Collocation: Finding The Right Words For The Job

Image courtesy of Janet Galore (CC Flickr)

Even Words Love and Hate Each Other!

 

Many of us are picky when it comes to socialising. We hang out with the people we like; and as for the others – we don’t tend to bother.

 

Guess what? Words do the same, in the sense that they are often seen together in exclusive groups. This relationship that words in a language share with each other is known as collocation. For example, you can have a drink or make a cup of tea, but you can’t do a drink.

 

Types of collocations

There are different varieties of collocations in English. Here are some:

 

Type	Example
adjective + noun	express train
verb + noun	run a marathon
noun + noun	car salesman
verb + adverb	speak softly
adverb + adjective	newly married
verb + prepositional phrase	run out of

 

Why words collocate

There’s no specific reason. It’s just that users of a language put certain words together more frequently than they do others. This also means that there are no clear rules that govern the use of collocations. So, as a learner, you just have to know which words go with which others.

 

Why learn collocations?

When you learn collocations, you are learning words in chunks, or groups of words. Naturally, this not only improves your accuracy but also fluency. For instance, suppose you learn the word ‘good’ along with the many other words it collocates with; this will widen your vocabulary and enable you to speak more fluently.

 

Adjective	Preposition	Meaning	Example
good	at something	able to do something well	He is good at singing.
	with something	able to use something well	She is good with computers.
	for health	having a useful effect	This drink is good for health.
	to me	Loving, friendly	My Grandma is really good to me.

 

Remember, English tests such as IELTS assess a candidate’s ability to use collocations correctly. So, learn new vocabulary in chunks, never in isolation.

 

 

 

GLOSSARY

 

picky
Form	:	adjective
Meaning	:	describes someone who is difficult to please
Example	:	Olga is quite picky about what she eats.

 

hang out
Form	:	phrasal verb
Meaning	:	to spend time with particular people in a particular place
Example	:	Sylvan enjoys hanging out with his cousins at the local pub.

 

bother
Form	:	verb
Meaning	:	(often used in a negative sense) to spend time or energy doing something
Example	:	Miguel doesn’t bother brushing his hair.

 

fluency
Form	:	noun
Meaning	:	ability to speak or write a language easily and to a high standard
Example	:	Philip is fluent in Swahili.

 

isolation
Form	:	noun
Meaning	:	the state of being alone or separate
Example	:	Prisoners at this prison are kept in isolation if they cause trouble.