The smart way to improve your English | Learn Collocations
mmmEnglish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnTpYKOLca4

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0:06 Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish! Has a native English speaker ever said to you
0:14 "Hmm... What you said doesn't sound right. " "We just wouldn't say it like that."
0:21 Often, this is simply because you've used the wrong words in combination with each other.
0:29 There are only a small number of words that work with a single word in English.
0:36 Take the word question for example. It's a noun, or it can be a verb, but it's a noun!
0:44 And there are a group of adjectives that are often used with this noun to help describe it.
0:50 An awkward question or a difficult question. Relevant, probing,
0:57 or a burning question. There are also a group of verbs that are often used with
1:04 question. Ask, answer, face or have.
1:12 Now, compare this to the verb, make, which is not usually used with question.
1:18 Certain adverbs and prepositions are also used with question when others are not.
1:25 When words go together like this, they're called collocations,
1:30 words that frequently occur together in English sentences.
1:35 The reason why native speakers say that something you said sounds weird or strange
1:41 is because they're not used to hearing those words together.
1:46 They don't often get said together, so it sounds a bit strange.
1:51 Part of the problem is that you're probably translating words from your own language
1:56 directly into English. Words that are commonly used together
2:01 in your language but in English, they're not.
2:07 Hacer una fiesta. It makes sense in Spanish but
2:12 if you translate those words directly, you get make a party,
2:18 which is not the correct way to say this in English. Can you think of any examples in your own language
2:26 that are like this? Where you translate words directly and it just
2:32 doesn't work in English, it doesn't make sense. I'm sure you can think of some that you already know.
2:38 It's likely that collocation is the problem that you're just using the wrong words together.
2:47 The problem here is that it's very easy to get into a bad habit
2:52 and use words that sound okay in your own language, when you translate them in your head,
2:59 but they sound strange or even wrong in that combination in English.
3:04 To explore the idea of collocations a little more, we're going to focus on just one simple verb, make.
3:14 And we'll explore some of the common collocations of that verb
3:19 specifically, make, with a noun or a noun phrase. And we just have to start with food.
3:28 The verb make is so commonly used with food, drinks and meals,
3:34 like coffee and tea. Can I make you a coffee?
3:39 It's used with meals like lunch, dinner, breakfast. I prefer to make breakfast at home on Sundays.
3:49 You can use it with food, cake, soup, dessert. If you're making dinner, I'll make dessert!
3:59 But there are many other nouns that collocate with make
4:04 and as I read them out, make a note of the ones that you don't know
4:09 and look them up in the dictionary after this lesson. First one, decision.
4:16 He's made the decision to quit his job after 15 years. Excuse. Stop making excuses!
4:28 Love. They made love the night before he left the country.
4:35 Offer. After his interview,
4:38 they made him an offer he couldn't refuse! Assumption.
4:45 We don't want to make any assumptions yet, but he appears to be guilty.
4:51 Friends. We've made some really good friends
4:55 since we moved here. Phone call.
5:00 Can I borrow your phone, I need to make a quick call. You can make a sound or a noise.
5:10 Don't make a sound! If we make a noise, they'll hear us.
5:17 You can make your bed. I make my bed as soon as I get up in the morning.
5:25 Complaint. If you're unhappy with the service,
5:30 you should make a complaint. And apology.
5:35 You need to make him an apology. Note here, that it's quite formal
5:41 to use make with complaint and apology. In informal speech and writing,
5:49 you can use the verb forms complain and apologise in the same way.
5:55 If you are unhappy with the service, you should complain.
6:01 You need to apologise to him. You can make a mess.
6:10 The kids made a mess when we went out for dinner last night.
6:15 You can make a plan. Have you made any plans for your summer holidays?
6:23 You can also make mistakes. I'll admit that we may have made a mistake there.
6:32 Profit. After three years, the business is finally making a profit!
6:39 But equally, you can also use make with loss. After three years, the business is still making a loss.
6:53 You can make a speech! Once the groom made his speech, the music started.
7:01 Effort. You can make an effort. He really made an effort to have fun at the party.
7:09 You can make a list. I think we've invited about 200 people..
7:15 I really should make a list so I know for sure! You can make money.
7:22 I heard he made his money on the internet. You can make progress.
7:30 Your son has made a lot of progress at school this year. Make a statement.
7:37 He witnessed the fight. He needs to make a statement to the police.
7:43 And change. After our poor performance last month,
7:48 we need to make some changes. You can make an error, which is similar to a mistake.
7:56 Uh ohh.. I think I've made an error. Make a promise.
8:04 You made me a promise last year! Time. She needs to make more time for her family.
8:16 So Emma what nouns aren't used with make? Well, lots
8:23 but some of the common mistakes are make a party.
8:29 He's making a party on Friday night. The verbs throw, have
8:37 and plan a party are possible but make doesn't sound right.
8:43 Don't use make with party in English. Make a picture.
8:50 The artist makes her pictures outside. The verbs draw, create, paint a picture are possible
9:00 but make is not. Make a barbecue.
9:08 We're making a barbecue in the park tonight, do you want to come?
9:15 The verbs have and cook are possible here but make just doesn't make sense.
9:22 Make an accident is also incorrect. I hope they didn't make an accident.
9:31 The verbs have, saw and cause are possible here but make is not.
9:39 The idea of English collocations can be pretty overwhelming.
9:44 We just focused on the verb make and look at all of the different nouns
9:49 that it collocates with. And that's not all of them.
9:53 But learning words together like this in chunks in common collocations is a really good idea.
10:03 You're learning and practising a word along with the other words that it commonly appears with.
10:10 Next time you learn a new word, I want you to try it. Let me show you what I mean.
10:18 Let's say you just heard the noun, innovation, and you wanted to spend some time exploring
10:26 some of the words that it's commonly used with. That's a really smart idea!
10:32 And you can easily do that using an English collocations dictionary.
10:36 I've got a few links to some good ones in the description box below
10:41 but innovation is commonly used with the adjectives technical, scientific, educational innovation,
10:49 design or product innovation. Scientific innovations are helping
10:56 the team to develop new technologies. There are some common verbs
11:01 that are used with innovation. Encourage, foster, facilitate
11:08 stifle or hinder. The management team
11:13 encourage creativity and innovation. Occur. How does innovation occur?
11:24 And a common preposition used with innovation is in. Innovations in technology
11:32 allowed the research to progress. Well I really hoped that this lesson helped you to see the
11:40 value of learning common collocations together, learning words in chunks together to train your brain
11:48 which words to use with other words. This type of study is crucial to training your brain
11:56 to think in English instead of in your own language. It helps words come to your mind more quickly
12:02 and efficiently without thinking about it too much, if you're learning them together.
12:08 If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you subscribe by clicking that red button down there.
12:15 I make a new lesson every week. You can also translate this video very kindly
12:21 for your friends and the link to do that is in the description below.
12:26 And of course you can keep practising with more mmmEnglish lessons, right here.
12:33 Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week for another lesson. Bye for now!