Family is one of the most âeverydayâ topics in IELTS, and thatâs exactly why people lose marks on it. In Writing Task 2, you may be asked who has more influence on a child, parents or school; whether itâs a good thing that older people increasingly live in care homes rather than with their children; why people in developed countries are having fewer children. In Speaking Part 3, the examiner may ask how families have changed in recent decades and whether fathers should be as involved in raising children as mothers. Simple words like mother and children arenât enough: you need collocations about types of family, raising children, generations and balancing work and home.
The main trap in this topic is the verb for raising children. Learners often use educate, because in many languages one verb covers both teaching and upbringing. But raising children in general is bring up or raise children, and teaching them how to behave is teach children toâŠ. The second trap is elder: older people as a group are elderly people or older people, not elder people.
Below are 30 collocations in four subtopics, the typical mistakes people make with them, and an example of how LetsWords gives feedback on a sentence youâve written. Youâll find the other exam topics in our overview of IELTS vocabulary by topic.
Family and children: words and collocations
Types of family and how theyâre changing
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| the nuclear family | parents and their children | The nuclear family has replaced larger households in most cities. |
| the extended family | a family that includes grandparents and other relatives | In many cultures, the extended family still lives under one roof. |
| single-parent families | families with only one parent | Single-parent families often need more support with childcare. |
| start a family | to have your first child | Many couples postpone starting a family until they own a home. |
| a falling birth rate | fewer babies being born | A falling birth rate means fewer workers will support more pensioners. |
| get married later in life | to marry at an older age | Today many people get married later in life than their parents did. |
| a close-knit family | a family whose members are close to each other | I grew up in a close-knit family where everyone ate dinner together. |
| strong family ties | close relationships between relatives | Strong family ties can protect young people from loneliness. |
Raising children
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bring up children | to raise children | Bringing up children in a big city is expensive and tiring. |
| raise children | to look after children until they grow up | It is harder to raise children without help from grandparents. |
| set a good example | to behave in a way others should copy | Parents who read every evening set a good example for their children. |
| set boundaries | to make clear what is and isnât allowed | Children feel safer when parents set clear boundaries. |
| instil values in | to teach someone principles gradually | Families instil values such as honesty and respect in children long before school does. |
| spend quality time with | to spend time together giving someone your full attention | Even busy parents can spend quality time with their children at weekends. |
| a stable home environment | a calm and secure family life | A stable home environment is linked to better results at school. |
| strict parents | parents with firm rules | Strict parents may raise disciplined children, but not always confident ones. |
Generations and caring for older relatives
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| the older generation | older people as a group | The older generation often find online banking difficult. |
| the generation gap | differences between older and younger people | Technology has widened the generation gap in many families. |
| elderly parents | parents who are old | More people in their fifties are caring for elderly parents. |
| care for | to look after someone who needs help | Many adult children care for ageing relatives at home. |
| care homes | places where older people live and receive care | Care homes provide medical help that families cannot always offer. |
| look after grandchildren | to take care of your childrenâs children | Retired grandparents often look after grandchildren while parents work. |
| pass down traditions | to hand traditions on to the next generation | Grandparents pass down traditions such as family recipes and songs. |
Work and family
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| working parents | parents who have jobs | Schools should take the needs of working parents into account. |
| dual-income families | families in which both parents work | Dual-income families can afford more, but they have less free time. |
| juggle work and family | to manage a job and family life at the same time | Many mothers juggle work and family without enough support. |
| affordable childcare | care for young children at a price people can pay | The lack of affordable childcare keeps many women out of work. |
| parental leave | time off work to care for a baby | Longer parental leave allows fathers to bond with their babies. |
| share the housework | to divide household jobs | Young couples today are more likely to share the housework equally. |
| a stay-at-home parent | a parent who doesnât work and looks after the children | More fathers now choose to become stay-at-home parents. |
Common mistakes
Parents should teach their children respect other people.
Correct: Parents should teach their children to respect other people. When you say what someone is taught to do, you need teach someone to do something: teach children to respect others. Raising children in general is bring up or raise. More about the verb in the bring up exercise.
Elder people should live with their children, not in care homes.
Correct: Elderly people or Older people should live with their children. Elder is mainly used for age order within a family: my elder brother. For older people as a group, say elderly people, older people or the elderly. The difference is covered in the older vs elder exercise.
My sister got married with a man from Canada.
Correct: My sister got married to a man from Canada or married a man from Canada. Get married is followed by to, and the verb marry takes no preposition at all. Got married with someone is a common slip. Practise in the get married and married to exercises.
In modern society family become smaller.
Correct: In modern society, families are becoming smaller. Family is countable: when you mean families in general, you need the plural, and for a process, are becoming. When you mean the family as an institution, you can also say the family is becoming smaller.
How LetsWords explains mistakes like these
While youâre reading the table, every word looks familiar. The mistakes appear when you write something yourself. Hereâs what one task looks like in LetsWords.
Youâre reviewing set a good example. LetsWords shows you its meaning in your native language, you recall the English expression and write a sentence about raising children:
Parents should give a good example to their children and spend with them more time.
The feedback, which LetsWords gives in your native language, points out two mistakes:
- give a good example â set a good example: to be a model for others is set an example, while give an example means âmention an exampleâ in an argument; the people who follow the example usually come after for;
- spend with them more time â spend more time with them: first comes what you spend (more time), then who you spend it with.
Parents should set a good example for their children and spend more time with them.
A few days later, the expression comes back in review, and you use it in a different situation, for example in a Speaking answer about how families have changed. Thatâs how a collocation on a list becomes one you can recall and use without mistakes.
Start practising with feedback on your mistakes
When you sign up, you choose IELTS as your goal and your level, and LetsWords picks the right practice for you. You can try the feedback before you pay.
Using these collocations in Writing Task 2
A practice task in the exam format:
In many countries, both parents now work full-time, and young children spend most of the day in childcare. Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?
A sample paragraph with a clear position:
Admittedly, dual-income families are usually more financially secure, and children in good childcare learn to share and follow routines before they start school. However, when both parents juggle work and family, the time left for their children is often limited to a rushed breakfast and bedtime. Young children need adults who set a good example and set clear boundaries, and this is difficult to do in twenty minutes a day. In my view, the disadvantages therefore outweigh the advantages. Yet the solution is not for one parent to give up work but for employers to offer longer parental leave and flexible hours, so that parents can spend quality time with their children without sacrificing their careers.
Why the paragraph works. It first acknowledges the advantages fairly, then shows the cost with However, and the conclusion answers the question directly: the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Instead of a general parents donât have time, thereâs a concrete picture: a rushed breakfast and twenty minutes before bed. The topic collocations appear exactly where theyâre needed, and the proposed solution avoids the extreme of âone parent should stay at homeâ, which makes the position balanced.
Using them in Speaking
A Part 3 question:
How have families in your country changed in recent decades?
A sample answer:
Iâd say the biggest change is that families have become much smaller. My grandparents grew up in an extended family with lots of cousins around, whereas most of my friends have only one sibling. People also tend to get married later in life and start a family in their thirties, mainly because housing is expensive. On the positive side, fathers are much more involved in bringing up children than they used to be.
The answer has everything Part 3 needs: a general conclusion, a comparison of the past and the present, a reason and an evaluation. The topic vocabulary is built into conversational speech, without bookish structures.
Practise for free
- bring up: raise children, plus a second meaning thatâs easy to mix up;
- look after: take care of children and older people;
- older vs elder: when to use elder and when older;
- get married: which preposition to use;
- kid vs child: which word suits an essay;
- family: the people youâre related to;
- spend time: spend time with your family;
- look up to: admire and follow the example of older people.
From the list to real use
Knowing that raising children is bring up or raise isnât enough: in the exam, you have to recall the word yourself at the right moment. Move from the list to real use with LetsWords: practise with the IELTS collection for your level and add collocations from this page to a collection, for example juggle work and family or instil values in. You recall each expression from its meaning, write a sentence with it, and LetsWords points out the mistake and explains it in your native language (Russian, Korean or Vietnamese), while spaced repetition brings the expression back until it feels natural. Then put the vocabulary to work in a full text: the IELTS Writing section has Task 2 prompts on Family and culture, about family celebrations and how to pass traditions on to the younger generation, and every full answer gets detailed feedback on all four criteria. When you sign up, you answer a few questions about your goal and level, and LetsWords picks your practice; you can try the feedback before you pay. For vocabulary on other topics, see our IELTS vocabulary by topic.