Vocabulary
Policy, tax, public services and regulation, the vocabulary behind many Task 2 questions. With a practice exercise.
IELTS vocabulary for government is needed far more often than candidates expect. A large number of Task 2 questions ask, directly or indirectly, what governments should do: fund the arts or healthcare, ban something, tax something, or leave it to individuals to decide.
Without this vocabulary, essays fall back on the government should give money and the government should stop it. The words below let you say exactly what kind of action you mean.
The words
Six groups. Learn one group at a time and write a sentence of your own for each word.
The authorities: the people and organisations with official power
A policy: a plan of action adopted by a government
Legislation: laws, or the process of making them
Local government: the authorities running a city or region
Policymakers: the people who decide policy
Public spending: money spent by the government
Taxpayers: the people whose taxes fund the government
The budget: the government's spending plan for the year
To allocate: to decide how money is shared out
To fund: to pay for something
Income tax: tax on what people earn
To levy a tax: to charge a tax
A tax incentive: a tax reduction to encourage something
A subsidy: money paid to reduce the cost of something
Revenue: money a government receives
Public services: services provided by the state, such as health and education
Infrastructure: roads, railways and utilities
The welfare state: a system in which the state supports those in need
Welfare benefits: payments made to people who need support
To privatise: to sell a state service to private companies
To regulate: to control by rules
To impose: to introduce a rule or tax that people must accept
A ban: an official rule that something is not allowed
To enforce: to make sure a rule is obeyed
Intervention: government action to change a situation
Government can take a singular or plural verb in British English, but it is normally singular in formal writing: the government has decided.
Politic is not a noun. The subject is politics, which is uncountable and takes a singular verb, and a plan of action is a policy.
Method
Six ways these words earn marks rather than just filling space.
Subsidise, regulate and legislate are three different ways a government can act. Choosing the right one makes your position clear, which is what Band 7 requires.
Governments impose taxes, introduce legislation, allocate funding, cut spending and tackle problems.
Many Task 2 questions ask whether something is the responsibility of governments or individuals. Vocabulary for both sides lets you argue a clear position.
The government should help is vague. The government should subsidise public transport is an argument.
You are not assessed on your views, and strong statements about particular parties or leaders add nothing. Discuss policies, not politicians.
This vocabulary works in essays about health, education, transport, the environment and the arts. It is one of the most transferable sets you can learn.
Practice
Choose the answer that fits each sentence.
Read the whole sentence before you choose. Several options will be real words, and often more than one will nearly fit.
The test is precision: which word, or which pairing, means exactly what the sentence needs?
1Money paid by the government to reduce the cost of something is ______.
A subsidy. Revenue is money the government receives, which is the other direction.
2Which is the natural pairing?
Introduce legislation. You can also pass legislation, which means make it law.
3Which is correct?
Policy. Politic is not a noun, and politics is the general subject.
4To decide how money is shared out is to ______ it.
Allocate. Levy is to charge a tax, which is collecting money rather than sharing it.
5Roads, railways and utilities are a country's ______.
Infrastructure. Public services includes health and education, which are not physical structures.
6To sell a state service to private companies is to ______ it.
Privatise. Nationalise is the opposite: bringing a service under state control.
7Making sure a rule is obeyed is ______ it.
Enforcing. Imposing is introducing the rule, and enforcing is making sure people follow it.
8Which sentence is more precise?
B. A precise verb, a precise noun phrase and a clear purpose.
That is the commonest vocabulary problem at Band 6, and it is very hard to see in your own writing because each word looks correct on its own.
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Recognising a word in a multiple choice is not the same as producing it accurately under time.
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It is one of the most common angles in Task 2. Many questions ask what governments should fund, ban or regulate.
No. You are assessed on your English, not your views. Discuss policies and their effects rather than parties or politicians.
Either is possible in British English, but singular is normal in formal writing: the government has decided.
Politics is the general activity and subject. A policy is a specific plan of action.
Fund means to pay for something. Subsidise means to pay part of the cost so that something is cheaper.
Full membership
Technique takes most candidates to about Band 6.5. Past that, the limit is usually the range of language you can use accurately, and knowing where you stand is the first step.
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