DSE English: collocation and word choice for Paper 2 (tutor lesson plan)

2026-11-03

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary English

Students collect impressive words, then pair them with the wrong noun or preposition. This lesson does not add vocabulary; it fixes what each word must sit next to.

Objectives — Students can: (1) name the job that good, bad, big, important, many and think do in a sentence; (2) give two replacement collocations for each, with the preposition or noun they require; (3) place 12 upgraded collocations in a 400-word essay, about 3 per cent density, and keep the rest plain.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Tenses	When do you use the present perfect instead of the past simple?	Finished action versus action still relevant now
Dependent prepositions	Which preposition follows depend?	on
Countability	Does advice take a plural?	No, it is uncountable

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Audit default words	Students circle every good, bad, big	Six or more circles found
5-15 min	What a word sits next to	Model three collocations with preposition and noun limits	Two collocations each
15-25 min	The cost of upgrading	Show a sentence ruined by over-upgrading	Two places named as wrong to upgrade
25-40 min	Rewrite 400 words	Change 12 places only	Density 3.0 per cent
40-45 min	Exit check	Mark on the spot and fix on the spot	Three out of three

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Audit first, rewrite second

A 400-word essay is about 31 sentences at 13 words each, and a typical student uses six default words. Two replacements per word gives 12 upgrade points, one every 33 words, a density of 3.0 per cent.
The first move is always to circle, never to rewrite. Circling shows the student which words they lean on; telling them to “write better” just swaps one empty word for another.
Each default word does a different job: good and bad evaluate, big measures scale, important signals weight, many counts, think states a position. Different jobs need different replacements.

Ask the student: which of the six words appears most often, and what job is it doing there?

Scene 2: Collocation before synonyms

A collocation is not a synonym. Significant collocates with increase, impact and difference, but not with weather. Heavy collocates with rain, traffic and loss, but not with problem.
Teach in a fixed order: which nouns this word usually appears with, which preposition follows it, and only then what it means. Students who learn the meaning first produce phrases like “advanced weather”.
Give two collocations per word, not five. Five are not remembered and come out wrong under exam pressure.

Ask the student: which three nouns can follow heavy, and which one cannot?

Scene 3: Upgrading has a price

Upgrading costs length, register and accuracy. That is why only 12 places in 400 words get upgraded and the rest stay plain.
Four places stay untouched: the verb of the topic sentence, the linker in a concession, the polite instruction, and the key sentence of the conclusion.
A workable test: read the upgraded sentence aloud once; if you lose the meaning, put the plain word back. Marks come from accuracy and clarity, not from how rare the word is.

Ask the student: why is the topic sentence a bad place for the hardest word?

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Replace a default word	Swap good for something precise	Identify the job, choose the noun, add the preposition	two compelling reasons
Spot a broken collocation	Find the verb and noun that do not pair	Read each clause and ask what this word usually sits with	make a decision, not do a decision
Adjust register	Turn a spoken phrase into a written one	Change the verb, drop contractions, restore the subject	a great deal of, not a lot of
Control density	How many upgrades fit in one paragraph	One per 33 words, delete the surplus	Three or four in 120 words

Sanity check (teach this): Check three numbers: 400 words, 12 upgrades, 3.0 per cent density. A paragraph of roughly 120 words carries three upgrades comfortably; eight turns the paragraph into a list of adjectives. Below 1 per cent nothing has changed; above 5 per cent the writing has been decorated, not improved.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Rewrite: The government did a good thing to help many people.	The government took effective measures to help a large number of residents.	Whether both the verb and the noun changed, not just the adjective
Fix: This is a heavy problem for the society.	This is a serious problem for society.	Whether the student can say which nouns heavy normally takes
Compress: three upgrades inside 120 words, everything else plain.	One upgrade at the start, one mid-paragraph, one at the end.	Whether the paragraph grew longer in order to sound better

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Only the adjective moves	make a good progress	“Progress goes with make, so change good to steady or significant, not the verb.”
Wrong dependent preposition	depend of, interested on	“Learn the collocation with its preposition, not the word alone.”
Register too high to follow	utilise a myriad of individuals	“Two hard words per sentence is the ceiling; the third one stops the reader.”
Upgrading doubles the length	A 12-word sentence becomes 26 words	“Upgrading must not add words. Longer is not better, it is just more.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

DSE English Paper 2 practice paper — Part B question 2 (opinion): rewrite exactly six places using the replacement table and label the default word each one replaced.
Paper 1 reading paper (same index) — Questions 3 to 5: circle every good and bad in your answers, then replace each with a collocation without adding a single word.

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Three nouns that follow heavy	rain, traffic, loss	Two correct means the point is secure
Maximum upgrades in 120 words	Three or four	Answering eight means reteach density
Why the topic sentence stays plain	It must be clear and short	No reason given means repeat act three

09 Tutor FAQ

Can students memorise a synonym list?

Yes, but memorise collocations as whole units, so significant increase is one item, not significant alone.

Do rarer words earn more marks?

No. Marks follow accuracy, clarity and consistent register; one broken collocation costs more than a plain word.

Must all spoken words go?

No. Dialogue inside a narrative can stay spoken; only the argument needs written register.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.