Common Collocations

Collocations are artificial combinations of words that occur together.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Collocations aren't artificial because they develop naturally through consistent and widespread use in real-world language. They are not arbitrary combinations of words but rather reflect the habitual ways that native speakers combine words to express specific meanings.

The sentence "The authorities failed to obtain big evidence to convict him" uses a proper collocation.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The noun "evidence" is usually accompanied by adjectives such as "clear," "strong," "good," or "hard."

Complete with the suitable words
Anika: There's a ___ issue with the project deadline. We're way behind schedule!

William: I’m ___ concerned about how this will affect the client’s expectations...

• grand/highly

• major/deeply

• grand/deeply

• major/highly

Which of the following words pair naturally and flow smoothly with the noun "decision"?

• small

• snap

• bright

• major

• final

The phrase "heavy rain" is an example of a common collocation.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

We use "heavy rain" to mean that a lot of water is coming down.

Choose the correct answers:
This morning, I got stuck in 1.___ on my way to work, which felt frustrating but is apparently 2.___ for a Monday. When I finally arrived, my boss dismissed my excuse as 3.___, even though I’d made a 4.___ to leave home early.

• 1. 1. heavy traffic

  2. 2. perfectly normal

  3. 3. utterly ridiculous

  4. 4. great effort

• 1. 1. heavy transit

  2. 2. perfectly right

  3. 3. utterly lies

  4. 4. great attempt

• 1. 1. dense traffic

  2. 2. perfectly normal

  3. 3. wholly ridiculous

  4. 4. big effort

• 1. 1. heavy traffic

  2. 2. perfectly right

  3. 3. utterly lies

  4. 4. constant effort

Choose all the suitable answers

A: "It’s ___ important we get this party organized before everyone shows up."
B: "Yeah, if we mess this up, it’ll be a ___ failure and everyone will remember it!"

• extremely/great

• hardly/great

• extremely/complete

• hardly/huge

• extremely/huge

In the sentence, "It’s highly unlikely that the event will be canceled due to the weather," "highly unlikely" is a common and natural collocation.

• True

• False