Collocations Hopelessly confusing Brief description Collocation is a

Collocations Hopelessly confusing!

Brief description • Collocation is a way in which some words (a combination of two or more words)frequently occur together, and sound natural together. Examples Natural Not natural Blond hair yellow hair Yellow flowers Blond flowers Fast food Fast meal Quick food Do an effort Make an effort

They are extremely helpful. Learning collocations help you: 1. Use the words you know more accurately so that you will make (NOT do) fewer mistakes. 2. Sound more natural when you speak and write. If you say collocations are of great importance (rather than big importance), you won’t only sound accurate but also fluent. 3. Make your writing more vivid and sound more academic. If you use for instance the same adverbs/adjectives most often, the use of proper collocations varies your writing and gives you a wider range of language choices. Consider these two versions. q Our new family hotel is set in a nice location and all the rooms have nice furnishings and nice views over the surrounding countryside. q Our new family hotel is set in a secluded location and all the rooms have stylish furnishings and breathtaking views over the surrounding countryside.

Strong, fixed and weak collocations closely/fairly/quite associated with each other Strong Fixed Weak • Words are very closely associated with each other. • It rarely collocates with any other word. • Example: mitigating circumstances/factors • • They are so strong that they cannot be changed in any way, No other words can replace the original ones. Example: successful relationships involve give and take. Other examples include: pros and cons, ups and downs, bread and butter, etc. • They are made up of words that collocate with a wide range of other words. • Example: heavy price, heavy burden, heavy weights, heavy rain, heavy emphasis, etc.

Grammatical categories of collocations seize the opportunity and make a difference

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