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The smart way to improve your English | Learn Collocations
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- Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish! Has a native English speaker ever said to you
- "Hmm... What you said doesn't sound right. " "We just wouldn't say it like that."
- Often, this is simply because you've used the wrong words in combination with each other.
- There are only a small number of words that work with a single word in English.
- Take the word question for example. It's a noun, or it can be a verb, but it's a noun!
- And there are a group of adjectives that are often used with this noun to help describe it.
- An awkward question or a difficult question. Relevant, probing,
- or a burning question. There are also a group of verbs that are often used with
- question. Ask, answer, face or have.
- Now, compare this to the verb, make, which is not usually used with question.
- Certain adverbs and prepositions are also used with question when others are not.
- When words go together like this, they're called collocations,
- words that frequently occur together in English sentences.
- The reason why native speakers say that something you said sounds weird or strange
- is because they're not used to hearing those words together.
- They don't often get said together, so it sounds a bit strange.
- Part of the problem is that you're probably translating words from your own language
- directly into English. Words that are commonly used together
- in your language but in English, they're not.
- Hacer una fiesta. It makes sense in Spanish but
- if you translate those words directly, you get make a party,
- which is not the correct way to say this in English. Can you think of any examples in your own language
- that are like this? Where you translate words directly and it just
- doesn't work in English, it doesn't make sense. I'm sure you can think of some that you already know.
- It's likely that collocation is the problem that you're just using the wrong words together.
- The problem here is that it's very easy to get into a bad habit
- and use words that sound okay in your own language, when you translate them in your head,
- but they sound strange or even wrong in that combination in English.
- To explore the idea of collocations a little more, we're going to focus on just one simple verb, make.
- And we'll explore some of the common collocations of that verb
- specifically, make, with a noun or a noun phrase. And we just have to start with food.
- The verb make is so commonly used with food, drinks and meals,
- like coffee and tea. Can I make you a coffee?
- It's used with meals like lunch, dinner, breakfast. I prefer to make breakfast at home on Sundays.
- You can use it with food, cake, soup, dessert. If you're making dinner, I'll make dessert!
- But there are many other nouns that collocate with make
- and as I read them out, make a note of the ones that you don't know
- and look them up in the dictionary after this lesson. First one, decision.
- He's made the decision to quit his job after 15 years. Excuse. Stop making excuses!
- Love. They made love the night before he left the country.
- Offer. After his interview,
- they made him an offer he couldn't refuse! Assumption.
- We don't want to make any assumptions yet, but he appears to be guilty.
- Friends. We've made some really good friends
- since we moved here. Phone call.
- Can I borrow your phone, I need to make a quick call. You can make a sound or a noise.
- Don't make a sound! If we make a noise, they'll hear us.
- You can make your bed. I make my bed as soon as I get up in the morning.
- Complaint. If you're unhappy with the service,
- you should make a complaint. And apology.
- You need to make him an apology. Note here, that it's quite formal
- to use make with complaint and apology. In informal speech and writing,
- you can use the verb forms complain and apologise in the same way.
- If you are unhappy with the service, you should complain.
- You need to apologise to him. You can make a mess.
- The kids made a mess when we went out for dinner last night.
- You can make a plan. Have you made any plans for your summer holidays?
- You can also make mistakes. I'll admit that we may have made a mistake there.
- Profit. After three years, the business is finally making a profit!
- But equally, you can also use make with loss. After three years, the business is still making a loss.
- You can make a speech! Once the groom made his speech, the music started.
- Effort. You can make an effort. He really made an effort to have fun at the party.
- You can make a list. I think we've invited about 200 people..
- I really should make a list so I know for sure! You can make money.
- I heard he made his money on the internet. You can make progress.
- Your son has made a lot of progress at school this year. Make a statement.
- He witnessed the fight. He needs to make a statement to the police.
- And change. After our poor performance last month,
- we need to make some changes. You can make an error, which is similar to a mistake.
- Uh ohh.. I think I've made an error. Make a promise.
- You made me a promise last year! Time. She needs to make more time for her family.
- So Emma what nouns aren't used with make? Well, lots
- but some of the common mistakes are make a party.
- He's making a party on Friday night. The verbs throw, have
- and plan a party are possible but make doesn't sound right.
- Don't use make with party in English. Make a picture.
- The artist makes her pictures outside. The verbs draw, create, paint a picture are possible
- but make is not. Make a barbecue.
- We're making a barbecue in the park tonight, do you want to come?
- The verbs have and cook are possible here but make just doesn't make sense.
- Make an accident is also incorrect. I hope they didn't make an accident.
- The verbs have, saw and cause are possible here but make is not.
- The idea of English collocations can be pretty overwhelming.
- We just focused on the verb make and look at all of the different nouns
- that it collocates with. And that's not all of them.
- But learning words together like this in chunks in common collocations is a really good idea.
- You're learning and practising a word along with the other words that it commonly appears with.
- Next time you learn a new word, I want you to try it. Let me show you what I mean.
- Let's say you just heard the noun, innovation, and you wanted to spend some time exploring
- some of the words that it's commonly used with. That's a really smart idea!
- And you can easily do that using an English collocations dictionary.
- I've got a few links to some good ones in the description box below
- but innovation is commonly used with the adjectives technical, scientific, educational innovation,
- design or product innovation. Scientific innovations are helping
- the team to develop new technologies. There are some common verbs
- that are used with innovation. Encourage, foster, facilitate
- stifle or hinder. The management team
- encourage creativity and innovation. Occur. How does innovation occur?
- And a common preposition used with innovation is in. Innovations in technology
- allowed the research to progress. Well I really hoped that this lesson helped you to see the
- value of learning common collocations together, learning words in chunks together to train your brain
- which words to use with other words. This type of study is crucial to training your brain
- to think in English instead of in your own language. It helps words come to your mind more quickly
- and efficiently without thinking about it too much, if you're learning them together.
- If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you subscribe by clicking that red button down there.
- I make a new lesson every week. You can also translate this video very kindly
- for your friends and the link to do that is in the description below.
- And of course you can keep practising with more mmmEnglish lessons, right here.
- Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week for another lesson. Bye for now!