Government & Law — Part 1
The Celpip Plus team
Written and reviewed against the official CELPIP scoring criteria
What you'll learn: the verb + noun collocations native speakers use when discussing government action, elections, and the justice system — essential vocabulary for CELPIP opinion tasks about civic life.
Why verb + noun pairs matter first
Government and law topics appear regularly in CELPIP Speaking Task 7 and Writing Task 2, where test takers are asked to give an opinion on a policy, a proposed regulation, or a civic issue. Before reaching for abstract nouns like "legislation" or "jurisdiction," the highest-value vocabulary is the verb that correctly pairs with a government-related noun. Saying "make a law" is understandable but less precise than pass a law, and raters notice the difference between roughly-correct and naturally-correct phrasing.
How these collocations get built
Most verb + noun collocations here follow the life-cycle of a policy: a government or legislature must first draft a bill, then pass a law, after which authorities enforce the law and courts uphold or overturn a ruling. Citizens, in turn, exercise their rights, cast a vote, and sometimes file a complaint or challenge a decision. Learning the collocations in this rough sequence — proposal, action, response — makes them far easier to recall when constructing an opinion under time pressure.
Word bank: core government & law collocations
| Collocation | Meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| pass a law | formally approve legislation so it takes effect | The provincial legislature passed a law banning single-use plastics. |
| enforce a law | make sure a law is obeyed, often through penalties | Local police are responsible for enforcing traffic laws. |
| draft a bill | write the initial text of proposed legislation | A committee drafted a bill to reform the tax system. |
| cast a vote | formally register your choice in an election | Millions of citizens cast a vote in the last federal election. |
| exercise your rights | make use of a legal freedom or entitlement | Every citizen has the right to exercise their freedom of speech. |
| uphold a ruling | confirm that a court decision remains valid | The appeals court upheld the ruling from the lower court. |
| overturn a decision | reverse a previous legal or official decision | The Supreme Court overturned the decision after a lengthy review. |
| file a complaint | formally submit a grievance to an authority | She filed a complaint with the human rights commission. |
| impose a fine | officially require someone to pay a penalty | The city imposed a fine on companies that violated the bylaw. |
| hold office | serve in an elected or appointed government position | The mayor has held office for three consecutive terms. |
| break the law | act in a way that violates legislation | Drivers who break the law risk losing their licence. |
| grant permission | formally allow something, often through a licence or approval | The council granted permission for the new community centre. |
Worked example — Speaking Task 7
Prompt: Do you agree or disagree that governments should impose stricter fines for environmental violations?
"I agree that governments should impose stricter fines on companies that pollute. In my city, the local government recently passed a law requiring factories to reduce emissions, but without strong enforcement, a law on paper means very little. Authorities need to enforce the law consistently, and courts should uphold any ruling against a company that tries to appeal. Citizens should also be able to file a complaint when they witness a violation, and officials who hold office should be accountable for following through. If a business continues to break the law, I believe the government should have the power to grant or withdraw its operating permission entirely."
This response uses seven collocations from the table to build a coherent, opinionated answer rather than listing vocabulary mechanically — precisely the kind of controlled, natural language CELPIP raters reward.
Common mistakes
- "Make a law" instead of pass a law — "make" is a default verb many learners overuse; legislatures specifically "pass" laws.
- "Do a vote" instead of cast a vote — voting has its own fixed verb, and "do" sounds noticeably unnatural here.
- "Break a rule of the government" instead of break the law — a wordy paraphrase where a single fixed collocation already exists.
- "Give a fine" instead of impose a fine — "impose" signals official, top-down authority that "give" does not capture.
Recap
Verb + noun collocations give you the backbone vocabulary for talking about how governments act and how citizens respond — proposing, passing, enforcing, and challenging. Practice by picking three collocations from the table and building one opinion sentence about a real policy issue for each; anchoring the language to a genuine opinion makes the pairing far easier to recall on exam day.