What are Collocations English Grammar ielts exam

What is a collocation?

A collocation is a group of words that usually go together. For example, in English, we usually say ‘heavy rain’. It’s correct grammatically to say ‘strong rain’ or ‘big rain’, but both of these sound completely strange. A native English speaker would never say ‘big rain’. If you use the normal collocation (‘heavy rain’) your English will sound a lot better and more natural and it will be easier for native speakers to understand you. Collocations are very, very important.

It’s very difficult to give a list of collocations, because there are so many. In fact, I think that almost every word in English has other words that it usually goes with.

Set phrases, verb patterns, and idioms are really just strong examples of collocations too. For example, in English, we say ‘get married to someone’. Many languages use ‘with’ after ‘marry’ (which certainly seems more logical!). But this isn’t the normal way in English. If you learn the whole phrase (‘get married to someone’), then you won’t make this mistake.

Collocations are the words which frequently appear together
in a natural way. It means a natural combination of words, it refers to the way English words are associated with each other. They will also help one to speak English in a more natural and accurate way.
Ex. Home work, make mistake, commit suicide.

There are Six types of collocation.

Adjectives and nouns:
Ex: 1. we had a brief chat with the head master.
Unemployment is a major problem in the country.
Nouns and verbs:
Ex: We have launched a new product this month.
Noun + noun:
Ex: Every parent feels a sense of pride when their child does well.
Verbs with prepositional expression.
Ex: I was filled with horror when I saw the burns on her face.
Verbs and Adverbs:
Ex. Renu placed the baby gently on the tiny chair.
Adverbs and Adjectives:
Ex: They are happily married.

Collocations are the words which frequently appear together in a natural way.
Ex: verbs + noun
1. Make – trouble
Lot of noise
An excuse

Do – one’s duty
Wrong
Lot of damage
Become – weak
Strong
Commit – Crime
Murder
Suicide
Perform – Operation
Raise – Doubts
Draw – Money
Lay – Emphasis
Investigate – Case
Crime
Open – The door
The window
The book

2. Adjective + nouns
Beautiful – Pictures
Woman
Flowers
Lady
Things

Handsome – Person
Difficult – Problem
Question
Interesting – Story
Thing
Important – Person
Point
Things
Lucky – Person
Curly – Hair
Chubby – Cheeks
Dimple – Chin
Red – Rose
Simple – Task

3. Verbs + adverbs
Sing – Beautifully
Melodiously
Run – Fast
Listen – Carefully
Write – Beautifully
Legibly

Match the words in Box “A” and Box “B” that collocate.

Box A