:: Collocation ::
1 What is a collocation?
We say that words that occur together frequently 'collocate'. Words that don't collocate almost never occur together. If we try, they sound unnatural and wrong:
(Note: Sentences marked with * are wrong)
*Time speeds/travels/rides/moves. (= they don't collocate)
Time flies/goes by/wears on/passes. (= they collocate)
There are no rules or logical explanations for why some words collocate and others don't. For example, we can talk about an academic year but not a *studying year. Discussions can be productive or fruitful but not *prolific.
2 Grammatical forms
adverb + adjective: I'm hopelessly addicted to coffee.
adjective + noun: I remember my formative years.
noun + noun: The government have just unveiled their policy review.
verb + noun: We will honour our pledge to reduce unemployment.
dependent preposition: Personally, I think they should be ashamed of themselves.
part of a longer phrase: It's always interesting to delve into the past.
3 Fixed and open collocations
Some collocations are fixed phrases which cannot usually be changed:
I'll be back in a flash.
My boss usually arrives at eight o'clock on the dot.
The children arrived safe and sound.
Some words have a very limited number of collocates. We call these 'strong collocations'. They are often highly idiomatic:
She's stark raving mad.
The outbreak of violence served as a stark reminder of how fragile the peace was.
He came to the door stark naked.
You're bone idle.
This soil is bone dry.
Other words have a larger number of possible collocates. We call these 'weak' collocations. They are more common than 'strong' collocations:
accumulate/acquire/amass/come into/flaunt your/inherit wealth
abandon/be involved in/dabble in/enter/go into/ engage in/politics
prices dropped/fell/plummeted/slumped/fluctuated/remained steady/rose/shot up/soare/spiralled/went through the roof
Some collocations can be changed by using different grammatical forms or adding other words:
You're/We're in danger of pricing yourself/ourselves out of the (property) market.
She's been gaining (an awful lot of) weight recently.
to purify water/a water purifying gadget/water purification
However some collocations cannot make these changes without sounding very unnatural:
a tidal wave/*the wave was tidal
They agreed unconditionally. /*They unconditionally
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