Collocations

Definition:
A collocation is made up of two or more words that are commonly used together in English.
There are different kinds of collocations in English. Strong collocations are word pairings that are
expected to come together. Good collocation examples of this type of word pairing are
combinations with 'make' and 'do'. You make a cup of tea, but do your homework. Collocations
are very common in business settings when certain nouns are routinely combined with certain
verbs or adjectives. For example, draw up a contract, set a price, conduct negotiations, etc.
This feature points to all the vocabulary learning pages on this site which focus on collocation
examples. Each page points out key collocations for various areas and includes a number of
collocation examples to provide context.
A good way to learn collocations is to group collocations beginning with a noun. For example,
take the noun 'contract' and create a list of commonly used verbs with contract.
Contract -> draw up, sign, negotiate, etc.
Pronunciation: /kloken/
Also Known As: word pairing, word partnership, set phrase
Examples:
It's important to learn strong collocations when learning a new noun. By learning the verbs and
adjectives that are commonly used with a noun, you can greatly expand your vocabulary.

Question: What is Collocation?

Collocation refers to words that generally go together. Even though it is possible to use other
word combinations, understanding collocations help English learners improve their fluency.
Answer: What is collocation?
Collocation refers to a group of two or more words that usually go together. A good way to think
of collocation is to look at the word collocation. Co - meaning together - location - meaning place.
Collocations are words that are located together. A good answer to "What is collocation?" is:

Collocation is a group of two or more words that like to hang out together. Here are some
examples of common collocations that you might know:
make tea - I made a cup of tea for lunch.
do homework - I did all of my homework yesterday.
Make and Do - A Good Starting Place for Collocation
I begin with make and do because they provide perfect examples of why collocation is so
important. Generally, make refers to things that are created and do refers to tasks. However,
there are plenty of exceptions to this rule - especially with the verb 'make'.
I made the bed. - Did I construct a bed? NO!
She made an exception. - An exception is allowance to breaking a rule, not a thing.
Make and Do are perfect examples of verbs that go together with specific nouns. A verb + noun
combination that always go together are considered collocations.
More information and examples on make and do collocations
Why Do Words Collocate?
There is often no reason for a collocation. People just put certain words together more often than
they put other words together. In fact, the use of collocations has become popular in English and
language teaching because of corpus linguistics. Corpus linguistics study huge volumes of data
of spoken and written English to come up with statistics on how often people use certain words
and word combinations. Through this study, corpus linguistics has been able to define what are
strong and weak collocations.
Strong Collocations
Strong collocations refer to words that almost always go together. It's possible that people might
understand you if you don't use a strong collocation. However, if you do not use a strong
collocation it will sound funny to native speakers. Let's return to our example of 'make' and 'do'.
If you say:
I did a cup of coffee.
native speakers will understand that you mean:
I made a cup of coffee.

Correct use of strong collocations shows an excellent command of the English

language, and can certainly help impress native speakers' of your ability to speak English well.
Of course, if you are speaking to other non-native speakers the ability to use collocations
correctly all the time becomes less important. That doesn't mean that correct collocation use is
not important, it's just not AS important as something like correct tense. Image for a moment
that you are speaking about a future meeting:
Our meeting was on Friday at four o'clock.
I've done an appointment at four o'clock for the meeting room on Friday.
In both of these sentences, there are mistakes. However, in the first sentence instead of using a
future tense, the past tense is used. If you want your colleagues to come to the meeting, this
mistake is very serious and will lead to no one coming to the meeting.
In the second sentence 'do an appointment' is a misuse of a strong collocation. However, the
meaning is clear: You have scheduled a room at four o'clock. In this case, a mistake in
collocations is not nearly as important as a mistake in tense usage.
Here are examples of strong collocations that you might not be familiar with:
high earnings (not big earnings)
long-range planning (not long-time planning)
urban guerrilla (not city guerrilla)
More information, lists and learning materials on strong collocations
Why are Collocations Important?
There is an entire world of collocations to explore. Learning collocations is important because you
begin to learn words in larger groups or 'chunks' of language. Putting together these chunks
of language leads to more fluent English.

Verb Collocations
These sheets provide a matching game with some of the most common verb + noun collocations
used in everyday situations. Here are some examples of the types of verb collocations you will
learn:
to
to
to
to
to

feel free
come prepared
save time
find a replacement
make progress

to do the washing up
etc.
Business Collocations
These collocation sheets provide common collocations used in business and work settings. There
are a number of forms including adjectives, nouns and other verbs that combine with these key
words. Each sheet includes a number of collocation examples to illustrate usage. Here are some
of the collocation examples you will find on these pages:
to key in a PIN
to deposit a check
hard-earned money
protection money
counterfeit money
etc.

Take

Have

Break

a break

a leg

a headache

a window

a haircut

an exam

--

a seat

breakfast

the law

a holiday

a taxi

a world record

someone's heart

a bath

someone's temperature

a relationship

a look

a promise

a chance

a drink

the rules

notes

time

a habit

the ice

a rest

a rest

someone's place

the news to someone

a problem

Catch

Pay

Keep

a cold

attention

a pet

a bus

control

the bill

a promise

interest

someone's attention

a ball

calm

the price

someone's place

by check

a thief

someone a vist

a fright

an appointment

by surprise

a salary

quiet

fire

cash

a secret

a diary

someone a compliment

someone's eye

a mouse

the change

wages

Save

Find
time

Go
a partner

mad

wild

time

money

the answer

crazy

someone's life

energy

happiness

white

abroad

the money

someone a seat

oneself trouble

a solution

missing

quiet

electricity

space

one's strength

a way

bad

space

dark

a replacement

a cure

a penalty

overseas

Come

Get

Feel

first

ready

tense

comfortable

married

last

right back

happy

started

free

divorced

early

close

burnt

nervous

prepared

drunk

old

Miss

disappointed

angry

late

proud

lost

second

complete with

sleepy

worried

direct

wet

hurt

Get Do
a goal

an effort

home

Make
homework

progress

the shopping

a chance

frightened

the sack

the point

money

the housework

someone a favor

permission

a flight

a mess

business

a surprise

one's family

a mistake

nothing

furniture

the message

a lesson

one's home

a noise

the washing up

lost

ready

trouble

an opportunity

the cooking

a job

peace

an appointment

a job

nowhere

a change

someone's help

one's best

An important step to improving your vocabulary is to not only learn the

appropriate terms, but to learn the

words that commonly go together with

those terms. These word combinations are often, adjective + noun, verb + noun, and noun +
verb pairs. Each of these collocation sheets provide collocations for commonly used words
arranged into categories. Each collocation is illustrated with an example sentence.
Adjectives + "Money"
The following list includes adjectives that are commonly used with the noun 'money'. Adjectives
that are similar in meaning are grouped together. Each adjective or adjective group has an
example sentence to illustrate usage.
easy
He thinks working in marketing is easy money. I think he'll find it's quite a different story.
bonus, extra
If you complete the project before next Tuesday, there'll be some bonus money.
hard-earned
The best way to feel good about any purchase is if it's been made with hard-earned money.

government, public, taxpayers'

It's not right to waste taxpayers' money on projects that benefit those who are already
wealthy.
pocket, spending
Would you like a little extra pocket money this weekend?
gas, lunch, petrol, rent, etc
Could you lend me some lunch money today?
prize, grant, scholarship
They won a lot of grant money for their research into DNA.
stolen, dirty, bribe, ransom
I don't want your dirty money!
hush, protection
That gang is demanding protection money from every store on the street. It's scandalous!
pension, retirement
We plan to move to Hawaii with our retirement money.
counterfeit, fake
The police discovered more than $2 million in fake money.
Verb + "Money"
The following list includes verbs that are commonly followed by the noun 'money' or an amount
of a particular type of money or currency. Verbs that are similar in meaning are grouped
together. Each verb or verb group has an example sentence to illustrate usage.
coin, print
The government printed a lot of money in 2001.
count
Let's count your money and see if you have enough to buy that.

bring in, earn, make,

The company brought in more than $4 million.
borrow
Could I borrow some money for this weekend?
lend
I'll lend you some money until next month.
bank, deposit, pay in, pay into the bank, put in the bank
I deposited a large amount of money last Friday.
draw out, get out, take out, withdraw
She took $500 out of our account.
pay out, shell out, spend
They paid out more than $300 dollars for that lamp.
fritter away, squander, throw away
I hate it when you squander our savings!
hoard, save, set aside, stash away
They set aside $200 each week for savings.
contribute, donate, give
They donated more than $200,000 to charity last year.
give back, pay back, refund, repay
I'll pay you back the money by the end of next week.
owe
She owes Thomas a lot of money.
share
Let's share the money we've found!

accept, take
I'm afraid I can't accept your money.
be worth
That painting is worth a lot of money.
change, exchange
I'd like to change twenty dollars please. Could you give me four five dollar bills?
allocate, earmark
The committee decided to allocate $50,000 for the project.
channel, direct, funnel
The program directs more than $5 billion to help the homeless.
embezzle, extort, siphon off, steal
He was charged with embezzling money from the company.
launder
They used the internet to launder the stolen money.
"Money" + Verb
The following list includes verbs that commonly follow the noun 'money'. Verbs that are similar
in meaning are grouped together. Each verb or verb group has an example sentence to illustrate
usage.
come from something
Money for the exhibit comes from donations to the museum.
go to something
The money goes to research.
come in , flow in, pour in
The money just kept pouring in! It was amazing!
buy something

Who says that money can't buy happiness?

"Money" + Noun
The following list includes nouns that commonly follow the noun 'money'. Nouns that are similar
in meaning are grouped together. Each noun or noun group has an example sentence to
illustrate usage.
management, manager
I think you should hire a money manager for your savings.
supply
The money supply is very tight at the moment.
order
You can pay by money order.
Phrases with "Money"
The following list includes phrases made with the noun 'money'. Each phrase has an example
sentence to illustrate usage.
bet money on something
Let's bet $400 dollars on the race.
get money off something
Ask if you can get some money off the display model.
get your money's worth
Make sure to spend the whole day at the park to get your money's worth.
on the money
Your prediction was on the money!
the smart money is on
The smart money is on Tom for the director's position.
throw money at something

Don't just throw money at the project. Make sure you demand results.
throw your money around
Peter throws his money around like it meant nothing.
Adjectives + "Equipment"
The following list are adjectives that are commonly used with the noun 'equipment'. Each
adjective has an example sentence to illustrate usage.
the latest
He always buys the latest fishing equipment to make sure he catches the most fish.
modern
They've got quite a bit of modern computer equipment in the house.
state-of-the-art
The lab uses only state-of-the-art equipment.
up-to-date
Our equipment is up-to-date, but not state-of-the-art.
high tech
I love browsing in stores with lots of high tech equipment.
sophisticated
We use sophisticated equipment to track weather across the region.
technical
Our technical equipment is equal to any task.
sensitive
Be careful when you use that equipment. It's very sensitive.

essential
Be sure to gather all the essential equipment before you begin the experiment.
faulty
We need to get rid of that faulty equipment and buy the latest.
gym
The school bought state-of-the-art gym equipment this year.
office
Office equipment manufacturers do billions in business each year.
scientific
The laboratory employs a wide range of scientific equipment.
electronic
The studio provides a wide range of electronic equipment for your needs.
Verbs + "Equipment"
buy, purchase
I've been saving to purchase the new equipment.
sell
Best Buy sells a wide range of audio equipment.
provide, supply
Our company supplies a number of leading hospitals with medical equipment.
install
You'll need to ask a specialist to install this equipment.

upgrade
We need to upgrade our scientific equipment.
operate
You don't need to be a genius to operate this equipment.
require
This profession requires a wide range of equipment.
"Equipment" + Verbs
consist of something
The required equipment consists of two transformers and a switch.
work
The equipment is working now.
malfunction
Unfortunately, the equipment is malfunctioning at the moment.
"Equipment" + Nouns
maker, manufacturer
There are a number of high tech equipment manufacturers in the area.
supplier, vendor
The best computer equipment vendor is down the street.
rental
It's best to go with equipment rental for that project. Buying that technical equipment is far
too expensive.

Phrases + "Equipment"
the right
Don't try that experiment without the right equipment.
the proper
Make sure to have all the proper equipment before you begin.

Banking Vocabulary Collocations Quiz

Match the verbs and nouns concerning banking. Click on the arrow to check your answer.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

transfer
check
order
pay
follow
key in
sign
deposit
make
pay into

a raise a problem job applicants a meeting a room a service merchandise

a conference advice a product line a new employee
Match the verbs and nouns concerning various important business activities. Click on the arrow
to check your answer.
1. interview
2. give
3. attend
4. organize
5. book
6. provide
7. deal with
8. manage
9. develop
10. manufacture
11. ask for
12. hire

a raisea problem job applicants a meeting a room a service merchandise

a conference advice a product line a new employee

Common Expressions
how someone feels
about a situation. In this case, collocations can be used in the adjective form, or also
Collocations are often used as short expressions to describe

as emphatic expressions using an intensifier and a verb. Here are a few examples using
some of these collocation examples:
We'd like to positively encourage you to buy this stock.
I deeply regret the loss of your loved one.
Tom's in an utter fury over the misunderstanding with his wife.
He went to a great length to explain the situation.

Do or Make Explained
The two verbs 'do' and 'make' are often confused. The meanings are similar, but there are
differences.
'Do' for Activities
Use the verb 'do' to express daily activities or jobs. Notice that these are usually activities that
produce no physical object.
do
do
do
do
do

homework
housework
the ironing
the dishes
a job

'Do' for General Ideas

Use the verb 'do' when speaking about things in general. In other words, when we do not
exactly name an activity. This form is often used with the words 'something, nothing, anything,
everything, etc.'
I'm not doing anything today.
He does everything for his mother.
She's doing nothing at the moment.
Important Expressions with 'Do'

There are a number of standard expressions that take the verb 'do'. These are standard
collocations (verb + noun combinations) that are used in English.
do
do
do
do
do

one's best
good
harm
a favour
business

'Make' for Constructing, Building, Creating

Use 'make' to express an activity that creates something that you can touch.
make food
make a cup of tea / coffee
make a mess
Important Expressions with 'Make'
There are a number of standard expressions that take the verb 'make'. In a number of cases the
verb 'do' seems more appropriate. These are standard collocations (verb + noun combinations)
that are used in English.
make
make
make
make
make

plans
an exception
arrangements
a telephone call
a decision

make a mistake
make noise
make money
make an excuse
make an effort
Next, take the quiz testing 'do' or 'make'.

COMMON ADJECTIVE COLLOCATIONS

Intensifying Adjectives
When describing physical objects you can use a wide variety of adjectives such as: large,
big, tiny, minuscule, small, etc. However, when describing nouns that are not physical (e.g.
joy, anger, wealth) you need to pay careful attention to the choice of intensifying

most common
intensifying adjectives for non-physical nouns.
adjectives. This feature provides a guide to the use of the

Absolute / Complete / Total / Utter

Absolute, complete, total and utter are used to express strong feelings, extreme situations,
and other events - especially negative experiences.
absolute agony
complete astonishment
total bliss
(an) utter catastrophe
absolute despair
total ecstasy
utter fury
a complete idiot
utter loathing
total madness

nothing loath loathsome be loath to "loath to admit a mistake"; loathing

Big
Big tends to describe a happening or a type of person. It is not usually used with uncountable
nouns.
Happenings
a
a
a
a
a

big
big
big
big
big

decision
disappointment
improvement
mistake
surprise

Types of Persons
a
a
a
a
a

big
big
big
big
big

eater
dreamer
drinker
spender
talker

Great
Great usually describes nouns which express feelings or qualities.
great admiration
great anger
in great detail
(a) great disappointment
great enjoyment
great excitement
a great failure
great fun
great happiness
great joy
at great length
a great number (of)
great power
great pride
a great quantity (of)
great sensitivity
great skill
great strength
great understanding
great wealth
Large
Large is often used with nouns concerning numbers and measurements. It is not usually
used with uncountable nouns.
a large amount
a large number (of)
a large population
a large proportion
a large quantity
a large scale

Emphatic Expressions - Strong Collocations

Adverb intensifiers can be used to emphasize verbs. These emphatic

expressions are used in formal English in written documents and when speaking at

formal occasions such as business meetings and giving presentations. Here is a list of some of
the most common of these intensifiers.
Intensifiers
categorically - in every manner, without reserve
deeply - strongly, with much feeling
enthusiastically - with great joy
freely - without hesitation
fully - completely, without any doubt
honestly - truly believing
positively - without any doubt
readily - without hesitation
sincerely - with best wishes
strongly - with conviction
totally - without any doubt
utterly - without any doubt
These are generally used with specific verbs to create emphatic expressions. These intensifier
+ verb combinations are strong collocations. Collocations are words that are always or
often used together. Here is a list of the intensifier + verb combinations which make up the
emphatic expressions:
Intensifier + Verb Collocations = Emphatic Expression
categorically deny - In no way did I do something.
deeply regret - I am strongly sorry for my actions.
enthusiastically endorse - I happily, and with my whole heart believe in something.
freely appreciate - I certainly understand something.
fully recognize - I am aware of some situation.
honestly believe - I think something is true without any doubt.
positively encourage - I hope that you do something very strongly.
readily endorse - I believe in something someone else does without hesitation.
sincerely hope - I honestly want something for someone else.
strongly recommend - I really think you should do something.
totally reject - I refuse to believe or do in any case.
utterly refuse - I completely do not want to do or believe.
Here are example sentences for each of these emphatic expressions:
We categorically deny any involvement in the scandal.
I deeply regret the loss of your loved one.
I enthusiastically endorse the local cancer society.
We freely appreciate the current difficulties in this market.
I fully recognize your need to improve your career.
I honestly believe he is telling the truth.
We'd like to positively encourage you to buy this stock.

Our company readily endorses his run for office.

I sincerely hope you are able to find employment soon.
I'd like to strongly recommend you visit an employment specialist.
They totally reject any compromise in these negotiations.
I'm afraid I utterly refuse to believe anything he says.
Once you feel comfortable with these emphatic expressions, take the strong collocations quizto
test your understanding.
We _____ deny any involvement in the scandal.

utterly
categorically
sincerely
I _____ regret the loss of your loved one.

strongly
freely
deeply
I _____ endorse the local cancer society.

enthusiastically
honestly
freely
We _____ appreciate the current difficulties in this market.

freely
readily
categorically
I _____ recognize your need to improve your career.

fully
positively
strongly
I _____ believe he is telling the truth.

utterly
categorically
honestly

We'd like to _____ encourage you to buy this stock.

positively
utterly
totally
Our company _____ endorses his run for office.

readily
honestly
deeply
I _____ hope you are able to find employment soon.

deeply
sincerely
utterly
I'd like to _____ recommend you visit an employment specialist.

strongly
categorically
freely
They _____ reject any compromise in these negotiations.

enthusiastically
positively
totally
I'm afraid I _____ refuse to believe anything he says.

utterly
sincerely
readily

Internet Tools to Improve Vocabulary in English

Lesson Plan

Learning in vocabulary in English is about much more than just learning the right word. A broad
grasp of vocabulary in English is based on understanding important expressions and

word combinations. These common word combinations are often referred to as collocations
in academic discussions of vocabulary in English. There are a number of tools to help out with
learning vocabulary in English. There are excellent collocation dictionaries available, but, in my
opinion, the most useful tools can be found online for free. This lesson plan focuses on building
vocabulary in English by leveraging Google and an online concordance tool.
These technologies are simple to use and, with a computer in class which is connected to the
internet, easy to access when learning vocabulary in English.
Aim: Develop skills at using internet resources to identify important collocations
Activity: Collocation consciousness raising / internet tool discovery
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Outline:

Have students gather in small groups around the computer(s) in class.

Introduce the concept of collocations to students. For lower levels, start off easy by using

examples with 'make' and 'do'. For higher level learners, I suggest focusing on business
collocations such as strong collocations used with money.
Once the concept of collocations, set expressions, word combinations and their

importance to learning vocabulary in English is understood, ask them to choose a topic in

which they'd like to improve their vocabulary in English - the more narrow the topic, the
better.
Improve Your Vocabulary in English Technique 1: Ask students to open a browser

and navigate to Google.

On the left hand of the page in Google, you'll see 'More Search Tools'. Click on the drop

down menu, and then click on 'related searches' from the list provided.
Students enter terms from the list they have made, and take note of 'related searches for

____'. These results provide an treasure trove of important word combinations related to the
topic for which they have chosen to improve their vocabulary in English.
Improve Your Vocabulary in English Technique 2: Ask students to navigate

to Corpus Concordance English.

Have students enter keywords and choose a corpus (there are more than 10 to choose

from at this site - and it's absolutely free!).

Students will see their keyword underlined. Have students scan the list for recurring word
groups. For example, searching on 'TV' clearly shows that TV sets, TV, shows, TV comedy, TV
series, etc. are important word combinations.
Homonyms, homophones, and homographs are words that are easily confused because they
look alike or sound alike (or both) but have different meanings. These charts--which list some of
the most common homonyms, homophones, and homographs--should help you to recognize the
differences between many commonly confused words.
1.
2.

accept/except to buy/by/bye (below)

capital/capitol to eminent/imminent (page two)

3.
4.
5.

fair/fare to lie/lye (page three)

meat/meet/mete to role/roll (page four)
scene/seen to whine/wine (page five)

Homonyms, Homophones, & Homographs (A - B)

accept - take in

except - other than

ad - advertisement

add - join, combine

advice - guidance

advise - recommend

aid - assist, assistance

aide - one who gives assistance

ail - to suffer poor health

ale - a beverage

air - atmosphere

heir - one who inherits property

aisle - a passage

I'll - contraction of I will

allusion - an indirect reference

illusion - false appearance

altar - table in a church

alter - to change

ate - past tense of eat

eight - the number 8

bail - to clear water

bail - release of a prisoner

bale - a large bundle

band - a ring, something that

binds

band - a group

banned - prohibited

bare - uncovered

bear - large animal

bear - support, yield

bases - starting points

bases - four stations on a baseball basis - a basic principle

field

beat - to strike, overcome

beat - exhausted

blew - past tense of blow

blue - the color

bread - baked food item

bred - produced

buy - purchase

by - near, through

isle - island

beet - a plant with red

roots

bye - goodbye