To ‘consume’ means to use something. It can be food, power, advice, goods or a range of things.  We can also be consumed by something; especially guilt.

Examples:

• Consumption of electricity has reduced recently due to the increasing number of people who are producing their own power and going off the grid.
• She was consumed by guilt after she cheated on test.

Collocations: When you learn new vocab, make sure that you note collocations too. For this group of words some collocations are:
consequence of
construction of, constructive advice
consumer of, consumption of, time-consuming
credit for, accreditation by
cultural practices, cultural norms, cultural differences

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).

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

1. Sugar _______________ has increased dramatically in the last 100 years.  (consume, culture)
2. The _______________ for the college was renewed just last year.  (credit, consume)
3. One ______________ of 9/11 was an increase of security worldwide.  (credit, consequence)
4. _______________ workers in some countries are very poorly paid. (construct, consequence)
5. When you move to another country there is always a period of _______________ shock. (construct, culture)

Answers (in the wrong order below)
5. culture    3. consequence   2. accreditation    1. consumption    4. Construction