Collocations in English - Learn English Vocabulary
Oxford Online English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqRloBkyqQs

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0:01 Hi, I’m Kasia. Welcome to Oxford Online English!
0:05 In this lesson, you can learn about collocations in English. But, what are collocations?
0:12 Why can’t you say, There was hard traffic on the way to the centre? Because of collocation.
0:19 Can you say totally exhausted? Yes, you can,
0:23 What about totally freezing? No, you can’t.
0:27 Why not? Collocation!
0:29 Why do you apply for a job, but you apply to a company? Can you guess?
0:35 Er… Of course, the answer is ‘collocation.’
0:41 But what does this mean? Collocation means that some words fit together, and other words don’t.
0:48 Look at a sentence you heard before: There was hard traffic on the way to the centre.
0:55 Is this correct or not? It’s not correct.
1:02 If you said this, everybody would understand what you meant, but native English speakers would never use the words hard traffic together.
1:10 Do you know the correct way to say it? You could say heavy traffic, bad traffic, terrible traffic, and there are other possibilities.
1:21 What’s the point here? The point is that some words fit together, and some words don’t.
1:28 There isn’t any logic to it. This makes collocations difficult.
1:33 If you don’t know that heavy traffic is the correct collocation, it’s hard to guess. You either know it, or you don’t.
1:43 In this lesson, you’ll learn about common collocations in English, how to learn and remember collocations, and why you should focus on collocations as part of your English
1:55 study. You almost certainly know many collocations in English already.
2:04 The most common collocations in English are with everyday verbs like do, make, get, give, have, and so on.
2:14 Each of these verbs has tens of possible collocations. Here’s a challenge for you.
2:20 You’re going to hear a dialogue. In the dialogue, there are ten collocations with these five verbs.
2:28 Listen and write down the ten collocations. Can you do me a favour?
2:33 I’ve just got in! Can’t I have a break for five minutes?
2:38 But I have a big problem! Amanda’s arriving in fifteen minutes, and my car won’t start.
2:43 Can you give me a lift to the station? Ok, fine.
2:47 Give me a minute to get ready. So, where’s Amanda?
2:53 Shouldn’t she be here already? I think I made a mistake…
2:58 Oh? I got confused and mixed up the dates.
3:02 She’s coming tomorrow. Well, at least you already made the beds.
3:07 Can you give me a lift tomorrow? Please?
3:10 Work is busy tomorrow, but I’ll do my best. How was that?
3:16 Could you write down the ten collocations? If you want, you can go back and listen to the dialogue a second time.
3:24 Here are the ten collocations you heard: do someone a favour do (your) best
3:33 make a mistake make the beds get in get confused
3:43 give someone a lift give (me) a minute have a break have a (big) problem
3:52 You can see how common collocations are. They’re everywhere in spoken English!
3:59 All the collocations you saw are based on verbs. However, collocations can be based on any part of speech.
4:07 For example, there are adjective-noun collocations, like a great achievement or a long journey. There are adverb-adjective collocations, like terribly hot or extremely significant.
4:23 There are noun-noun collocations, like a slice of cake or a pile of laundry. There are more.
4:34 The point is that collocations are everywhere. To speak English naturally and fluently, you need to pay attention to them.
4:43 So, what should you do? The best way to find and learn collocations is to do regular reading and listening practice
4:55 in English. As you read or listen, pay attention to collocations.
5:00 If you’re reading something, you can try to underline the collocations you find. Remember that just because you know the words, it doesn’t mean you know the collocation!
5:13 For example, you might see collocations like: He went bald when he was in his twenties.
5:21 It’s a big decision, but we have to do something. It was a little expensive, but still good value.
5:31 You might think, “I know the words, so there’s nothing to learn here,” but this could be a mistake.
5:38 Think about the collocation big decision. If you don’t know the collocation, you might say something else, like large decision or
5:47 heavy decision. However, these don’t work.
5:51 You need to know the collocation: big decision. The collocation is almost like a separate word that you need to learn and remember.
6:01 Let’s practice! Look at a short text.
6:05 There are ten collocations in the text. The collocations are of different types.
6:12 Can you find the ten collocations? Pause the video, read the text, and try to find them.
6:19 Start again when you’re ready. Ready?
6:26 Let’s look. One quick point: maybe some of you have different answers.
6:33 Maybe some of you think there are more than ten collocations in the text. You could be right.
6:39 There isn’t a clear line between what is a collocation and what isn’t. For example, is very patient a collocation?
6:48 You could say that it is, or that it isn’t. It isn’t clear.
6:54 Don’t worry about this point. It doesn’t make any difference to how you should study and use collocations.
7:00 So, now you’ve found ten collocations in your text. You could find more collocations using a dictionary.
7:10 For example, there are two collocations in the text with the word friend: become friends and one of my closest friends.
7:20 Can you find two more? Use your favourite dictionary, preferably a monolingual dictionary.
7:29 Look up the word friend, and write down two more collocations. Pause the video and do it now!
7:38 Ready? What did you get?
7:42 There are many, many possible answers, but maybe you wrote down something like: make friends (with someone) a good friend
7:53 (your) best friend Or: a true friend Let’s do one more.
8:01 In the text, you saw the collocation demanding job. What else can be demanding?
8:08 Pause the video, look up demanding in your dictionary, and write down two more possible collocations.
8:16 Ready? What did you get this time?
8:21 Here are three suggestions: a demanding person a demanding period
8:28 a demanding situation Again, there are other possibilities.
8:33 So, when you’re reading or listening in English, try to notice the collocations you see or hear.
8:42 You can then use your dictionary to look up related collocations. However, you’ll very quickly have a lot of collocations!
8:51 How can you remember them all? Learning and remembering collocations is the same as learning any other vocabulary.
9:01 That means you should: One: Learn vocabulary from real-life sources, for example from reading articles, listening
9:09 to songs, or having conversations with your friends. Don’t learn vocabulary by making big lists of words from the dictionary.
9:19 Two: learn and review vocabulary in full sentences. If you want to remember the collocation keep in touch with someone, don’t just write
9:29 down the phrase; write down a full sentence which is meaningful for you. For example: I use Whatsapp to keep in touch with my friends overseas.
9:40 Three: you need a system to review vocabulary regularly. The best way to do this is to use a flashcard app like Quizlet or Anki.
9:50 Finally, like any vocabulary, you need to use it, otherwise it won’t stick in your head.
9:58 How can you do that? Here’s one suggestion: when you learn collocations, put them in groups by topic.
10:07 For example, collocations to describe a person, collocations to describe a city, collocations to talk about relationships, and so on.
10:17 When you have ten or more collocations in a group, write a short text, and try to use all of the collocations as you write.
10:27 For example, if you’ve found ten collocations to describe a city, you could write a short paragraph about your hometown using the collocations you’ve learned.
10:38 It might look something like this: Athens is a sprawling city with a rich history.
10:45 The old centre is full of steep, narrow streets and archaeological monuments. It has a lively atmosphere, especially at night.
10:54 You can get around by metro, which is useful because traffic jams are a constant problem. You can easily find tasty local food in the centre, although touristy places can be overpriced.
11:10 There’s very little street crime, so you don’t have to worry about safety, although you should look out for pickpockets in the metro.
11:19 This can be challenging, but it’s worth making the effort. By using the collocations you learn to write something which is true for you, you’ll
11:28 be able to remember them more easily. Finally, let’s see how collocations can be the key to increasing your English vocabulary.
11:40 Often, students tell us things like: I need more vocabulary to speak English.
11:46 I can’t find the right words when I’m speaking. Or: I need to learn more vocabulary for my IELTS exam.
11:54 Or: I want to learn academic vocabulary to express my ideas clearly. What if we told you that you could improve your vocabulary massively, without even learning
12:07 any new words? What?
12:10 How can that be? It’s not about how many words you know; it’s about how you use those words.
12:17 Remember earlier, you saw the collocation big decision? Probably, all of you know the words big and decision, but we’re guessing not all of
12:28 you knew the collocation big decision. Most of the collocations in this lesson are probably similar.
12:37 The individual words might not be new, but the combination is. You’ve seen around thirty to forty different collocations in this lesson.
12:49 Actually, you’ve seen many more, but we’ve highlighted that many. This is a tiny, tiny proportion of the collocations we could have shown you.
13:00 Collocations are everywhere, and many of them use words you’re already familiar with. So here’s our final piece of advice: spend more time learning collocations.
13:12 Don’t just learn single words; learn combinations and phrases with them. Learn collocations using the vocabulary you have.
13:21 Follow the steps in this lesson: find collocations by reading or listening, use good vocabulary learning practices, and use collocations by writing short texts on different topics.
13:33 This way, you can learn to use the vocabulary you already know to express a wider range of ideas.
13:41 You’ll be able to talk more fluently and naturally, and express yourself more clearly. Here’s a question for you: have you found any weird, funny, interesting or really illogical
13:56 English collocations? Please share them in the comments!
14:00 Don’t forget to check out our website for more free English lessons: Oxford Online English dot com.
14:07 Thanks for watching! See you next time!