Collocations

Collocations

A collocation is a natural combination of words; it refers to the way the words are closely associated with each other.

to make a mistake (not do)
to take a break (not make)

Why Are Collocations Important?  

1 Natural Language Use

 strong coffee sounds more natural than powerful coffee

 

2 Faster Comprehension

 When someone says make a decision, we don’t need to think about what “make” and “decision” mean separately

 

3 Improved Accuracy

  We know that we don't do a mistake, but make a mistake

Typical collocations are

noun + verb: make progress
adjective + noun: heavy rain
adverb + adjective: completely different
verb + adverb: fail miserably

Look at the following collocations and decide which ones are incorrect

Give a speech
Make your homework

Win a goal

Have success

Do a job

Lose a chance
Get a baby

Do a decision

Strong rain

Take a coffee

Do a party

Take a risk

Do a mistake

Hard tea

Match

Match the following collocations

• a decision

• a break

• success

• fun

• a promise

make

take

achieve

have

break

• make

• take

• achieve

• have

• break

Match

Match the following collocations

• a risk

• progress

• a chance

• a promise

• homework

take

make

miss

keep

do

• take

• make

• miss

• keep

• do

Match

Match the following collocations

• a mistake

• a goal

• advice

• an opportunity

• time

make

reach

give

have

save

• make

• reach

• give

• have

• save

Match

Match the following collocations

• notes

• a cold

• experience

• weight

• an idea

notes

catch

gain

lose

have

• notes

• catch

• gain

• lose

• have