What is a collocation?
"Collocation is concerned with the way words occur
together, often in unpredictable ways. It is a very good idea
when learning new words to learn any typical collocations
that go with them. (...) E.g. a broad summary (adjective +
noun); drive fast (verb + adverb)" – McCarthy & O'Dell,
2002: 12
Collocation vs chunk
"Collocation is a kind of chunk which consists of two
lexical (content) words. (...) However, many frequent
multi-word combinations do not fall neatly into the above
categories with two identifiable parts of speech. Chunks
also comprise other types of multi-word units such as: see
you later (speech formula); come to think of it (discourse
marker); as the study suggests (linking phrase); at all costs
(prepositional phrase)." – Selivan, 2018:1
Homework:
Find collocations (and chunks) in the following excerpt:
Søren Kierkegaard is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most
famous Danish philosopher. A master of theological,
philosophical and literary dialogue, his writing consists of a
complex maze of different voices and pseudonyms that still
inspires analysis and interpretation. Many fine books have
been written about his life and work, but here we will
concentrate on one of his key existentialist ideas.
From Standpoints, by Svend Brinkmann
Different types of collocations
Find collocations in the following excerpts:
Iris was not a romantic; she was a pragmatic. A frugal woman
who made her own clothes. (from Surrender, by Bono)
For a fair amount of the population in Ireland, wealth and
Protestantism went together. To have either was to have
collaborated with the enemy –that is, Britain. This was the
rather warped thinking of the 1960s and 1970s. (ibid)
Different types of collocations
Find collocations in the following excerpts:
Iris was not a romantic; she was a pragmatic. A frugal woman
who made her own clothes. (from Surrender, by Bono)
For a fair amount of the population in Ireland, wealth and
Protestantism went together. To have either was to have
collaborated with the enemy –that is, Britain. This was the
rather warped thinking of the 1960s and 1970s. (ibid)
Different types of collocations
● frugal woman - adj + noun collocation
● literary dialogue - adj + noun collocation
● make clothes - verb + noun collocation
● fair amount - adj + noun collocation
● amount of population - noun + noun collocation
● rather warped - adv + adj collocation
● warped thinking - adj + noun collocation
O'Dell & McCarthy's 7 different
grammatical types of collocation
Verb + noun: draw up a contract; withstand pressure.
Noun + verb: an opportunity arose; standards slipped.
Noun + noun: a stroke of luck; a snippet of information.
Adjective + noun: idle threat; simple truth; mounting concern.
Adverb + adjective: intensely personal; stunningly attractive.
Verb + adverb or prepositional phrase: fail miserably; foam
at the mouth; drive recklessly.
How about the 7th?
McCarthy and O'Dell's 7th is more similar to what Selivan
calls lexical chunks. McCarthy and O'Dell call them more
complex collocations:
Mary was looking forward to retiring and taking it easy for a
while.
It's time you put your past behind you and started focusing on
the future.
Homework
Before you watch the next lesson, use the worksheet you'll
find here in this lesson (a pdf document called Types of
collocation – practice worksheet) and do the activities
therein. You'll find the commented correction at the
beginning of our next lesson.
Bibliography
McCarthy, M.; O'Dell, F. 2002. English Vocabulary in Use:
Advanced. Cambridge: CUP
McCarthy, M; O'Dell, F. 2017. English Collocations in Use:
Advanced - Second Edition. Cambridge: CUP.
Selivan, L. 2018. Lexical Grammar: Activities for teaching
chunks and exploring patterns. Cambridge: CUP
