Adult ESL/ELL Intermediate Quiz: Correcting Collocations And Word Choice
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Correcting Collocations And Word ChoiceQuestion 1 of 10

A student wrote the following paragraph for a community college writing assignment: "I need to make a decision about my career. My teacher said I should do research on different jobs. She also said I should take advantage of every opportunity to practice English. Last week, I did a big mistake when I spoke to my boss, but I learned from it."

Which underlined phrase in the student's paragraph contains a collocation error that must be corrected?

"make a decision" — this should be replaced with "do a decision" because "do" is the correct verb used with nouns related to choices and plans.
"do research" — this should be replaced with "make research" because "make" is the standard verb paired with academic and investigative activities.
"take advantage" — this should be replaced with "get advantage" because "get" is the correct verb used when someone benefits from a situation or opportunity.
"did a big mistake" — this should be replaced with "made a big mistake" because "make" is the correct verb that collocates with "mistake," not "do."
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Adult ESL/ELL Intermediate Quiz

Adult ESL/ELL Intermediate Quiz: Correcting Collocations And Word Choice

Practice Correcting Collocations And Word Choice in Adult ESL/ELL Intermediate with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Correcting Collocations And Word Choice, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Adult ESL/ELL Intermediate.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

A student wrote the following paragraph for a community college writing assignment: "I need to make a decision about my career. My teacher said I should do research on different jobs. She also said I should take advantage of every opportunity to practice English. Last week, I did a big mistake when I spoke to my boss, but I learned from it."

Which underlined phrase in the student's paragraph contains a collocation error that must be corrected?

  1. "make a decision" — this should be replaced with "do a decision" because "do" is the correct verb used with nouns related to choices and plans.
  2. "do research" — this should be replaced with "make research" because "make" is the standard verb paired with academic and investigative activities.
  3. "take advantage" — this should be replaced with "get advantage" because "get" is the correct verb used when someone benefits from a situation or opportunity.
  4. "did a big mistake" — this should be replaced with "made a big mistake" because "make" is the correct verb that collocates with "mistake," not "do." (correct answer)
Explanation: When learning English, one of the trickiest challenges is collocations — word partnerships that native speakers use automatically. Some verbs "go with" certain nouns by convention, not logic. The verb pairs make/do cause constant confusion because both can mean "to perform an action," yet English treats them very differently depending on the noun that follows. In this passage, the error appears in the phrase "did a big mistake." In English, "mistake" always collocates with make, not do. You make a mistake — this is fixed and non-negotiable in standard English. Choice D correctly identifies this error and provides the right fix: "made a big mistake." Now let's look at why the other choices are wrong. Choice A claims "make a decision" should be "do a decision" — this is backwards. "Decision" collocates with make ("make a decision"), and the original phrase is already correct. Choice B claims "do research" should be "make research" — again, the opposite is true. "Research" is one of the nouns that pairs with do ("do research," "do homework," "do work"), so the original is correct. Choice C claims "take advantage" should be "get advantage" — but "take advantage" is a fixed expression in English. You cannot substitute get here; the original phrase is perfectly standard. A helpful pattern to remember: make typically pairs with things you produce or create (make a decision, make a mistake, make a plan), while do pairs with tasks or activities (do research, do homework, do work). Memorizing these common pairs will help you avoid collocation errors on this exam.

Question 2

A student writes: "She gave a speech that made a strong impression in the audience." The teacher underlines "made a strong impression in" and marks it as a collocation error. Which revision correctly fixes this error while preserving the original meaning?

  1. "Made a strong impression on the audience" — because the correct preposition that collocates with "make an impression" is "on," not "in," when referring to the effect something has on people. (correct answer)
  2. "Did a strong impression to the audience" — because "do" is the correct verb paired with "impression" in formal contexts, and "to" indicates the direction of impact toward the listeners.
  3. "Made a strong impression for the audience" — because "for" is the correct preposition showing that the impression was created on behalf of or in service of the audience members.
  4. "Made a strong impression with the audience" — because "with" signals a mutual or shared experience, which better reflects how a speech affects a group of people collectively.
Explanation: When learning English, it's not enough to know individual words — you also need to learn which words naturally go together. These word partnerships are called collocations, and using the wrong preposition with a fixed phrase is one of the most common collocation errors for intermediate learners. The phrase "make an impression" is a fixed collocation in English, and it always pairs with the preposition "on" when describing the effect something has on a person or group. So choice A — "made a strong impression on the audience" — is the correct revision. Think of it this way: the impression "lands on" the people who experience it. The preposition "on" signals that the audience is the surface or target receiving that effect. Choice B is wrong on two levels: "do an impression" means to imitate or impersonate someone (like a comedian doing an impression of a celebrity), which completely changes the meaning. It also uses "to," which doesn't collocate naturally with "impression" at all. Choice C uses "for," which implies the impression was created in service of the audience — as if the speaker was doing them a favor — rather than describing the emotional or mental effect on them. Choice D uses "with," which suggests a shared or mutual experience between equals, but a speech doesn't create a joint impression; it creates one in the minds of the listeners. Study tip: When you learn a new expression like "make an impression," always write it with its full preposition: make an impression on someone. Memorizing the whole chunk — not just the verb and noun — will help you avoid preposition errors like this one.

Question 3

Read the four sentences below. Each sentence was written by an ESL student.

  1. "He is very interested about learning new languages."

  2. "She is bored of doing the same task every day."

  3. "They are excited about starting their new business."

  4. "We are satisfied from the results of the project."

Two of the four sentences contain adjective-preposition collocation errors. Which answer correctly identifies BOTH sentences with errors?

  1. Sentences 1 and 4 — "interested about" should be "interested in," and "satisfied from" should be "satisfied with," because these are the fixed adjective-preposition collocations in standard English. (correct answer)
  2. Sentences 2 and 3 — "bored of" should be "bored with" or "bored by," and "excited about" should be "excited for," because "of" is non-standard and "about" is not used with "excited" in academic writing.
  3. Sentences 1 and 3 — "interested about" should be "interested in," and "excited about" should be "excited with," because both sentences use prepositions that do not correctly collocate with these adjectives.
  4. Sentences 3 and 4 — "excited about" should be "excited with," and "satisfied from" should be "satisfied by," because "about" and "from" are both incorrect prepositions when describing emotional states following an event.
Explanation: When you see a question about adjective-preposition collocations, you're being tested on fixed pairings — combinations where only one specific preposition is considered standard in English. These pairings must simply be memorized, because the grammar rules alone won't tell you which preposition is correct. In this passage, Sentences 1 and 4 contain the errors, making A the correct answer. "Interested" always collocates with "in" — you say interested in something, never "interested about." Sentence 4's "satisfied from" is equally wrong; the fixed collocation is satisfied with, as in "satisfied with the results." Both errors involve prepositions that feel logical but violate established English conventions. Choice B is a trap because it misidentifies the wrong sentences. "Bored of" is actually widely accepted in standard English alongside "bored with," so Sentence 2 is not clearly wrong. More importantly, B then claims "excited about" should be "excited for" — but "excited about" is completely correct and natural in both everyday and academic English. Choice C correctly flags "interested about" in Sentence 1, but then falsely claims Sentence 3 is wrong. "Excited about" is a perfectly standard collocation, so Sentence 3 contains no error. Choice D makes two mistakes: it wrongly targets "excited about" in Sentence 3, and it suggests "satisfied from" should be "satisfied by" — when the actual correct form is "satisfied with." As a study tip, build a short list of common adjective-preposition pairs to memorize: interested in, satisfied with, bored with, excited about, worried about, tired of. These fixed collocations appear frequently on ESL exams and cannot be guessed from logic alone.

Question 4

Read the conversation between two students:

Ana: "I heard you got the scholarship. Congratulations!" Ben: "Thank you! I am so reliefed. I worked very hard for this." Ana: "You deserve it. I know you put a lot of effort in your studies." Ben: "Yes, and my professor gave me a very useful advice that really helped."

Ben's lines contain two errors. One is a word-form error and one is a grammar-collocation error. Which answer correctly identifies BOTH errors?

  1. "Reliefed" should be "relieving" because the speaker describes a situation causing relief in others, and "a very useful advice" should be "a very useful tip" because "advice" and "tip" are interchangeable count nouns in informal English.
  2. "Reliefed" should be "in relief," and "put a lot of effort in" should be "put a lot of effort into" because the correct preposition after "effort" is "into" when describing directed action.
  3. "So reliefed" should be "absolutely relieved" because extreme adjectives cannot follow "so," and "a very useful advice" should be "very useful advices" to make the noun agree in number with the plural meaning.
  4. "Reliefed" is an incorrect word form — the correct adjective is "relieved" — and "a very useful advice" is incorrect because "advice" is an uncountable noun that cannot take the article "a"; the correct form is "very useful advice." (correct answer)
Explanation: When you see a question asking you to identify two specific types of errors — a word-form error and a grammar-collocation error — slow down and examine each word carefully rather than reading for general meaning. Ben's first error is a word-form problem. The noun "relief" cannot simply have "-ed" added to become an adjective. English requires the correct base form: the adjective is "relieved," derived from the verb "to relieve." Saying "I am so reliefed" is like saying "I am so hopeed" — the form simply doesn't exist in English. The correct sentence is "I am so relieved." Ben's second error involves countable versus uncountable nouns. "Advice" is an uncountable noun in English, meaning it has no plural form and cannot be preceded by "a" or "an." You cannot say "an advice" or "two advices," just as you cannot say "a water" or "two informations." The correct form is simply "very useful advice" — no article needed. Answer D correctly identifies both issues, making it right. Answer A is wrong because it falsely claims "advice" and "tip" are interchangeable count nouns — they aren't grammatically equivalent. Answer B incorrectly diagnoses Ben's first error as a preposition problem ("in relief") and misidentifies the second error entirely, targeting Ana's line rather than Ben's. Answer C makes two false claims: "so" can absolutely precede regular adjectives like "relieved," and "advices" is never a correct English form. Your study tip: memorize common uncountable nouns that English learners frequently over-count — advice, information, furniture, equipment, and news are tested often and never take "a/an" or a plural "-s."

Question 5

A student wants to say that she is very tired after working all day. She writes: "I am very exhausted after my shift." Her teacher marks this as a word-choice problem. Which explanation BEST describes the error and provides the correct revision?

  1. "Very exhausted" is a word-choice problem because "exhausted" is an extreme adjective already meaning completely tired; it should be modified by amplifiers like "absolutely" or "utterly," or used alone without an intensifier. (correct answer)
  2. "Very exhausted" is incorrect because "exhausted" is a formal word suitable only in academic writing; the student should replace it with "very tired" to match the informal context of talking about daily work.
  3. "Very exhausted" is incorrect because "exhausted" must always follow the verb "feel" rather than "be"; the correct form is "I feel very exhausted after my shift."
  4. "Very exhausted" is incorrect because "exhausted" is a past-tense verb, not an adjective; the student should write "I am very exhausting after my shift" to use the correct adjective form.
Explanation: When choosing words to express strong feelings or states, you need to understand the difference between gradable and non-gradable (extreme) adjectives. Gradable adjectives like "tired" or "cold" exist on a scale, so "very" works naturally with them. Extreme adjectives, however, already contain the idea of maximum degree built into their meaning — and "exhausted" is one of these. "Exhausted" doesn't just mean tired; it means completely drained of energy. Because the extreme meaning is already packed inside the word, adding "very" creates an awkward redundancy — like saying "very freezing" or "very enormous." Instead, extreme adjectives pair naturally with amplifiers such as "absolutely," "utterly," or "completely," or they stand alone without any intensifier. So the correct revisions would be: "I am absolutely exhausted after my shift" or simply "I am exhausted after my shift." This is why A is correct. B is wrong because "exhausted" is not limited to academic writing — it's perfectly natural in everyday speech. Register has nothing to do with this error. C is wrong because "exhausted" can correctly follow the verb "be" as a predicate adjective; the choice between "be" and "feel" is a stylistic preference, not a grammar rule, and changing the verb doesn't fix the real problem with "very." D is dangerously backwards — "exhausted" functions here as an adjective, not a past-tense verb. "Exhausting" describes something that causes tiredness (a tiring shift), not someone who feels tired. As a study tip, memorize a short list of common extreme adjectives — exhausted, starving, freezing, furious, terrified — and remember: swap "very" for "absolutely" or drop the intensifier entirely.

Question 6

An ESL student wrote this email to a professor: "Dear Professor, I am writing to tell that I will miss class tomorrow because I have a strong cold. I hope you understand. I will do my best to catch up the missed work."

The student's email contains two collocation errors. Which answer correctly identifies BOTH errors and their corrections?

  1. "Tell that" should be "inform that," and "strong cold" should be "bad cold," because "inform" is required in formal emails and "bad" is the standard adjective collocating with "cold" as an illness.
  2. "Strong cold" should be "heavy cold" or "bad cold," and "catch up the missed work" should be "catch up on the missed work," because "strong" does not collocate with "cold" as an illness and "catch up" requires the preposition "on." (correct answer)
  3. "Tell that" should be "say that," and "strong cold" should be "bad cold," because "tell" always requires a direct-object person before a clause and "strong" does not collocate with illness nouns.
  4. "Strong cold" should be "deep cold," and "catch up the missed work" should be "make up the missed work," because "deep" is the correct intensity adjective for illnesses and "catch up" must be replaced entirely when followed by a noun phrase.
Explanation: When you see a question about collocation errors, your job is to identify which word combinations break natural English patterns — even if every individual word seems fine on its own. This is different from grammar errors; collocation is about which words "go together" by convention. The two errors in the student's email are "strong cold" and "catch up the missed work." In English, we don't say someone has a strong cold — the conventional collocations are "bad cold" or "heavy cold." The adjective "strong" pairs with things like opinions or coffee, not illnesses. The second error involves the phrasal verb "catch up," which requires the preposition "on" before a noun phrase: "catch up on the missed work." Without "on," the sentence is grammatically incomplete and unnatural. Answer B correctly identifies both errors and provides accurate corrections, making it the right choice. Answer A identifies "tell that" as an error, but "tell that" is actually a grammatical error (tell requires a person object: "I am writing to tell you that..."), not strictly a collocation error. More importantly, A misses the "catch up" mistake entirely, so it only addresses one of the two collocation problems the question asks about. Answer C correctly notes the "tell/say" distinction and "strong cold," but again focuses on only one collocation error and mixes in a grammar issue rather than staying focused on collocations as a pair. Answer D invents "deep cold" as a correction — this is not a natural English collocation at all. While "make up the missed work" is a valid phrase, replacing "catch up" entirely isn't necessary; adding "on" fixes it. Your study tip: build a personal list of common collocation pairs — especially adjective + noun (bad cold, heavy rain, strong opinion) and phrasal verb + preposition (catch up on, look forward to). These patterns must simply be memorized.

Question 7

A student is preparing a job application letter and asks a classmate to review it. One paragraph reads: "I am a hard-working person and I always arrive on time at work. I can work under pressure and I am used to resolve problems quickly. I believe I would be a strong addition to your team."

The paragraph contains a grammatical collocation error involving a fixed verb pattern. Which sentence in the paragraph contains the error, and what is the correct revision?

  1. "Arrive on time at work" is the error; the correct collocation is "arrive to work on time" because motion verbs like "arrive" require "to" before a destination in professional contexts.
  2. "I am used to resolve problems" is the error; the correct form is "I am used to resolving problems" because the fixed pattern "be used to" must be followed by a gerund (-ing form), not a base-form infinitive. (correct answer)
  3. "Work under pressure" is the error; the correct collocation is "work with pressure" because "under" implies a negative force pushing down, while "with" more accurately describes managing stress as a skill.
  4. "A strong addition to your team" is the error; the correct collocation is "a great addition for your team" because "for" indicates purpose or benefit, which is the intended meaning in a job application context.
Explanation: When writing professionally in English, certain verb phrases follow fixed grammatical patterns that cannot be changed — even if another form might seem logical. One of the most commonly misused patterns is "be used to," which always requires a gerund (the -ing form of a verb), never a base-form infinitive. The phrase "I am used to resolve problems" breaks this rule. "Be used to" means to be accustomed to something, and it treats whatever follows it as a noun-like concept — which is exactly what a gerund does. The correct revision is "I am used to resolving problems," making B the right answer. Compare: I am used to working late. She is used to handling difficult clients. The -ing form is non-negotiable here. Answer A is incorrect because "arrive on time at work" is perfectly natural English. While "arrive at work on time" is also acceptable, neither version contains a grammatical error — this answer invents a rule about motion verbs that does not exist. Answer C is a trap based on flawed logic. "Work under pressure" is a standard, widely accepted idiom in English. "Under pressure" correctly describes the feeling of being burdened by demands; saying "work with pressure" would sound unnatural and is not standard usage. Answer D is similarly invented. "A strong addition to your team" uses the correct preposition. "Addition to" is the proper collocation — you add something to a group, not for it. Study tip: Memorize "be used to" alongside other fixed patterns like "look forward to" and "be accustomed to" — all three require a gerund after "to," not an infinitive.

Question 8

A student writes: "After the meeting, the manager asked the employees to carry out a report about the new safety procedures." A language instructor says "carry out a report" is a collocation error. However, a classmate argues that "carry out" is correct because it is commonly used in professional contexts. Who is right, and why?

  1. The classmate is right. "Carry out a report" is a standard business collocation because "carry out" means to complete a professional task, and writing a report is a professional task that fits this pattern naturally.
  2. The instructor is right. "Carry out" is exclusively used in scientific and laboratory contexts, so it cannot appear in a business or workplace setting. The correct professional collocation is "produce a report" as the only acceptable alternative.
  3. The instructor is right. While "carry out" collocates with tasks like "carry out a survey" or "carry out an investigation," it does not collocate with "report." The correct collocation is "write a report" or "prepare a report," not "carry out" a report. (correct answer)
  4. The classmate is right. "Carry out" is interchangeable with "write" in formal business English because both verbs signal task completion, and native speakers regularly use "carry out a report" in workplace communication without confusion.
Explanation: When learning English vocabulary, it's not enough to know what a word means — you also need to know which words it naturally pairs with. These natural pairings are called collocations, and using the wrong verb with a noun is one of the most common errors even advanced learners make. The verb "carry out" is used in English to describe executing or performing a process or procedure — think "carry out a survey," "carry out an investigation," or "carry out an experiment." Notice that these phrases all involve a process, not a product. A report, however, is a document — something you create. That's why English speakers say "write a report," "prepare a report," or "draft a report." The verb must match the nature of the object. Answer C captures this distinction perfectly and is correct. Answer A fails because it assumes that any professional task can pair with "carry out." This logic sounds reasonable, but collocations don't follow pure logic — they follow usage patterns that must be learned. Answer B is wrong in a different way: it overcorrects by claiming "carry out" only belongs in scientific or laboratory settings, which is false. "Carry out" appears in business, legal, and academic contexts all the time — just not with "report." Answer D is incorrect because "carry out" and "write" are not interchangeable. Native speakers do not naturally say "carry out a report," and claiming they do creates a false rule. Your study tip: when you learn a new noun like "report," "survey," or "meeting," always learn the verbs that go with it as a chunk — write/prepare/submit a report, not just the noun alone. Collocations are best memorized together.

Question 9

A student writes the following sentence: "The company did a lot of progress last year and opened three new offices." A teacher marks "did a lot of progress" as incorrect. Which of the following best explains why this is a collocation error AND provides the correct form?

  1. "Did progress" is incorrect because "progress" is uncountable and cannot be modified by "a lot of"; the correct form is "did much progress," which uses the proper quantifier for uncountable nouns in formal writing.
  2. "Did a lot of progress" is incorrect because "progress" must function as a verb here, not a noun; the correct sentence is "The company progressed a lot last year" to resolve the collocation issue.
  3. "Did a lot of progress" is incorrect because "do" does not collocate with "progress"; the correct collocation is "made a lot of progress," since "make" is the standard verb paired with "progress" in English. (correct answer)
  4. "Did a lot of progress" is incorrect because "a lot of" is too informal for describing business achievement; the correct revision is "did considerable progress," replacing the informal quantifier with a formal adjective.
Explanation: When learning English vocabulary, it's not enough to know what a word means — you also need to know which verbs, adjectives, and nouns naturally go with it. This is called collocation, and it's one of the trickiest parts of sounding natural in English. When you see a question like this, ask yourself: "Is this the verb that English speakers actually pair with this noun?" The noun "progress" has a fixed partner verb in English: make. Native speakers say "make progress," "make a mistake," "make an effort" — these are set collocations you simply have to learn. The verb "do" pairs with different nouns, like "do homework" or "do research." Swapping "make" for "do" with "progress" sounds unnatural and is marked as a collocation error, not a grammar error. That's exactly what answer C identifies — "did a lot of progress" fails because "do" doesn't collocate with "progress," and the correction "made a lot of progress" restores the standard pairing. Answer A is wrong because the problem isn't about the quantifier "a lot of" — "a lot of progress" is perfectly grammatical. The error is the verb "do," not the modifier. Answer B misidentifies the issue entirely: "progress" can function as a noun, and turning it into a verb changes the sentence structure unnecessarily without fixing a real collocation problem. Answer D is wrong because "a lot of" is not the issue — formality level isn't the error being tested — and "did considerable progress" still contains the same collocation mistake with "do." A useful study tip: memorize common verb + noun collocations in chunks — make progress/plans/decisions, do research/homework/damage. Learning words in pairs, not isolation, will help you avoid this trap on the exam.

Question 10

A student wants to express that her friend did not succeed in passing the driving test. She writes: "My friend failed to pass the driving test, so she was very disappointed." Her classmate suggests four different revisions. Which revision introduces a word-choice or collocation error that the ORIGINAL sentence does NOT have?

  1. "My friend didn't manage to pass the driving test, so she was very disappointed." — replacing "failed to" with "didn't manage to" is a natural paraphrase that preserves the original meaning without introducing an error.
  2. "My friend was unsuccessful in passing the driving test, so she was heavily disappointed." — replacing "very" with "heavily" introduces a collocation error, since "heavily" does not collocate with "disappointed" in standard English. (correct answer)
  3. "My friend couldn't pass the driving test, so she was deeply disappointed." — replacing "very" with "deeply" and rephrasing "failed to" as "couldn't" are both acceptable and natural word choices in this context.
  4. "My friend did not pass the driving test, so she felt very disappointed." — changing "was" to "felt" and rephrasing "failed to pass" as "did not pass" are both grammatically correct and preserve the intended meaning.
Explanation: When reviewing revised sentences, your job isn't just to check grammar — you need to ask whether the word choices sound natural together. This is called collocation: certain words pair naturally in English, while others sound awkward even if the grammar is technically correct. The original sentence uses "very disappointed," which is a perfectly natural collocation. The question asks you to identify which revision introduces a collocation error that the original doesn't have. Choice B does exactly this. It swaps "very" for "heavily," giving us "heavily disappointed." While "heavily" works with words like influenced, criticized, or relied on, it does not collocate naturally with disappointed in standard English. Native speakers simply don't say "heavily disappointed" — this is the introduced error, making B the correct answer. Now let's look at why the other choices are wrong answers to this question (meaning they do not introduce errors). Choice A replaces "failed to" with "didn't manage to," which is a smooth, natural paraphrase — no error there. Choice C uses "deeply disappointed," which is actually a stronger and very natural collocation (think: "deeply moved," "deeply troubled"), and "couldn't pass" is a natural alternative phrasing — no error introduced. Choice D changes "was very disappointed" to "felt very disappointed" and "failed to pass" to "did not pass," both of which are grammatically sound and meaning-preserving — again, no error. Study tip: When checking collocations, ask yourself: Would a native speaker say this? Keep a personal list of common collocations (e.g., deeply disappointed, heavily influenced, strongly disagree) — these come up frequently on intermediate ESL exams.