Collocation refers tohow words go together or form fixed relationships.
typical collocations | incorrect/untypical collocations |
| thick rain |
| tall temperature |
| scenic picture |
| do/make an experience |
She hasblondehair.
Not:She has beige hair.
She wasdischargedfrom hospital.
Not:She was released from hospital.
Collocations may be strong or weak. Strong collocations are where the link between the two words is quite fixed and restricted. Weak collocations are where a word can collocate with many other words.
strong make express +a wish fulfil | Very few words can collocate with the nounwish. This makeswish astrong collocator. |
weak big+ apartment, beach, car, camera, chance, disappointment, fight, gun, lamp, moon, news, ocean, pain, pity, price, queue, table, umbrella, upset, wait, window | bigcan collocate with hundreds of words, therefore it’s a weak collocator. |
Strong collocations
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Weak collocations
big/enormous/large + house/lorry/cup
fast/shiny/expensive + car/motorbike/aeroplane
very/really/extremely + interesting/hot/generous
brown/straight/long + fence/hair/line
Becoming aware of collocations is part of vocabulary learning. All languages have a large number of collocating words. A good dictionary will help you and dictionaries of collocations are also available.