4 Collocations In this unit you will:


• see how different classes of words combine in English • learn some useful collocations


Introduction


Part of using a word properly is knowing what other words you can use it with. Collocations are the way that words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing. For example, in English you say tall person but high mountain. It would not be normal to say high person or tall mountain.


Tall person is an example of an adjective + noun combination, but there are many other possible word combinations which we call collocations.


■ gain experience


■ unemployment goes up ■ interest rate ■ rise sharply


■ choose between (two things) ■ safe from (danger) ■ in advance


Here are some examples in a text.


Today most psychologists agree not only that both nature and nurture play important roles but that they interact continuously to guide development. For example, we shall see in Chapter 12 that the development of many personality traits, such as sociability and emotional stability, appear to be influenced about equally by heredity and environment; similarly, we shall see in Chapter 15 that psychiatric illnesses can have both genetic and environmental determinants.


Source: Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R. C., Smith, E. E., Bem, D. J., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1999). Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology. California, CA: Wadsworth Pub Co.


In this text, you can see that the word role is used with the verb play and the adjective important. Knowing the words that collocate with role allows you to produce phrases like play an important role.


The other examples of collocations highlighted in the text above are: ■ guide development ■ personality traits ■ psychiatric illnesses


verb + noun noun + noun


adjective + noun


Note: For more on noun + noun combinations see Unit 5. Some noun + and + noun combinations have a fixed order. For example, you cannot write nurture and nature, or figures and facts; these should be written nature and nurture and facts and figures.


verb + noun noun + verb noun + noun verb + adverb


verb + preposition


adjective + preposition preposition + noun


Vocabulary


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