noun
ADJECTIVE
▪ awesome , challenging , daunting , enormous , formidable , great , Herculean , huge , mammoth ( esp. BrE ), massive , monumental
▪ arduous , demanding , difficult , hard , laborious , onerous , stiff ( BrE ), time-consuming , tough , uphill ( esp. BrE )
▪ dangerous , hazardous ( esp. BrE )
▪ basic , easy , simple , small , trivial
▪
the simple ~ of making a sandwich
▪ menial , mundane , repetitive , routine , tedious
▪ complex , complicated
▪ delicate , tricky
▪ hopeless , impossible
▪ daily , day-to-day , everyday , routine
▪ central , fundamental , important , main , major , primary , principal
▪
The primary ~ of the chair is to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.
▪ critical , crucial , essential , key , vital
▪ immediate , urgent
▪ pleasant
▪ thankless , unenviable , unpleasant
▪ grim
▪
the grim ~ of identifying the dead
▪ administrative , domestic , household , manual
▪ self-appointed
VERB + TASK
▪ handle , take on , take upon yourself ( esp. BrE ), undertake
▪
Nobody was willing to take on such a thankless ~.
▪ approach , face , get to grips with ( esp. BrE ), tackle
▪
How do you tackle a ~ like that?
▪ begin , start
▪ carry out , do , fulfil/fulfill , get on with , perform
▪
I left her to get on with the ~ of correcting the errors.
▪ accomplish , complete , finish , succeed in
▪ cope with
▪ fail , fail at , fail in
▪ allocate , assign (sb) , delegate , entrust sb with , give sb , set sb
▪
She failed to complete the ~ that she had been set.
▪ be charged with , be faced with , have
▪
She was charged with the important ~ of telling the children.
▪ be engaged in
▪
I was engaged in the delicate ~ of clipping the dog's claws.
▪ help in , help sb with
▪ be suited to
▪
His thick fingers were not well suited to the ~.
TASK + VERB
▪ involve sth , require sth
▪
The ~ requires a variety of skills and experience.
▪ fall to sb
▪
The unenviable ~ of telling my parents fell to my teacher.
▪ confront sb , face sb
▪
The team have no illusions about the size of the ~ confronting them.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ for
▪
a hard ~ for the committee
▪ ~ in
▪
one of the first ~s in language learning
PHRASES
▪ be no easy ~
▪
Translating the letter was no easy ~.
▪ the ~ ahead , the ~ at hand ( esp. AmE ), the ~ before us , the ~ in hand ( BrE )
▪
We need to think realistically about the ~ ahead.
▪
We should stop chatting and get back to the ~ in/at hand.