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Collocation: which words go together A
Adjective + noun collocations Nouns often have typical adjectives which go with them. Here are some examples. Compare thing and article: we say
we don’t usually say
the real thing
the genuine thing
the genuine article
the real article
I don’t like five-a-side football; I prefer the real thing. [i.e. real football, with 11 players in each team] These trainers are the genuine article. Those others are just cheap imported copies. You can give a broad summary of something (NOT a wide summary). You can describe something in great detail (NOT in big detail). Some adjectives go with a restricted range of nouns. For example: a formidable opponent/reputation/task/challenge
B
Verb + adverb collocations Often, verbs have typical adverbs that collocate with them. The lines here show which collocations are normal: She always walks too
fast. quickly.
Let’s move
swiftly on to the next point.
It’s something I feel strongly about (NOT I feel powerfully about). If I remember rightly, it happened at about 6.30 (NOT If I remember perfectly).
C
Adverb + adjective collocations It is useful to learn which adverbs most typically modify particular types of adjectives. For example, the adverb utterly, which means totally or completely, very frequently occurs before adjectives with negative connotations, although it can also be used with neutral or positive words. Typical examples are: appalling, dismal, depressed, disgusting, distasteful, exhausted, false, fatuous, impossible, lost, ludicrous, naive, pointless, ridiculous, unacceptable, useless, wrong. Try to notice this kind of regularity when learning words.
D
Verb + object collocations Verbs and their objects often form collocations. You raise your hand to ask a question (NOT lift your hand). You can raise a family. [bring up children] (NOT lift a family) You can visit / go to / click on / check out a website.
Language help Collocation is concerned with the way words regularly occur together, often in unpredictable ways. It is a very good idea when learning new words to learn any typical collocations that go with them.
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English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
