‘Consult’ means to ask other people for advice. It is an old word that hasn’t changed for 500 years.

Examples:

• If you have a fever and a range of other symptoms, you should consult a doctor.
• Erica is furious because her husband bought a new car without consulting her first.
• When you don’t know the meaning of a word, you consult a dictionary.
• Most lecturers offer consultation times to their students.

Collocations: When you learn new vocab, make sure that you note collocations too. For this group of words some collocations are:
consultation with, consultation for, consulting rooms
contact with, contact by
decline in, decline of, declining standards
discrete amounts
draft of, draft paper, draft for

Check the meanings of the words if you don’t already know them. Check the meanings of the various forms as sometimes they are different. You can check them at Time4english by clicking the words (http://www.time4english.com/aamain/lounge/awl.asp).

Vocabulary for IELTS – Academic Word List 51

Complete the sentences below with the correct word and the correct form of the word.

1. She’ll be away for a few weeks, but she’ll still be _______________ by email. (contact, draft)
2. ______________ times for doctors have been reduced to seven minutes. (consult, decline)
3. The _______________ of the economy began 15 years ago. (decline, contact)
4. Whenever I write something, I always do several rough _______________. (discrete, draft)
5. It’s a long process with several _______________ steps that need to be taken. (consult, discrete)

Answers (in the wrong order)
4. drafts  3. decline    1. contactable   2. Consultation    5. discrete