Collocations
What is a collocation?
A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Look at these examples:
Natural English...Unnatural English...the fast train
fast foodthe quick train
quick fooda quick shower
a quick meala fast shower
a fast mealWhy learn collocations?
- Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.
- You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
- It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words.
- Be aware of collocations, and try to recognize them when you see or hear them.
- Treat collocations as single blocks of language. Think of them as individual blocks or chunks, and learn strongly support, not strongly + support.
- When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it (remember rightly,remember distinctly, remember vaguely, remember vividly).
- Read as much as possible. Reading is an excellent way to learn vocabulary and collocations in context and naturally.
- Revise what you learn regularly. Practise using new collocations in context as soon as possible after learning them.
- Learn collocations in groups that work for you. You could learn them by topic (time, number, weather, money, family) or by a particular word (take action, take a chance, take an exam).
- You can find information on collocations in any good learner's dictionary. And you can also find specialized dictionaries of collocations.
- Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
- Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
- Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
- Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)
- Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
- Verb + Expression With Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
- Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)
Fixed expressions
To children, non-native English speakers, and anyone who confronts a fixed expression for the first time, they can be baffling. A fixed expression is a little like a secret code that allows access to a club that not everyone can enter. It’s a phrase that has a very specific meaning that can’t be expressed any other way and also can’t be deduced just by considering the sum of its parts. Some fixed expressions, like “ready, aim, fire” are used so often that the opportunity to turn them into a joke creates another fixed expression. Others, such as “before you know it” or “to tell you the truth” have been around for so long that they function almost as a single word.
Unlike idioms, fixed expressions typically offer neither folk wisdom nor an image. “Two heads are better than one” creates a bizarre, yet effective, visual idea of one body that operates with two heads, while the idiom’s meaning is that two people working on a problem have a better chance of solving it than just a single thinker. Fixed expressions are more often a collection of words with individual meaning that really have nothing to do with one another.
“All of a sudden” is a perfect example. “All” means a totality, a location or moment in time in which everything is included. “Of a” is really just a grammatical phrase with no internal meaning of its own. “Sudden” refers to something completely unexpected; it is only the final word in this expression that contributes meaning to the fixed expression, which is simply another way of saying “suddenly.”
For example:
To be in no mood for jokes. To not be so important.
To top it all off.
Just so you know.
Therefore, for that reason.
For the first time.
On the other hand
Just in case.
Of course.
Apparently.
At least.
Idioms
An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. Here, we provide a dictionary of 3,782 English idiomatic expressions with definitions.
For example:
Fight like Kilkenny cats
Jump off the page
Like collecting frogs in a bucket
Leading edge
when the pigs fly!
Not for nothing
Bleed dry
Let the dust settle
Take root
It takes all kinds to make a world
Bring home
Brush with death
English club. (2007-2013) collocation fixed expressions and idiom. Recovered by http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htm