Collocations are powerful tools which anyone can use to improve both their speaking and writing skills.
IELTS examiners pay close attention to your ability to use collocations.
So, what is a collocation?
A collocation is simply two or more words that often go together. There is no real rule about how to make a collocations. Collocations just represent the reality of how people speak English.
Let me give you an example:
Which expression sounds correct to you?
COST OF LIVING
or
PRICE OF LIVING
Most of you have probably chosen COST OF LIVING. And you are correct.
Why NOT say PRICE of LIVING?
Well, the meaning would be the same, but we just do not say it. Why?
...because COST OF LIVING is a COLLOCATION
In fact, collocations are a very natural part of communication.
When babies learn to speak their first language, they start with SINGLE WORDS
and later begin to put words together.
Babies make COLLOCATIONS before they make sentences.
Now, let's look at just ONE word: ECONOMIC.
ECONOMIC is almost always used as an ADJECTIVE.
How many words do you think will make a collocation with ECONOMIC????
Can you guess???
TRY to guess before you scroll down and look at this list:
How many can you think of before you look at the list?
LIST OF WORDS THAT MAKE COLLOCATIONS WITH ECONOMIC
Words in BOLD are the most commonly used
economic chaos
economic cost
economic crisis
economic depression
economic difficulty
economic disadvantage
economic distress
economic gloom
economic hardship
economic loss
economic mess
economic necessity
economic need
economic problem
economic weakness
economic affair
economic condition
economic consequence
economic importance
economic issue
economic matter
economic objective
economic order
economic outlook
economic plan
economic position
economic program
economic prospect
economic significance
economic situation
economic status
economic structure
economic system
economic advantage
economic aid
economic assistance
economic benefit
economic cooperation
economic efficiency
economic gain
economic interest
economic opportunity
economic resource
economic reward
economic success
economic welfare
economic well-being
economic boom
economic change
economic development
economic expansion
economic foundation
economic growth
economic instability
economic institution
economic progress
economic reconstruction
economic recovery
economic reform
economic transformation
economic uncertainty
economic upturn
economic force
economic freedom
economic impact
economic independence
economic potential
economic power
economic pressure
economic sanction
economic strength
economic disaster
economic downturn
economic failure
economic slowdown
economic policy
economic stability
economic strategy
economic agent
economic analysis
economic evaluation
economic factor
economic context
economic zone
economic survival
economic measure
economic activity
economic adviser
economic community
economic council
economic cycle
economic embargo
economic exploitation
economic forecast
economic indicator
economic inequality
economic migrant
economic miracle
economic performance
economic planning
economic policy-making
economic priority
economic summit
economic term
economic theory
economic trend
AND there are MORE!!!
There are many online resources to learn about collocations, but here is my favourite:
http://www.just-the-word.com/
You can use this site to learn more about collocations or also when doing your writing homework for high school or university.
However, it is important to remember that you must use the collocation in the proper CONTEXT!
NOW, here is a challenge for you!!
How many collocations can you think of for the adjective:
DRAMATIC???
Put your ideas in the comments box before looking at the link!