A collocation is a group of two or more words that are often used together in a way that sounds correct. Collocations are established through repeated context-dependent use, and they can be in a syntactic relation (such as verb-object), lexical relation (such as antonymy), or they can be in no linguistically defined relation. Knowledge of collocations is important for the competent use of a language, as a grammatically correct sentence can sound awkward if collocational preferences are violated. Here are some tips for learning collocations:
- 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" instead of "strongly + support."
- When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it (e.g. "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. Practice 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 learners dictionary. And you can also find specialized dictionaries of collocations.
