Dominic Cole’s IELTS Blog www.dcielts.com IELTS Vocabulary - Problems In IELTS essays you are almost always going to need to write about a problem To this well, you need to be able to use a variety of words to describe problems Here are a few basic variations You should note that you will need not just synonyms for “problem” but also variations of adjectives and verbs For more detail on this and an interactive exercise see my Problem Vocabulary page If you not understand any of these words, I suggest you use the Macmillan Online Dictionary Synonyms and antonyms Nouns Usage problem difficulty a fairly close synonym to “problem”: question this is slightly different to problem: it is something people have different opinions about issue this is something people argue about/ similar to “question” solution you normally “find” or “come up with” a solution Adjectives One key here is to avoid words such as “big” and “little” and to choose accurate word combinations Here are some adjective-noun combinations Adjectives Examples significant A significant problem many countries face is falling birth rates fundamental This is not a minor issue, rather it is a fundamental problem real A very real difficulty in many households is rising fuel bills minor In my view, global warming is only a minor problem pressing This is a pressing problem that needs to be dealt with urgently Dominic Cole’s IELTS Blog www.dcielts.com Adjectives Examples serious Of course, global warming is a serious issue that needs to be addressed complex This is a complex issue and there are no easy solutions to it Verbs Verbs Examples Usage address The government needs to address the problem of unemployment similar to “deal with” and “tackle” face How to combine work with having children is a problem facing many women an alternative here would be the more academic “confronting” deal with We need to deal with the pressing issue of global warming a close synonym of “tackle”: it includes the idea that the problem is difficult tackle It will not be easy to tackle global warming a close synonym of “deal with” experience Many families are experiencing difficulties in paying their rising fuel bills a more academic way of saying “have” pose Rising fuel bills pose a problem for many families a good collocation to use with problem meaning “make” resolve The best way of resolving the problem of global warming would be to raise taxes you can “solve” a problem or you can “resolve” a problem