Learners of English may find it difficult to combine words correctly when they try to produce a phrase or a sentence if their exposure to the language is inadequate. For example, a learner may say heavy wind and strong rain. These utterances do not sound natural or normal and therefore, are considered wrong collocations. The right collocations are strong wind and heavy rain.
Collocation, according to Rutherford, is “what goes together with what”. Every word has a range of words with which it collocates. Learning to use right collocations helps us communicate our thoughts precisely.
Once, a teacher was asked to set an examination on technical English. One of the questions was this: Write a checklist of eight important items one should see when making a trip abroad.
I explained to him that the verb ‘write’ does not collocate with the noun ‘checklist’ and the term ‘see’ does not collocate with ‘when making a trip abroad’. He raised many questions and wanted me to modify the question. Instead of providing answers, I asked him to refer to a collocations dictionary.
He referred to Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (second edition) and found that the verbs that collocate with checklist are: have, use, draw up, produce, provide, complete.
* My boss is drawing up a checklist of my duties.
* We ran through the checklist of points to consider when buying a computer.
Then he rephrased the question as: Draw up a checklist of eight important items one should consider when making a trip abroad. The synonyms of the phrase ‘draw up’ are ‘formulate’ and ‘devise’. If these verbs are used before the word ‘checklist’, the utterances would not sound normal.
Here are some collocations:
* Take: action/a bath/a break/the bus/a chance/a class/a deep breath/an exam/medicine/a nap/notes/a risk /a sip
* Make: an appointment/an attempt/the bed/a cake/changes/a connection/an effort/friends/a guess/a face/an impact/a mark/a noise/peace/a suggestion/a trip.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk