Collocation in English - What Is It? Plus Some Helpful Examples

Learning English as a second language is no easy feat. Just when you think you’ve got your head around one unwelcome quirk, along comes another to knock the stuffing out of you. Collocation can be particularly tricky because finding the right combination of words is all about knowing what sounds right to native English speakers, and that’s not a lot of help to you.  

So what can you do? Stay tuned to our collocation crash course and we’ll teach you everything you need to know.  

What is collocation? 

Collocation is all about finding the right two or more words that fit together and making sure that the combination of words you choose ‘sounds right’ to a native speaker. The bad news is that there are no set rules for collocations. You just have to learn which words go together by familiarising yourself with common English phrases. 

Why is it important to learn collocations? 

Once you’ve learned your vocabulary, mastered the grammar and can communicate successfully, you might think the hard work is done, and to a certain extent, it is. However, to get yourself to that next level of language proficiency, you must know how to use words and phrases naturally and more accurately.  

Examples of English collocations 

There are plenty of common examples of collocations. Some are strong collocations, where the links between two words are fixed and restricted, while other collocations are weaker and the words can combine with lots of others. 

Examples of weak collocations include: 

• ‘Make the bed’ - I make the bed every day 

• ‘Take a risk’ - Sometimes, you have to take a risk in life 

• ‘Give advice’ - I only give advice when asked 

• ‘Do homework’ - I do my homework with a smile on my face  

These are all weak collocations as many different words can go with the verbs ‘make’, ‘take’, ‘give’ and ‘do’.  

Examples of strong collocations include:  

• ‘Filled with horror’ - I was filled with horror at the size of the portion  

• ‘Vaguely remember’ - I vaguely remember that happening but I did have a few drinks  

These are strong collocations because there are very few other words that can collocate with ‘horror’ or ‘remember’ and still sound natural to a native English speaker.   

How to learn collocations 

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix or easy cheat to help you get to grips with collocations. However, here are a few tips you can follow to set you on the right track.    

• Be aware of collocations when you’re reading or listening to English and try to recognise them; 

• Treat collocations as a single block of language and learn the words together rather than separately; 

• Read English as much as possible and write down any collocations you come across and practice them regularly; 

• Grouping collocations by a particular word, such as ‘make’ - make a cake, make a mistake, make time, make a mess - makes them easier to learn.