Collocations
Collocations = words that commonly go together; コロケーション、語と語のつながり、語の配列、連語(法)、連語構成語 (連語 Wikipedia 日本語)
To master English, it's not enough to learn many vocabulary words. You must also learn which words commonly go together. Non-native speakers, in addition to having a foreign accent, often put words together in unusual ways, often because they translate words from their own language into English when they speak. The sentence may make sense, but it sounds unusual to a native speaker. For example, a Japanese person learning English might say, "Please teach me your name," whereas a native English speaker would say, "Please tell me your name." This is not a serious mistake, but it shows how even a person with perfect pronunciation can be identified as a non-native speaker with just one sentence.
It's really difficult to acquire a native sense about which words go together, but everyone can improve. Extensive reading is important because seeing words appear together again and again will help you notice that they are collocations. When you use collocations correctly in your speech and writing, you are showing a high level of language ability.
To master English, it's not enough to learn many vocabulary words. You must also learn which words commonly go together. Non-native speakers, in addition to having a foreign accent, often put words together in unusual ways, often because they translate words from their own language into English when they speak. The sentence may make sense, but it sounds unusual to a native speaker. For example, a Japanese person learning English might say, "Please teach me your name," whereas a native English speaker would say, "Please tell me your name." This is not a serious mistake, but it shows how even a person with perfect pronunciation can be identified as a non-native speaker with just one sentence.
It's really difficult to acquire a native sense about which words go together, but everyone can improve. Extensive reading is important because seeing words appear together again and again will help you notice that they are collocations. When you use collocations correctly in your speech and writing, you are showing a high level of language ability.
The Phrase List
The Phrase List shows the most common collocations in the English language based on actual data from the British National Corpus. The numbers in the left column are rankings. Look at each expression, starting from the most common at the top, and check the example sentences at the right. You may also wish to check the expression with alc.co.jp where there are many examples in both English and Japanese. At which number (from the left column) do the expressions begin to get difficult for you? You should start studying from there. |
Example Collocation Problems
[dozen] - Do you know the English word "dozen"? In Japan, the word dozen is not often used, as Japanese don't seem to think in terms of 12 things. Most products come in multiples of 5. In English we use the word dozen quite often in expressions and in counting, but only in particular situations. Which of the expressions at right do you think are common? Which are slightly unusual? [In researching this word, I was surprised to learn that the most common collocation of dozen is in the expressions "half dozen" and "half a dozen", both of which mean six.] |
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[ ___ disappointed]
Which of the following adverbs is most likely to go in the blank at left above? bitterly / completely / sadly
All are possible, but one is commonly used and appears in native English speech more than the others. Here's a sample sentence:
Kofi Annan said he was ____ disappointed with the international community's response to the ebola crisis.
For the answer, check the link to the original news article. If you're not convinced that the answer to the question is more common than the other pairings, do a Google search of each pair. You can also search for the pairs on alc.co.jp.
[*Actually, now "totally disappointed" has more instances than "bitterly disappointed" these days. I had to delete "totally" from my list above.]
Which of the following adverbs is most likely to go in the blank at left above? bitterly / completely / sadly
All are possible, but one is commonly used and appears in native English speech more than the others. Here's a sample sentence:
Kofi Annan said he was ____ disappointed with the international community's response to the ebola crisis.
For the answer, check the link to the original news article. If you're not convinced that the answer to the question is more common than the other pairings, do a Google search of each pair. You can also search for the pairs on alc.co.jp.
[*Actually, now "totally disappointed" has more instances than "bitterly disappointed" these days. I had to delete "totally" from my list above.]
Important Point re. the Collocation Exercises Below
When you do matching exercises that aim to help you learn collocations, you will sometimes make mistakes. This is normal. However, if you quickly go on to the next exercise, you are likely to remember the mistaken collocations rather than the correct ones. It's important that you stop and make a written and mental note of the correct collocations. Each time you make a mistake in one of the exercises below, write the correct collocations down on the paper that Kevin gives you. It may take longer to get through them, but it's better to learn a few collocations correctly than to learn many "wrong" collocations. If you're really ambitious, you can write the collocations you guessed correctly as well. The important thing is to notice correct collocations so you can reproduce them in your speaking and writing.
When you do matching exercises that aim to help you learn collocations, you will sometimes make mistakes. This is normal. However, if you quickly go on to the next exercise, you are likely to remember the mistaken collocations rather than the correct ones. It's important that you stop and make a written and mental note of the correct collocations. Each time you make a mistake in one of the exercises below, write the correct collocations down on the paper that Kevin gives you. It may take longer to get through them, but it's better to learn a few collocations correctly than to learn many "wrong" collocations. If you're really ambitious, you can write the collocations you guessed correctly as well. The important thing is to notice correct collocations so you can reproduce them in your speaking and writing.
EnglishClub Collocation Exercises Online
Adverbs & Verbs Set 1 - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverbs & Verbs Set 2 - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb & Verb Collocations - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 1 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 2 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 3 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 4 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 5 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
(From the EnglishClub site, you can just click on Next Game => to go to the next exercise. Or use the EnglishClub links list.)
Adverbs & Verbs Set 1 - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverbs & Verbs Set 2 - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb & Verb Collocations - Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 1 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 2 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 3 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 4 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
Adverb + Adjective Set 5 ~ Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3 / Game 4 / Game 5 / Game 6 / Game 7 / Game 8 / Game 9 / Game 10
(From the EnglishClub site, you can just click on Next Game => to go to the next exercise. Or use the EnglishClub links list.)
Phrasal Verb Exercises Online
English Grammar Online - Phrasal Verbs (scroll down to the exercises)
Activities for ESL Students - Phrasal Verbs
LearnEnglishFeelGood.com - Phrasal Verbs (scroll halfway down the page)
English Grammar Online - Phrasal Verbs (scroll down to the exercises)
Activities for ESL Students - Phrasal Verbs
LearnEnglishFeelGood.com - Phrasal Verbs (scroll halfway down the page)
BYU - British National Corpus
The Brigham Young University - British National Corpus is an amazing collocation site that helps you research common combinations of words. The site is a little tricky to use, and after a few searches, you are asked to register. However, this site is well-worth trying if you are looking for data about useful collocations. In the coming weeks, I will try to understand this site better.
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Just-the-Word
Just-the-Word is a collocation site that is useful for researching common combinations of English words. Click on the link at left, then type the word you want to check in the box, and click combinations. You will see the most common collocations in a column on the left. Click the one you want to check, and you'll see a long list of examples from their corpus. Only 100 requests are allowed per day from the same IP address, so this class can only check about 5 words per person today!
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ALCAlc.co.jp is a Japanese-English translation site that uses the Internet as a source of examples for all kinds of words, phrases and expressions, and it shows the examples in both English and Japanese. Check your collocations on Alc to verify that you have the right word combination. Weblio is another site that does this.
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Collocation Exercise using online resources
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Please do on a PC or Mac, not on your smart phone.
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- Do the EnglishClub Collocation Exercises Online above.
- Find a collocation that you think might be useful or interesting. Choose one that is a little unfamiliar so you can learn something new. [*You can choose a few, and Kevin will help you choose from those.]
- Look up either of the words on Just-the-Word and try to find the collocation in the list. Click on it.
- Look up the first word at the British National Corpus website and Enter.
- Look at the list of results and try to find the collocation you chose above. If you find it, copy a good example sentence or phrase. If you find two good ones, copy two.
- Look up the pair on alc.co.jp. (If one of the words is a verb, you may need to look it up in both present and past tense.)
- Did you find the pair on alc.co.jp? Write some example phrases or sentences from the list on the form in both English and Japanese.
- Finally, write your own original sentence using this pair of words. If you can do this, you have mastered this collocation!
- If you can't find the pair of words on the British National Corpus, choose a different pair.
- Write a paragraph about your research and send it to Kevin.
Example:
1/2) I did the exercises and chose the collocation: fully qualified
3) I looked up "fully" on the British National Corpus. There were two steps to look up the word.
1/2) I did the exercises and chose the collocation: fully qualified
3) I looked up "fully" on the British National Corpus. There were two steps to look up the word.
3) The search results were like this:
4) I found two sample collocations on the website. One of them was, “Dr Hao is a fully qualified doctor in the western sense, but has been practising Chinese medicine.”
5) Open ALC.co.jp <https://www.alc.co.jp//> and type the two-word combination in the box, then ENTER. Look at the results in English and Japanese. If you like, you can also try Weblio.
6) Write some example phrases or sentences from the list on the form in both English and Japanese.
- fully qualified 省略されていない、十分に適格な
- become a fully qualified astronaut 十分な資格を持った宇宙飛行士になる
- fully qualified to meet the requirements someone has specified 《be ~》(人)が示す条件を満たせる十分な資格がある
9) Write a paragraph about the research you did on this collocation and email it to Kevin.
I chose a collocation on the EnglishClub site; fully qualified. I looked up ‘fully’ on the JTW website. I found two sample collocations on the website. One of them was, “Dr Hao is a fully qualified doctor in the western sense, but has been practising Chinese medicine.” Next, I looked up ‘fully qualified’ on ALC.co.jp. One of the results was “fully qualified 省略されていない、十分に適格な’. Finally, my original sentence is, “I would like to be a history teacher, but unfortunately, I’m not fully qualified.” Now I understand the collocation “fully qualified”.
Sketch Engine - SKELL - collocations for learners of English; use this to find lists of words in context
Kevin's English Room
ネイティブの英単語の勉強法が日本人と全然違う&超覚えやすい!
PlayPhrase.me - for finding collocations and vocabulary in context on movie videos
Bonus
Phrasal Verbs online activity at United English
Phrasal Verbs online activity at United English