What is Collocation?

We say that words that occur together frequently “collocate”. Words that don’t collocate almost never occur together. If we try, they sound unnatural and wrong:

  • Time speeds / travels / rides / moves (they do not collocate)
  • Time flies / goes by / wears on / passes (they collocate)

There are no rules or logical explanations for why some words collocate and others do not. For example, we can talk about an academic year but not a studying year. Discussions can be productive or fruitful but not prolific.


Grammatical Forms

  • adverb + adjective: I’m hopelessly addicted to coffee.
  • adjective + noun: I remember my formative years.
  • noun + noun: The government have just unveiled their policy review.
  • verb + noun: We will honour our pledge to reduce unemployment.
  • dependent preposition: Personally, I think they should be ashamed of themselves.
  • part of a longer phrase: It’s always interesting to delve into the past.

Fixed and Open Collocations


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