Business English Collocations: 5 Mistakes to Stop Making

Native speakers do not notice collocations when they are right. They notice immediately when they are wrong. A small word choice error — using do instead of make, or strong instead of high — can make an otherwise fluent speaker suddenly sound like a beginner. Not because the meaning is unclear, but because the combination feels off. Like a wrong note in a familiar song.

Collocations are the glue of natural English. They are fixed or semi-fixed word partnerships that native speakers use automatically, without thinking. The problem is that no one teaches them directly. You are just expected to absorb them over time. For busy professionals and IELTS candidates working against a clock, that is not good enough.

Here are the five most common business English collocation mistakes — and exactly how to fix them.

The Mistakes (and How to Correct Them)

Mistake 1
❌ We need to do a decision before Friday.
✅ We need to make a decision before Friday.
In English, you make a decision, never do one. Make is the verb that collocates with most things you produce or create, including decisions, plans, and progress.

Mistake 2
❌ The company made a strong profit last quarter.
✅ The company made a high profit last quarter.
Or better: The company turned a healthy profit last quarter.
Strong works with coffee and arguments. With numbers and financial figures, use high or try healthy/substantial for a more natural business register.

Mistake 3
❌ She gave a speech that raised a big impression.
✅ She gave a speech that made a strong impression.
You make an impression. You do not raise one or give one. Pairing raise with impression is a direct translation trap for speakers of Spanish, French, and several other languages.

Mistake 4
❌ We are doing a lot of progress on the new project.
✅ We are making a lot of progress on the new project.
Again: make, not do. Progress, like a decision and an effort, collocates with make. Do tends to pair with tasks and activities: do the research, do the work, do a presentation.

Mistake 5
❌ Let’s fix a meeting for next Tuesday.
✅ Let’s schedule a meeting for next Tuesday.
Or: Let’s arrange a meeting for next Tuesday.
Fix a meeting sounds like the meeting is broken. In formal business English, you schedule, arrange, or set up a meeting. Fix works in informal British English occasionally, but it is risky in professional writing and definitely a risk in IELTS.

The Pattern Behind the Mistakes

Most of these errors come from one of two places.

First, translation. Learners take a verb from their first language and match it to the nearest English equivalent. The meaning transfers. The collocation does not.

Second, overgeneralisation. You learn that strong means powerful or impressive, so you use it everywhere. But English collocations are not always logical. You just have to learn which words travel together.

The make versus do problem is its own category. A rough guide: use make for things you produce, create, or cause (make a profit, make a suggestion, make an appointment). Use do for tasks, duties, and activities (do research, do business, do a favour). It is not a perfect rule, but it covers a large percentage of cases.

The fastest way to improve your collocations is exposure combined with deliberate noticing. Read business emails, reports, and news articles — but instead of just absorbing the content, stop and look at which words travel together. It is that kind of active, focused practice we build into our daily coaching programme. For more details, click here.

Quick-Reference Summary

• Say make a decision, not do a decision
• Say high profit or healthy profit, not strong profit
• Say make a strong impression, not raise an impression
• Say make progress, not do progress
• Say schedule/arrange a meeting, not fix a meeting (in formal contexts)
• Use make for things you produce or cause; use do for tasks and activities
• Collocations are partnerships — learning one word is not enough, learn the pair

Vocabulary to Know

• collocation /ˌkɒl.əˈkeɪ.ʃən/ – Level: B2 – a natural combination of words that native speakers use together habitually – Example: “Make a decision” is a common collocation in business English.
• register /ˈredʒ.ɪ.stər/ – Level: B2 – the level of formality in language, adjusted depending on context and audience – Example: In a formal business register, you would write “I would like to arrange a meeting” rather than “let’s catch up.”
• overgeneralisation /ˌəʊ.və.dʒen.ər.əl.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ – Level: C1 – applying a grammar rule or word pattern too broadly, beyond where it actually works – Example: Using “make” with every verb because it sometimes replaces “do” is a classic overgeneralisation.
• turn a profit /tɜːn ə ˈprɒf.ɪt/ – Level: C1 – to earn more money than you spend; to become profitable – Example: The startup finally turned a profit in its third year of operation.
• set up a meeting /set ʌp ə ˈmiː.tɪŋ/ – Level: B1 – to organise and arrange a meeting with someone – Example: Can you set up a meeting with the client for sometime next week?
• substantial /səbˈstæn.ʃəl/ – Level: B2 – large in size, value, or importance – Example: The merger resulted in a substantial increase in market share.
• deliberate /dɪˈlɪb.ər.ɪt/ – Level: B2 – done consciously and intentionally, not by accident – Example: Improving your collocations requires deliberate attention, not just passive reading.
• make an impression /meɪk ən ɪmˈpreʃ.ən/ – Level: B1 – to have a noticeable effect on someone, positively or negatively – Example: She made an excellent impression during the job interview.
• translation trap /trænsˈleɪ.ʃən træp/ – Level: C1 – an error caused by directly translating a structure from your first language into English where it does not work – Example: Saying “I have hunger” instead of “I am hungry” is a classic translation trap for Spanish speakers.
• word partnership /wɜːd ˈpɑːt.nə.ʃɪp/ – Level: B2 – another term for collocation; two or more words that regularly appear together in natural speech or writing – Example: “Heavy traffic” is a word partnership — you would not say “strong traffic” in English.

FAQ

How many business English collocations do I need to know?
There is no magic number. Focus on the collocations that appear in your specific field first, whether that is finance, marketing, HR, or general office communication. Quality beats quantity here. A solid grasp of 200 to 300 high-frequency business collocations will take you very far.

Will collocation mistakes hurt my IELTS score?
Yes, they can. The IELTS lexical resource band descriptor specifically rewards candidates who use collocations naturally and accurately. Repeated collocation errors signal a limited range of vocabulary, even if your individual word choices are technically correct. The good news is that collocation errors are fixable with focused practice.

What is the best way to learn collocations, not just memorise them?
See them in context, then use them in writing and speaking as quickly as possible. Recording yourself, keeping a vocabulary notebook with full phrases rather than single words, and getting corrected feedback all accelerate the process. A good teacher who highlights your specific collocation errors in real time is worth a lot.

Getting feedback on your actual language use, in real business and IELTS contexts, is exactly what the daily coaching programme at richardg.xyz is built around. If that sounds useful, take a look at how it works.