Meaning & use
remedial work
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Teaching or practice given to students who need extra help to reach the normal level in a subject.
Grammar: Uncountable, so use 'some' or 'a lot of', not 'a' or a plural: 'She needs remedial work in math.'
Patterns
- remedial work in something
- do remedial work
- need remedial work
After the test, the teacher assigned remedial work in fractions to the whole group.
He did remedial work in reading every morning before regular classes began.
The school offers remedial work for students who fall behind in writing.
noununcountable
Repairs or changes made to a building or system to correct a fault or damage.
Grammar: Also uncountable here; often followed by 'on' plus the thing being repaired.
Patterns
- remedial work on something
- carry out remedial work
- structural remedial work
The council ordered remedial work on the bridge after inspectors found cracks.
Contractors will begin remedial work on the roof next week.
No remedial work was done on the drainage system, so the flooding continued.
Common combinations
- do remedial work
- The tutor asked him to do remedial work on his grammar.
- remedial work in a subject
- She needs remedial work in chemistry before the final exam.
- carry out remedial work
- Engineers will carry out remedial work on the damaged wall.
- remedial work on something
- The city paid for remedial work on the old pipes.
- need remedial work
- This essay needs remedial work on its introduction and conclusion.
Synonyms and how they differ
- remediation
- More formal and often used in official or technical reports; 'remedial work' is the everyday phrase for the same idea.
- extra help
- Wider and less formal; 'extra help' can be any kind of assistance, while 'remedial work' suggests catching up to a required standard.
- repair
- Better for physical fixes only; 'remedial work' also covers teaching and other corrective actions.
Word family
- remedial adjective
- Describing something intended to correct or improve a problem, as in 'remedial classes'.
- remediate verb
- To fix or correct a problem, often used in environmental or technical contexts.
- remediation noun
- The process or act of correcting something, such as pollution or a learning gap.
Commonly confused: remedial work or medical work? remedial work or remedy?
remedial work vs medical work
Sounds similar but means work done by doctors or in medicine; 'remedial' relates to correcting or improving, not to medicine.
remedial work vs remedy
A remedy is a cure or solution (often a medicine), while remedial work is the activity of putting something right.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'remedial work' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Remedial work' is uncountable, so it does not take 'a' or a plural '-s'. 'She did remedial work in history' is correct. Option 0 is wrong because of 'a', option 2 because of 'works', and option 3 is wrong because the definite article 'the' is not used when speaking generally.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “remedial work”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.