Collocation for IELTS Word Idea

As is evident from the word itself collocation is - Co means together and location means whereabouts, this means Collocation is about a group of words that are located together. The IELTS collocation of a word in the English language refers to its grouping with other words(s) which when read/spoken together sound just right to native English speakers. For example, long-range planning refers to a plan for a long period of time and the phrase long-time planning to convey the same is incorrect.

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Generally, there is no rationale behind collocation but it helps with fluency in English. It’s to be noted that Strong Collocation are those words which will go together in almost every case and not using such collocations will end up making your sentence funny and non-comprehensible to native English speakers. By learning collocations, students can better understand how words work together for fluent and natural English and can become better writers and speakers. The correct use of collocations is essential to improving writing and IELTS speaking skills.

Idea as a word can be denote two possible meanings – Plan/Suggestion and Thought/Impression

Idea as “Plan/Suggestion”

The word Idea can be used to refer to a Plan/Suggestion and the following examples contain the word ‘Idea’ as a Plan/Suggestion –

1. Idea as an Adjective

Here, the word ‘Idea’ is qualified by such adjectives as are indicative of Plan or a suggestion being made –

1. Meaning: bright, brilliant, clever, excellent, marvellous, good, great

Sentence: I have an excellent Idea.

2. Meaning: Valuable, Worthwhile

Sentence: Please refer to this book for valuable ideas.

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3. Meaning: Exciting, Inspirational, Interesting, Stimulating

Sentence: They want an exciting idea this time.

4. Meaning: Constructive, Positive

Sentence: There is no shortage of positive ideas around you.

5. Meaning: Creative, Innovative, Imaginative, Original

Sentence: An Original idea might be better for this project.

6. Meaning: Wacky

Sentence: All you have are wacky ideas.

7. Meaning: Big [it used ironically/sarcastically]

Sentence: Her next big idea is to launch a book.

8. Meaning: Alternative

Sentence: Does anyone have any alternative ideas?

9. Meaning: Fresh, New

Sentence: The teacher wants us to come up with new ideas regarding water conservation.

10. Meaning: Absurd, Bad, Ridiculous, Mistaken

Sentence: Some people have a mistaken idea of Meritocracy.

11. Meaning: Crackpot, Crazy, Mad, Outlandish, Wild

Sentence: He has outlandish ideas about his party.

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12. Meaning: Half-Baked

Sentence: Nobody likes a presentation with half-baked ideas.

13. Meaning: Ambitious, Big, Grand

Sentence: It’s important to have ambitious ideas about your career.

14. Meaning: Grandiose

Sentence: It is not good to have grandiose ideas.

15. Meaning: Basic

Sentence: I am tired of all these basic ideas.

2. Idea as a Verb

Idea is used with the verbs in either of these two forms –

VERB + IDEA

1. Meaning: have

Sentence: Do you have any idea as to how difficult this is?

2. Meaning: come up with, dream on, hit on/upon, produce, think up

Sentence: we can come up with an idea together.

3. Meaning: draw, get

Sentence: Where did you get this idea?

4. Meaning: contribute, input

Sentence: It is not necessary to contribute ideas but you must attend the discussion.

5. Meaning: moot, put forward

Sentence: She put forward the idea of opening a café.

6. Meaning: promote, push (forward), sell

Sentence: We need to sell this idea to investors.

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7. Meaning: consider, entertain, flirt with, toy with

Sentence: Gyan was entraining the idea of skipping classes.

8. Meaning: mull over, turn over

Sentence: Roshni has been mulling over this idea for a while now.

9. Meaning: encourage, generate

Sentence: Everyone should encourage the idea of non-smoking.

10. Meaning: stifle

Sentence: Nancy was forced to stifle her ideas.

11. Meaning: reject, scoff at, veto

Sentence: No one will scoff at your ideas.

12. Meaning: test, try out

Sentence: Sameer went to try out his new idea.

13. Meaning: bounce off [subject], bouncing around, brainstorm, discuss, explore, talk about

Sentence: Lets brainstorm some ideas for next week.

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14. Meaning: give [subject]

Sentence: What gives you the idea that I will agree?

15. Meaning: apply, implement, put into action/effect/practice

Sentence: Lalita will be able to implement her idea of book-café.

16. Meaning: transform, translate

Sentence: The teacher expects us to translate this idea into something meaningful.

17. Meaning: steal

Sentence: Plagiarism is a stolen idea.

18. Meaning: impose

Sentence: You can’t impose your ideas on everyone.

IDEA + VERB

1. Meaning: come into [subject]’s head/mind, come to [subject], flash across/into [subject]’s mind/brain, hit subject, pop into [subject]’s head, occur to [subject], strike [subject]

Sentence: An idea has suddenly come into my mind.

2. Meaning: emerge, evolve, form, grow

Sentence: The idea of political rights has evolved through generations.

3. Meaning: flow

Sentence: The ideas naturally flowed out of her.

4. Meaning: come from [subject]/something, date back from/to something, originate, start, stem from something

Sentence: The idea of Male superiority stems from Patriarchy.

5. Meaning: blossom, work (out)

Sentence: the idea for this business just blossomed out of my sister.

6. Meaning: lead

Sentence: their idea might lead to your ruin.

7. Meaning: come to nothing

Sentence: His idea of a going to ski will come to nothing.

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3. Idea as a Preposition

The word Idea is used with following three prepositions –

1. Meaning: about

Sentence: Meera has an idea about this line of work.

2. Meaning: for

Sentence: Do you have any ideas for me?

3. Meaning: of

Sentence: Every idea of Beauty is subjective.

4. Idea as a Phrase

there are four ways in which the word ‘truth’ can be used within a Phrase and they are -

1. Meaning: be open to ideas

Sentence: Kamal is open to ideas because he needs help.

2. Meaning: the germ/glimmering of an idea

Sentence: The germ of an idea took root into his mind.

3. Meaning: have other ideas

Sentence: Your mother might have other ideas about your education.

4. Meaning: it might be an idea

Sentence: It might be an idea to take up Humanities instead of Commerce.

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Idea as “Thought/Impression”

In the following examples, idea is used with words that denote a thought or an impression -

1. Idea as an Adjective

The word ‘Idea’ is qualified by following adjectives when it conveys a thought or an impression –

1. Meaning: Clear, Concrete, Precise

Sentence: Meteorology can’t give us a concrete idea about cyclones.

2. Meaning: Abstract

Sentence: Her paintings are based on abstract ideas.

3. Meaning: Theoretical

Sentence: Socialism is a theoretical idea.

4. Meaning: Basic, Rough, Vague

Sentence: I have a vague idea of how this story will go.

5. Meaning: Dominant

Sentence: Democracy is the most dominant idea in politics.

6. Meaning: Fixed, Inflexible

Sentence: Rahul has a fixed idea about his studies.

7. Meaning: Pre-Concaved

Sentence: Some people have a pre-conceived idea of third world.

8. Meaning: Definite, Firm, Strong

Sentence: My Country has firm ideas about Taxation.

9. Meaning: Complex, Difficult

Sentence: It is a complex idea.

10. Meaning: Simplistic

Sentence: I appreciate simplistic ideas.

11. Meaning: Conventional, Traditional

Sentence: Fossil fuels are the conventional ideas of energy generation.

12. Meaning: Radical, Revolutionary

Sentence: Satyagraha was a revolutionary idea of Gandhi.

13. Meaning: Contradictory

Sentence: He can’t deal with contradictory ideas.

14. Meaning: Erroneous, False, Wrong,

Sentence: You have the wrong idea about me.

15. Meaning: Funny, Strange

Sentence: Om has strange ideas for his birthday party.

16. Meaning: Utopian

Sentence: Absolute Equality is a utopian idea.

17. Meaning: Romantic

Sentence: French Nationalism was full of romantic ideas about their fatherland.

18. Meaning: New-Fangled

Sentence: This new-fangled idea of social media does not sit well with old people.

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19. Meaning: Out-Dated

Sentence: I do not subscribe to the out-dated idea of rote education.

20. Meaning: Not the Faintest/Foggiest/ Slightest/ Remotest

Sentence: I do not have the faintest idea of what you are talking about.

21. Meaning: Artistic, Moral, Intellectual, Economic, Musical, Philosophical, Political, Scientific

Sentence: Renaissance is the birthplace of modern artistic ideas.

22. Meaning: Fascist, Feminist, Nationalist, Socialist

Sentence: Fascist idea was propounded by Hegel.

2. Idea as a Verb

Idea is used along with a verb that indicates thought/impression in either of the two forms –

VERB + IDEA

1. Meaning: get

Sentence: You should not get the wrong idea.

2. Meaning: espouse, have, hold

Sentence: Hari espoused the idea of charity.

3. Meaning: develop, form, shape

Sentence: It is difficult to develop an idea on the spot.

4. Meaning: express

Sentence: Jain needs help to express his ideas better.

5. Meaning: convey, communicate, get across, get over, present, put across

Sentence: Shyam was not able to get his idea across while delivering his speech.

6. Meaning: demonstrate, expound, illustrate, explain

Sentence: While writing an answer, its important to illustrate your ideas.

7. Meaning: clarify, formulate, formalize, organize, structure

Sentence: Paritosh will be able to formulate a better idea.

8. Meaning: change, reconsider, reshape, revise

Sentence: Government was requested to reconsider its ideas of Statecraft.

9. Meaning: accept

Sentence: Rhea is willing to accept this idea.

10. Meaning: dismiss, reject

Sentence: Hear me out before dismissing my idea.

11. Meaning: harbour

Sentence: A part of World population harbours extremist ideas.

12. Meaning: be obsessed with

Sentence: Vineet is obsessed with the idea of virtual concerts.

13. Meaning: relish

Sentence: He relishes the idea of being better than everybody else.

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IDEA + VERB

1. Meaning: amuse [subject], appeal to [subject], please [subject]

Sentence: The idea of holding a debate appeals to him.

2. Meaning: catch on, take hold

Sentence: I am waiting for this idea to catch on.

3. Idea as a Preposition

Idea is used with these three propositions given below to indicate a thought/impression -

1. Meaning: about

Sentence: Their idea about improving efficiency in the workplace is good.

2. Meaning: behind

Sentence: The idea behind Democracy is the right to vote.

3. Meaning: of

Sentence: The idea of Separation of Powers was propounded by Montesquieu.