman, manager, supervisor | canteen

PREP.

at the ~

the night shift at the works

What is a collocation?

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations (for example collocations with “WORK”) just sound “right” to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations of “WORK” may be unnatural and just sound “wrong”.

Using collocations list of “WORK” improves your English, especially your English speaking skills, and increases your vocabulary words in English.

Why learn collocations with “WORK”?

• When using collocations with “WORK”, Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.
• You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
• It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks such as Common Collocations with “WORK” rather than as single words ( WORK | Translation, Meaning in Persian (Farsi) )

How to learn collocations with “WORK”?

• Be aware of collocations with WORK , and try to recognize them when you see or hear them.
• Treat collocations as single blocks of language. Think of them as individual blocks or chunks, and learn strongly support, not strongly + support.
• When you learn a new word ( e.g. WORK | Translation, Meaning in Persian (Farsi) ), write down other words that collocate with it.
• Read as much as possible. Reading is an excellent way to learn vocabulary and collocations of “WORK” in context and naturally.
• Revise what you learn regularly. Practice using new collocations with “WORK” in context as soon as possible after learning them.
• Learn collocations with “WORK” in groups that work for you. You could learn them by topic (time, number, weather, money, family) or by a particular word (take action, take a chance, take an exam).

Types of collocation with “WORK”

• adverb + adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
• adjective + noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
• noun + noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
• noun + verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)
• verb + noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
• verb + expression with preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
• verb + adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)

Using Collocations of WORK to Boost Your IELTS Score

The correct use of collocations of “WORK” is an essential part of improving your English level and boosting your IELTS score. Using collocations + “WORK” in sentence examples correctly allows you to write and speak more like a native speaker and they are also one of the things that examiners look out for when marking your tests.

WORK Collocation Frequently Asked Questions

Why are WORK collocations important? WORK collocations are important because they make your language sound natural. If you master WORK collocations, your English will be more idiomatic, that is, more similar to the way it is spoken by native speakers. It is acknowledged that knowledge of WORK collocations helps to improve learners' language skills, enhance learners' communicative competence, and achieve native-like fluency.