adjective · neutral
constructive
/kənˈstrʌktɪv/con·STRUC·tive
Band 5-6speakingtask2
helpful and likely to improve a situation or produce development
Examples
“Teachers should give constructive feedback to help students improve.”
“We had a constructive discussion about how to reduce waste.”
“Try to be constructive when you criticise someone’s work.”
Band 8 sentence
“Offering specific, actionable suggestions rather than vague complaints makes feedback truly constructive.”
Collocations
- constructive feedback
- constructive criticism
- have a constructive discussion
Word family
construct verbconstruction nounconstructive adjectiveconstructively adverb
Common mistakes
constructive critic→constructive criticism / a constructive critic
build constructive→constructive
Say it for a higher band
5useful→6helpful→7+constructive
Synonyms
helpful
useful
Easily confused
construct
“They plan to construct a new library next year.”
critique
“She wrote a detailed critique of the article.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -ive
Learn it with its set