grammar · academic

encourage + somebody + to + V

Band 7+speakingtask2

to give support or confidence to someone so that they do something

Examples

“The university encourages students to study abroad for one semester.”

“Parents should encourage their children to read widely from a young age.”

“Local campaigns encourage people to recycle more.”

Band 8 sentence

“In my opinion, policymakers should actively encourage manufacturers to adopt greener technologies, rather than relying solely on regulation.”

Collocations

  • encourage somebody to do something
  • strongly encourage
  • encourage participation/engagement

Word family

encourage verbencouragement nounencouraging adjective / gerund

Common mistakes

encourage somebody doing something→encourage somebody to do something

encourage to study→encourage somebody to study

encourage on doing something→encourage somebody to do something

Say it for a higher band

5tell somebody to + V→6ask somebody to + V→7+encourage somebody to + V

Synonyms

urge

prompt

Easily confused

urge + somebody + to + V

“Health officials urged residents to evacuate immediately.”

prompt somebody to V

“A sudden drop in sales prompted the manager to change the marketing plan.”

Related words

look forward to + V-ingtry + V-ing / try to + Vfor + somebody + to + Vavoid + V-ingbe likely to + Vbegin / start + V-ing / to + Vprevent + somebody + from + V-ingturn out + to + V

Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.

In Gerunds & infinitives

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