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Collocations

Some words tend to occur naturally and frequently together. They are "word partners" or collocations. Paraphrasing at the word-level involves looking at the word in context and how it co-occurs or collocates with other words.  For example, we say

                           tall girl, tall building BUT NOT *tall wall

                           attend school, attend a meeting BUT NOT *attend a library

 

 Collocations often fall into simple patterns:

             verb + noun (e.g. reverse a trend, follow a trend, observe a trend)

             noun + noun (e.g. labour shortage, labour market, minority groups, circuit switch)

             noun + preposition (majority of, impact on, connection with)

             adjective + preposition (capable of, responsible for, involved in)

             verb + preposition (apply for, contribute to, revolve around)     

     Collocation practice

1  Drag the appropriate nouns that collocate best with the preceding verbs. If the collocation is correct, the noun will stay in place.

sympathy research a mistake ideas business a difference progress a problem your best
1. do
 

2. have
 

3. make
 



overall transmit undergo sufficient circuit approximately 2. Drag a suitable word from the left that can regularly occur with each list of words on the right:

a.
 
treatment; examination; change; surgery
b.
 
impact; performance; usefulness; reliability
c.
 
one-third; ten minutes, forty percent, sixty dollars
d
 
signals; data; images; information
e
 
evidence; time; merit; funds
f.
 
switch; board; judge, breaker

3. Drag the most appropriate word that collocates best with the word in italics from the options given.

growth rivalry a ban requirement shortage disasters time and money
a. After the Second World War, there was a labour
 
in Britain so workers from other countries had to be recruited.

b. Sibling
 
refers to the competition which often exists between the children in a family for the attention and love of their parents.

c. In spite of advances in technology, we are still at risk from natural
 
such as earthquakes and floods.

d. Following the rise in violence, the government imposed
 
on the private ownership of guns.

e. Most economists believe that high taxes inhibit
 
in the economy.

f. Most universities require international students to have an IELTS score of at least a 6 as a minimum
 
for English language competence.

g.  In order to produce new medicines, drug companies have to devote
 
on a large scale to their research and development activities.

(Sentences adapted from Porter, D. (2008). Check your vocabulary for academic English. Oxofrd: Macmillan)


by for into to upon on against of among with 4 Verb + preposition collocations

Drag the correct preposition on the left that collocates best with the word in italics in each of the following sentences. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

a. The decision by Japanese companies to invest in the UK was contingent
 
Britain being part of the European Union.
b. It is almost impossible to legislate
 
people who use the internet for criminal purposes.
c.Through the internet, students now have access
 
information from academic libraries all over the world.
d. Ear plugs and other protective devices can diminish the impact of loud noise
 
the eardrums.
e. A lot of money has been channelled
 
cancer research.
f. The drop in oil prices was completely offset
 
the new tax; therefore, the price of petrol to the consumer remained the same.
g. People have different capacities
 
learning.
h. Moths are capable
 
speeds of 50mph.
i. The fee is low, compared
 
that of other private schools.
j. The estate was divided
 
his brothers and sisters.

(Sentences adapted from Porter, D. (2008). Check your vocabulary for academic English. Oxofrd: Macmillan)

  Some useful resources for collocation practice:

  • Dictionaries: A good one like Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary gives information about how a word is used in different contexts.
  • Concordances: A concordance is a useful way of seeing common collocates of a word or phrase. A very simple one to use is the VLC Web Concordancer, hosted by the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. The easiest way to access this resource, and to avoid server problems, is to google it. Type 'VLC web concordancer' in the google search box. On the first results page, click on the second entry 'Virtual Language Centre'. This opens the 'Research and Reference' page:

To start your search,  go to 'Web Concordancer'. Select one of four options from the drop-down menu (equals to, starts with, ends with, contains), type in your keyword and click 'Go'.

In this example, we have selected 'contains' from the drop-down menu, and our keyword is 'impact'.

 

 

The figure below  is a section of the search results page showing instances of the word impact with collocations to its left and right (articles, adjectives, and prepositions):


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Click here for another concordance website that you might like to browse. This concordance allows you to type in a word and view all instances of the word with its 'word partners' or collocations. It also has very useful information about word families.
  • Some reference books at ELE on campus:

Schmitt, D. & Schimitt, N. (2005). Focus on vocabulary: mastering the academic word list. NY: Pearson Education.

Porter, D. (2008). Check your vocabulary for academic English. Oxford: Macmillan Education.

 
    
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