Environment & Nature — Part 2
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: the descriptive adjective + noun pairings that make environmental descriptions vivid and exam-ready — the difference between "bad weather" and "extreme weather events."
Why descriptive collocations raise your score
Once you can name environmental actions (Part 1), the next skill is describing conditions and consequences precisely. CELPIP Speaking Task 4 and 8, and Writing Task 2, often ask you to describe a situation or justify an opinion — vague adjectives like "big" or "bad" flatten your answer. Fixed adjective + noun pairs do the descriptive work for you.
Descriptive collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| renewable energy | power from sources that don't run out (solar, wind) | Many households are switching to renewable energy to cut costs. |
| endangered species | a plant or animal at risk of extinction | The panda remains one of the world's most famous endangered species. |
| extreme weather | unusually severe weather events | This summer brought extreme weather to much of the country. |
| rising sea levels | ocean levels increasing due to melting ice | Coastal towns are already adapting to rising sea levels. |
| greenhouse gases | gases that trap heat and warm the planet | Cars are a major source of greenhouse gases in cities. |
| sustainable development | growth that doesn't harm future resources | The plan focuses on sustainable development rather than rapid expansion. |
| natural habitat | the environment where a species normally lives | Logging has destroyed much of the owl's natural habitat. |
| pristine wilderness | untouched, unspoiled natural land | The national park protects one of the last areas of pristine wilderness. |
| eco-friendly products | goods designed to minimize environmental harm | The store now stocks a wide range of eco-friendly products. |
| severe drought | a long period of very low rainfall | Farmers struggled through a severe drought last year. |
| poor air quality | polluted, unhealthy air | The city issued a warning about poor air quality downtown. |
| carbon-neutral lifestyle | a way of living that doesn't add net CO2 | She adopted a carbon-neutral lifestyle after reading about climate change. |
Worked example — CELPIP Speaking Task 8 (opinion)
Prompt: Some people think individuals can't make a difference on environmental issues. Do you agree?
I disagree. Yes, greenhouse gases are mostly produced by industry, but individual choices still matter. If more people switched to a carbon-neutral lifestyle, demand for renewable energy would grow, which pushes companies to invest in it. I also think about rising sea levels — a problem that feels distant until you realize even small household changes, multiplied across millions of people, slow it down. And it's not just about carbon: choosing eco-friendly products protects endangered species by reducing habitat destruction. So while one person alone can't fix extreme weather patterns, collective individual action absolutely shapes the bigger picture.
Common mistakes
- Confusing "renewable energy" with "sustainable development" — the first is about power sources, the second is about long-term growth planning; they're not interchangeable.
- Saying "danger species" instead of endangered species — a common pronunciation/spelling slip that markers will catch in writing.
- Using "bad air" instead of the fixed phrase poor air quality, which sounds far more natural and exam-appropriate.
- Pluralizing incorrectly: "greenhouse gas" is fine as a general noun, but the standard collocation for the topic is greenhouse gases (plural).
Recap
You've added twelve adjective + noun collocations — extreme weather, rising sea levels, pristine wilderness, and more — that let you describe environmental conditions with precision. Part 3 moves into phrasal verbs, the multi-word verbs that make your spoken and written English sound genuinely native.