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aaco Master Collocation for Fluent and Natural English Expression
Language English
 

Master Collocation for Fluent and Natural English Expression

45Min.
2,800 P
Estimated of points
This is an online lesson: 45 minutes x 1 lesson. (50 lessons in total. If you want to take more lessons, please go lesson pack.) • Use known words more accurately In other words, you can reduce mistakes.
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What are collocations?

A collocation means a natural combination of two or more words that frequently occur together.  it refers to the way English words are closely associated with each other. If someone says, ‘She’s got yellow hair’, they would probably be understood, but it is not what would ordinarily be said in English. We’d say, "She’s got blond hair." In other words, yellow doesn’t collocate with hair in everyday English. Yellow collocates with, say, flowers or paint.
 
Collocations are not just a matter of how adjectives combine with nouns. They can refer to any kind of typical word combination,

for example: 
verb + noun (e.g. arouse someone’s interest, lead a seminar), adverb + adjective (e.g. fundamentally different),
adverb + verb (e.g. flatly contradict),
noun + noun (e.g. a lick of paint, a team of experts, words of wisdom). 

Phrasal verbs (e.g. come up with, run-up, adhere to) and compound nouns (e.g. economy drive, stock market) are sometimes described as types of collocations. I consider them as individual lexical items and so usually include them here only in combination with something else, e.g. come up with a suggestion, run up a bill, adhere to your principles, go on an economy drive, play the stock market. However, it is not always easy to separate collocations and compounds and, where they are useful for learners as an important part of the vocabulary of a topic, I include some compounds in this lesson too.

It can be difficult for learners of English to know which words collocate, as natural collocations are not always logical or guessable. There is, for example, no obvious reason why we say making friends rather than getting friends or heavy rain, not strong rain.

Learners also need to know when specific collocations are appropriate. This is usually referred to by linguists as knowing which register to use. Alight from a bus is a formal collocation used in notices and other official contexts. In everyday situations, we would, of course, always talk about getting off a bus. There is more about registering and collocation in this lesson.


Why is it important to learn collocations?

You need to learn collocations because they will help you to speak and write English in a more natural and accurate way. People will probably understand what you mean if you talk about making a crime or say there was very hard rain this morning, but your language will sound unnatural and might perhaps confuse them. Did you mean that there was a lot of rain or perhaps that there was a hailstorm? Learning collocations will also help you to increase your range of English vocabulary. For example, you’ll find it easier to avoid words like very or nice or beautiful or get by choosing a word that fits the context better and has a more precise meaning. This is particularly useful if you are taking a written exam in English and want to make a good impression on the examiners. In advanced level exams, marks are often specifically awarded for the appropriate handling of collocations. At an advanced level, an appreciation of collocation can also be helpful in terms of appreciating other writers’ use of language. Skilled users of the language may choose to create effects by varying the normal patterns of collocation, with the aim of either startling or amusing their audience. This technique is particularly popular with poets, journalists, and advertisers. From an appreciation of the way in which creative writers play with language, you may then even want to move on to use words in more original ways yourself. You are more likely to be able to do this effectively if you have assimilated the standard patterns of language use presented in this lesson.

An appreciation of collocation will help you to:

• use the words you know more accurately In other words, you’ll make (NOT do) fewer mistakes.
• sound more natural when you speak and write By saying, for example, of great importance, rather than of big or high importance, you won’t just be understood, you will – quite rightly – sound like a fluent user of English.
• vary your speech and, probably, more importantly, your writing Instead of repeating everyday words like very, good, or nice, you will be able to exploit a wider range of language. You would gain more marks in an exam, for instance, for writing We had a blissfully happy holiday in a picturesque little village surrounded by spectacular mountains than We had a very happy holiday in a nice little village surrounded by beautiful mountains, even though both sentences are perfectly correct.
• understand when a skillful writer departs from normal patterns of collocation A journalist, poet, advertiser or other inventive users of language often create an effect by not choosing the expected collocation. For example, a travel article about the Italian capital might be entitled No place like Rome, a reference to the popular expression There’s no place like home.

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