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13 Collocation

Collocation refers to words that commonly go together, like verb-noun pairs ("start a family") and adjective-noun pairs ("strong coffee"), which can differ across languages. The document provides many examples of common English collocations and advises learning them, as collocations help use words naturally. It also notes that good dictionaries now include collocation examples to help learners understand typical word partnerships.

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129 views2 pages

13 Collocation

Collocation refers to words that commonly go together, like verb-noun pairs ("start a family") and adjective-noun pairs ("strong coffee"), which can differ across languages. The document provides many examples of common English collocations and advises learning them, as collocations help use words naturally. It also notes that good dictionaries now include collocation examples to help learners understand typical word partnerships.

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hello123
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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13 collocation

a. What is collocation?

If you want to use a word naturally, you need to learn the other words that often go with word
partners. These can be very different from language to language. For eg:

- I missed the bus


- She made a mistake
- A heavy smoker
- It was a serious illness
b. Verb + noun

The meaning of many of these examples may be clear, but did you know these verbs and nouns
go together? Is it the same or different in your language?

- Start the car


- Tell a story
- Tell a joke
- Get on a bus
- Miss a person
- Miss a lesson
- Start a family
- Tell the truth
- Run a shop/company
- Get into a car
c. Adjective + noun

Common adjectives often combine with a wide range of nouns.

- A soft drink
- Dry wine
- Strong coffee
- Hard work
- Heavy traffic
- A soft voice
- Dry weather
- A strong accent
- A great success
- Heavy rain

Look at some of these phrases in examples sentences.

- I can’t understand his English because he has such a strong accent.


- It was hard work organizing the conference, but I think it was a great success.
- You always get heavy traffic during the rush hour
d. Adverb + adjective

In these examples, all the adverbs mean very, but we choose to use them with certain
adjectives.

- I was terribly sorry to hear about your accident


- He’s highly unlikely to come now
- She is fully aware of the problem

It is vitally important that you make a note of common collocations in your notebook

e. Collocation in dictionary

All good dictionaries now include examples of common collocations but they do it in different
ways; sometimes they are in bold print after the definition; sometimes in it is after the
definition; and sometimes in the definition and examples.

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