Here you will learn 15 English collocations with task: to undertake a task, to tackle a task, to assign a task, to fulfill a task and more.
This post will help you improve your business English vocabulary.
Harry
Harry is a native English teacher with over 10 years of experience both online and in face-to-face lessons. With his extensive experience in business, he specialises in Business English lessons but happily teaches ESL students with any English learning needs.
15 English Collocations with Task
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Hi there. This is Harry. And welcome back to my English learning podcast Speak Better English with Harry where I try to help you with your understanding of the English language. To help you to improve your English grammar, expressions and other aspects of English which will help you to communicate better with people that you meet in a social context or in a business context. So what do I have for you in this episode?
Intermediate to Advanced English Marathon
INSANITY: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
- What you’ll learn:
- better understanding of more complex grammar structures
- advanced English vocabulary words
- British & American slang
- perfect your listening skills through practing different accents
- This marathon is for you if you’re:
- stuck at an intermediate English level
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15 English Collocations with Task
We’re going to talk about collocations with the word TASK. So let me give you a few of these.
We can
- approach a task
- get down to a task
- tackle a task
So we can deal with a task in a certain way.
How do you approach different tasks?
How do you approach the task of the garden?
How do you get down to a task?
To get down to a task means start doing it.
Look, I’ve got lots to do. I have to get down to it immediately.
Starting is the most difficult part, especially if you need to tackle a task that you don’t enjoy doing.
15 English Collocations with Task
We can
- carry out a task – to complete a task
- do a task
- get on with a task
- prepare a task
- perform a task
I carried out that task that you asked me to do.
Meaning I finished it. I’ve done with it.
It’s a little bit formal, even though we’re using a phrasal verb to carry out. But it’s a little bit more formal.
We might just simply say I’ve done the task.
I’ve done those tasks you asked me to do last week for homework.
So I’m teaching my students. I give them tasks on a weekly basis, and they do the tasks most of the time.
Get on with the task. To get on with something means we need to start.
The time is pressing on. So let’s just get on with the task that you have.
We can prepare for a task. So I mean to get ready so that you’ll do it when you got everything ready.
And then when you finally do that, you can perform the task. So to perform the task is very definitely formal.
I perform those tasks with great aplomb.
I perform those tasks as you asked me to do. They’re ready for inspection.
I perform those tasks to the best of my ability.
15 English Collocations with Task
We can
- complete a task
- fulfil a task
- succeed in doing a task
We completed this task as you asked, we completed the task fully.
Meaning it is done.
To fulfil a task means to finish a task. Fulfil means to complete, another way of saying to complete is to fulfil.
I fulfilled my obligations.
I fulfilled the tasks as you asked me to do.
At last, I have succeeded in doing that task.
Meaning to manage to do something.
It’s been on my to do list for a long, long time. Now it’s done. I have succeeded in doing that task.
And then finally, we can
- assign a task
- give a task to somebody
- get somebody to do a task
So assign a task means to look at what the job requires, what has to be done. Think about who you know, who could do it and then assign.
Give the task to somebody to do is to assign it to somebody.
So we usually try and think who’s the best person to complete it in time. Who’s going to do it without having to ask too many questions? Who’s going to do it as efficiently as possible? So we assigned a task to a particular person based on certain criteria.
The teacher gives everyone a task in the classroom.
And then get somebody to do a task means to identify somebody, to find somebody to do this task.
So here are English collocations with TASK. Thanks for listening and join me again soon.
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Everyday English
Useful English Collocations
Business English Vocabulary
task noun
ADJ. awesome, challenging, daunting, enormous, formidable, great, Herculean, huge, mammoth, massive, monumental | arduous, demanding, difficult, exacting, exhausting, hard, laborious, onerous, stiff, time-consuming, tough, uphill | dangerous, hazardous | basic, easy, simple, small Translating the letter was no easy task. | menial, mundane, repetitive, tedious | complex, mind-boggling | delicate, tricky | fruitless, hopeless, impossible | daily, day-to-day, routine | central, fundamental, important, main, major, primary, principal The primary task of the chair is to ensure the meeting runs smoothly. | essential, vital | immediate, urgent | enviable, pleasant | thankless, unenviable, unpleasant | administrative, domestic, household, manual | self-appointed, self-imposed
VERB + TASK take on, take upon yourself, undertake Nobody was keen to take on such a thankless task. | approach, get to grips with, tackle How do you tackle a task like that? | carry out, do, fulfil, get on with, perform I left her to get on with the task of correcting the errors. | accomplish, complete, succeed in | cope with | fail in | allocate, assign (sb), delegate, entrust sb with, give sb, set sb She failed to complete the task that she had been set. | be charged with, be faced with, have She was charged with the important task of telling the children. | be engaged in I was engaged in the delicate task of clipping the dog’s claws. | help sb with | be suited/unsuited to His thick fingers were not well suited to the task.
TASK + VERB require sth The task requires a variety of skills and experience. | fall to sb The unenviable task of telling my parents fell to the head teacher. | confront sb, face sb The team have no illusions about the size of the task confronting them.
PREP. ~ for a hard task for the committee | ~ in one of the first tasks in language learning
PHRASES the task ahead We need to think realistically about the task ahead. | the task in hand We should stop chatting and get back to the task in hand.
Noun
Our first task is to review the budget.
one of my tasks in the morning is to make lunches for everyone in the family
Verb
I have been tasked by the host with bringing the pies for Thanksgiving this year.
Recent Examples on the Web
Price also was seeking to turn crime and punishment in Alameda County on its head — a monumentally arduous task that many in the office didn’t want.
—
Joshua Sharpe, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Apr. 2023
Highly pigmented organic compounds found in red wine known as anthocyanins, along with the drink’s acidity and tannins, can create a series of chemical reactions that make removing the stains from clothing and carpets a difficult task.
—Maryal Miller Carter, USA TODAY, 7 Apr. 2023
They’ve been given a task.
—Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2023
Jess Klein, interior designer and founder of Jess Klein Studio in Boston, recommends going into a task with a gameplan.
—Liz Kadar, ELLE Decor, 5 Apr. 2023
Amazon is once again embarking on a task more Sisyphean than rolling a dang rock up a mountain: adapting Cruel Intentions for television.
—Reboots Apr. 4, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2023
Prosecutors may face a difficult task explaining to a jury the complex interrelationships of Aequitas’ various companies.
—oregonlive, 4 Apr. 2023
But despite the dullness of cleaning up after dinner, choosing the right dishwashing detergent can make all the difference between a tedious task and a breeze.
—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2023
By adding another quarterback on a cheap rookie deal, the Ravens would have more money to spend to fill out the rest of their roster, a task made much more difficult with the type of contract Jackson reportedly seeks.
—C.j. Doon, Baltimore Sun, 3 Apr. 2023
As a punishment, or perhaps a test of loyalty, Logan tasks Roman with firing Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron).
—Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2023
The stringent historic protectionism he was tasked to work within, known in the U.K. as listing, had seemingly not been applied by the government to its own Old War Office (OWO), a landmarked Edwardian-era building commissioned in 1898 and, famously, Winston Churchill’s office during WWII.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 8 Apr. 2023
Designed to act as a flying communications link between the U.S. government and military forces worldwide, the E-6 Mercury is tasked with relaying orders to Ohio-class nuclear missile submarines on patrol, including orders to launch missiles.
—Popular Mechanics, 7 Apr. 2023
The city tasked the Christian Service Center with prioritizing children, single women and people with disabilities first.
—Ryan Gillespie, Orlando Sentinel, 6 Apr. 2023
The jury is tasked with deciding whether to find the three guilty on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud.
—Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 5 Apr. 2023
Hutchison was tasked with weighing the merits of complaints fielded by the attorney general’s office against Bernard.
—Casey Smith, The Indianapolis Star, 4 Apr. 2023
As part of the program’s first day, the city was tasked with studying a brief history of gun violence in Boston, along with a summary of how to craft solutions that have lasting success.
—Ivy Scott, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Apr. 2023
Illumination was tasked with making sure these concepts were believable within the logic of a movie.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 4 Apr. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘task.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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[ task, tahsk ]
/ tæsk, tɑsk /
This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
noun
a definite piece of work assigned to, falling to, or expected of a person; duty.
any piece of work.
a matter of considerable labor or difficulty.
Obsolete. a tax or impost.
verb (used with object)
to subject to severe or excessive labor or exertion; put a strain upon (powers, resources, etc.).
to impose a task on.
adjective
of or relating to a task or tasks: A task chart will help organize the department’s work.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Which sentence is correct?
Idioms about task
take to task, to call to account; blame; censure: The teacher took them to task for not doing their homework.
Origin of task
1250–1300; Middle English (noun) <Medieval Latin tasca, metathetic variant of taxatax
synonym study for task
1, 2. Task, chore, job, assignment refer to a definite and specific instance or act of work. Task and chore and, to a lesser extent, job often imply work that is tiresome, arduous, or otherwise unpleasant. Task usually refers to a clearly defined piece of work, sometimes of short or limited duration, assigned to or expected of a person: the task of pacifying angry customers; a difficult, time-consuming task. A chore is a minor task, usually one of several performed as part of a routine, as in farming, and often more tedious than difficult: the daily chore of taking out the garbage; early morning chores of feeding the livestock. Job is the most general of these terms, referring to almost any work or responsibility, including a person’s means of earning a living: the job of washing the windows; a well-paying job in advertising. Assignment refers to a specific task allocated to a person by someone in a position of authority: a homework assignment; a reporter’s assignment to cover international news.
OTHER WORDS FROM task
taskless, adjectivesubtask, nounun·tasked, adjective
Words nearby task
Taser, Tashi Lama, Tashkent, Tashlikh, tasimeter, task, taskbar, task force, taskmaster, taskmistress, task-oriented
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to task
assignment, burden, business, duty, effort, exercise, function, project, responsibility, undertaking, work, bother, calling, charge, employment, enterprise, errand, gig, grind, grindstone
How to use task in a sentence
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They provide response playbooks, help assign tasks to the correct team members, and help capture records of how and when your company took action.
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The beauty of it all is that once your papers are organized, your space is cleaner and your tasks are accomplished quicker.
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A hashtag challenge is a unique TikTok’s content format where brands ask users to post a certain task using a specific hashtag.
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Today’s technologies aren’t up to the task of deep decarbonization.
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You can also right-click on the app and choose End task from there.
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In 2011 LGBT media outlet Queerty took the app to task for allegedly deleting accounts that made reference to being trans.
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Detectives with a fugitive task force caught up with Polanco and a friend on a Bronx street in the early afternoon.
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Sabrine is a trained lawyer, likely a helpful quality when your task is to push politicians.
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It was a complex task they were asked to do, and every cultural and experiential advantage would be required.
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Before dying in 1219, Marshal would begin the task of rebuilding England after decades of war.
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And it was no light task, then, for six hundred men to keep the peace on a thousand miles of frontier.
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Will the new issues promptly retire when their special task is over?
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He sighed as he laid the papers on the table; for he thought the task would be a harder one than even his own immolation.
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Having accomplished his task within three months Datto Mandi withdrew with all his men, except two who wished to settle at Pardo.
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Through the beautiful, windy autumn days, he labored at his difficult task, the task of telling a story.
British Dictionary definitions for task
noun
a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or chore
an unpleasant or difficult job or duty
any piece of work
take to task to criticize or reprove
verb (tr)
to assign a task to
to subject to severe strain; tax
Derived forms of task
tasker, nountaskless, adjective
Word Origin for task
C13: from Old French tasche, from Medieval Latin tasca, from taxa tax, from Latin taxāre to tax
Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with task
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
In linguistics, a word is the smallest element that can be uttered in isolation with objective or practical meaning. (Wikipedia) (See all definitions)
- to word (see also)
- word
Sentences with «word» (usage examples):
- This whole process will create positive externalities, or, in other words, a benefit for third parties — top ranked cryptocurrency holders — that are not directly involved in the dead-coin for CoinJanitor tokens transaction. (bitcoinnews.com)
- «In other words, they must come out of the retirement account and go through the «tax fence,» as we say, and then can be directed to an after-tax account which then can be spent or invested as goals dictate.» (investopedia.com)
- Oh, and the occasion for the latest Yorke rant (there were plenty of curse words we can’t print in his Spotify analysis): It was Spotify’s fifth birthday. (cnbc.com)
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more)