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Reason for, increase in, and other collocations common in Writing Task 1.
Why you specifically
Trong tiếng Anh, nhiều danh từ đi kèm với một giới từ cố định. Đây là một cụm từ kết hợp tự nhiên, không phải là dịch từng chữ từ tiếng Việt. Ví dụ: reason for, increase in, decrease in, information about, solution to, cause of, demand for. Với IELTS Writing Task 1, các cụm này xuất hiện rất nhiều khi mô tả nguyên nhân, mức tăng/giảm, và thông tin. Người học Việt Nam dễ bị ảnh hưởng bởi cách diễn đạt trong tiếng Việt như “nguyên nhân của”, “tăng của”, “thông tin về”, “giải pháp cho”, nên dùng nhầm of, for, to, about. Cách học đúng là nhớ cả cụm danh từ + giới từ, ví dụ reason for chứ không phải reason of; increase in chứ không phải increase of; solution to chứ không phải solution of. Có một số danh từ rất gần nghĩa nhưng đi với giới từ khác nhau, nên không thể suy ra chỉ bằng dịch nghĩa.
The rule
In English, many nouns are regularly followed by a specific preposition, and the preposition is part of the collocation rather than a direct translation from Vietnamese. In IELTS Writing Task 1, these combinations appear very often, especially with trends and causes: reason for, increase in, decrease in, information about, solution to, cause of, demand for, and so on. Learners should memorise the whole noun + preposition pattern, not translate word by word from Vietnamese, because Vietnamese often uses one general linking word where English uses different prepositions for different nouns.
The trap
The reason of the delay was heavy rain.
The reason for the delay was heavy rain.
Reason is followed by for when you say what caused something. In Vietnamese, learners often use a direct equivalent of ‘reason of’, but English does not use of here.
There was an increase of sales last year.
There was an increase in sales last year.
Increase is normally followed by in when you say what changed. In Vietnamese, it is easy to transfer a structure like ‘increase of’ into English, but that is not the usual pattern here.
We need information of the new policy.
We need information about the new policy.
Information is followed by about when you mean the topic. In Vietnamese, learners may overuse of because ‘về/của’ can both be expressed by one preposition-like idea, but English distinguishes them.
The solution of this problem is expensive.
The solution to this problem is expensive.
Solution is followed by to when you mention the problem it solves. Vietnamese learners often use for or of by analogy with ‘giải pháp cho/về’, but to is the normal pattern in English.
There was a decrease of unemployment in 2023.
There was a decrease in unemployment in 2023.
Decrease is followed by in when the change affects a number or amount. Using of here is not the standard pattern in this meaning.
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