THE BEST ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS
Written by Hubert R
Collocation: is a pair or group of words that are often used together.
Ability: someone’s level of skill at doing something
*ADJECTIVES
great/considerable ability
He was a young man of great ability.
remarkable/outstanding/exceptional ability
A writer of remarkable ability.
high/low/average ability
A group of low ability pupils.
mixed ability
It can be difficult to teach a mixed ability class.
natural ability= innate ability
The human body has a natural ability to fight infection.
physical/athletic ability
He has considerable athletic ability.
mental ability
The exercises are supposed to help you improve your mental ability.
intellectual/academic ability
No one doubts his intellectual abilities.
artistic/creative/musical ability
Johan showed great musical ability at an early age.
verbal/linguistic ability
The test is intended to measure the children’s linguistic ability.
*VERBS
Have or possess the ability to do something.
Develop/acquire an ability to do something.
Show/demonstrate the ability to do something.
Lack the ability to do something.
Lose the ability to do something.
Limit/reduce somebody’s ability to do something.
Improve/increase somebody’s ability to do something.
Play/perform/do sthg to the best of one’s ability.
Accent: the way someone pronounces the words of a language, showing which country or which part
of a country they come from
*VERBS
Have an accent
The girl had a Russian accent.
Speak with an accent
The old man spoke with an accent which I couldn’t recognize.
Pick up an accent
He used to work in Sydney and picked up an Australian accent while he was over there.
Lose one’s accent
Although she was born in the US, sally had lost her American accent.
Put on an accent
Some people put on an accent when they’re speaking on the phone.
*ADJECTIVES/NOUNS + ACCENT
A strong/broad/thick/heavy accent
He speaks English with a strong French accent.
A slight/faint accent
He has a very slight Irish accent which you can hardly notice.
Strong/broad/thick or heavy accent?
Strong: is the most common word
The man has a strong German accent.
Thick or heavy: when someone’s accent is very strong and difficult to understand.
The teacher had a thick Scottish accent, and some of students had difficulty following what he
said.
Broad: when someone has an accent from a particular part of the UK or the US
She spoke with a broad Yorkshire accent.
*PHRASES
A hint/trace of an accent
I could detect the hint of a German accent in her voice.
Background: the kind of family that someone has, or the kind of work or education experience
someone has had
*ADJECTIVES/NOUNS
Different backgrounds
The two women come totally from different backgrounds.
Social background
Universities aim to attract students from a wide range of social backgrounds.
Ethnic/cultural/religious background
London has people from every ethnic background
Class/socio-economic background (the kind of class you come from)
Some smokers come from poorer socio-economic backgrounds.
Class background is an important factor when it comes to jobs.
A poor/deprived/disadvantaged background (from a poor family)
The school has a high percentage of children from disadvantaged background.
A wealthy/privileged background (from a rich family)
All the top jobs were taken by people from privileged backgrounds.
Professional backgrounds
Managers can come from a wide range of professional backgrounds.
Educational/academic backgrounds
The interviewer will ask you about your educational background and work experience.
*VERBS
Have a background
She has a scientific background, but is very interested in the arts.
Give the background also provide the background
The guide gives a detailed background to the history of the area.
Form the background
The work I did in 2005 forms the background to his research.
Explain the background
Let me explain the background to the decision.
*BACKGROUND + NOUNS
Background information/details
He was able to give background information about the events leading up to the accident.
Background knowledge
The students did not have any background knowledge of the subject.
Background reading
This book is good background reading for anyone interested in military history.
Bad
A bad time/day/year
It has been a bad time for many business.
A bad situation/experience
The situation was so bad that they didn’t know what to do.
Bad news
I’m afraid I have some bad news.
The bad thing/aspect/point
The bad thing is the widening gap between rich and poor.
A bad mood/temper
He was in a bad mood all morning.
A bad grade/mark
I got bad marks in my test.
Bad weather
The plane was delayed by bad weather.
Bad luck
It was bad luck that it rained on the day of our picnic.
Adverbs
Pretty bad
It has been a pretty bad week.
Unbelievably/incredibly bad
It is an unbelievably bad state of affairs.
Notoriously bad
Food at the restaurant is notoriously bad.
Verbs
Get worse
The situation is getting worse.
Preposition
Bad for sb/sthg
Some people say that meant is bad for your health.
Not skilful
Nouns
A bad player/driver/singer
There are a lot of bad drivers on the roads.
A bad student/teacher
He was a bad student who never did any work.
A bad cook
Not all men are bad cooks
A bad game/performance/speech etc.
He had one bad game for England but that doesn’t make him a bad player.
A bad grade/mark
I got a bad grade in English.
A bad job
The mechanics did a bad job on the engine.
Useful collocations of phrases
To be about to do something: to be going to do something
The movie is about to start.
There are two main types of bank account. If you have a checking account, you can take your money out at any time by using a
check or an ATM Card.
On account of something: because of something
Our school was closed on account of bad weather.
Take something into account; take account of something: to remember something when you are
thinking about other things.
Take his age into account before you judged him.
After
After all: used when you thought something different would happen
I was worried about the test, but it wasn’t difficult after all.
Be after something: to be trying to get or find something
What kind of work are you after?
All: complete
She lives all alone
All along: from the beginning
I knew all along that she was lying.
All over: everywhere
We looked all over for that ring.
Answer the door: to open the door when someone knocks or rings the bell
Can you answer the door, please?
Answer the phone: to pick up the phone when it rings and speak
Apart from someone or something: except for
There’s no one here, apart from me.
Clothes and appearance
Clothes
Be wearing a new outfit/uniform/jeans
Wear jewelry/a watch/glasses/contact lenses/perfume
Put on/take off your clothes/coat/shoes
Change into a pair of jeans/your pajamas
Be fashionably/well dressed
Be/get dressed for work/school/dinner.
Appearance
Brush/comb your hair
Wash/shampoo/blow-dry your hair
Have/get a haircut/your hair cut/a new hairstyle
Have/get a makeover/your nails done
Use/wear/put on makeup/cosmetics/lipstick
Face
Blue/green/brown eyes
Pale/flushed/rosy cheeks
White/perfect/crooked teeth
A long/short/neat beard
Hair and skin
Pale/fair/dark skin
Smooth/wrinkled skin
Straight/curly/wavy hair
A bald/shaved head
Pitch dark: very dark
Smoking is strictly forbidden. (Not natural: smoking is strongly forbidden.)
It was bitterly cold and pitch dark. (Not natural: it was very cold and very dark.)
Poverty breeds crimes. (Not: poverty causes crimes.)
Make a mistake: (not: do a mistake)
Jane hardly ever makes mistakes on her exams. She usually passes her exams.
A storm in a tea cup
Pull somebody’s leg
Heavy snow
Bitterly disappointed
Burning desire
Ancient monument
Substantial meal
To make breakfast, to have or eat substantial breakfast
To leave university
To make a decision
To take up a profession
To play the guitar
To make recordings
To become famous
To get a job
To enroll on a course
To give someone a ring
To have a long chat
To meet the requirements
University entry
To do a course in
To set up one’s business
A wise choice
To have a party
To take an exam
To give a lecture
To make good progress
To do one’s duty
To do one’s exam [info]
Collocations with desperately:
Desperately ill, desperately busy, desperately keen, desperately in love with
Collocations with pain:
Verbs: experience pain/ feel pain/ suffer pain
Alleviate pain/ease pain/lessen pain/relieve pain/soothe pain
Cause pain/inflict pain
Complain of pain
Pain subsides as the pain subsided, I began to relax.
Be racked with pain he is emaciated and racked with pain.
LIST OF FREQUENT COLLOCATIONS:
Time
Long time: I haven’t seen him for a long time.
Spend time: I used to spend time with him, when he lived here.
Short time: I’ll finish it in short time.
Waste time: stop doing that! It’s wasting time.
Take time: it always takes time to learn a language.
Spare time: in my spare time, I really like dancing.
Give time: can you give me time to finish it?
Present time: many students are trickling into the hall at the present time.
Working time: I’m sorry, I can’t pick up your call. It’s working time!
Year
Past year: there’s been a lot of changes in the past year.
Coming year: this coming year, we expect a great outcome.
Full year: from January to December is a full year.
Start year: they moved here at the start of the year.
Take year: it took me a year to establish the project went off.
Spent year: the 05 spent years, has brought up some changes to the turnover of the company
This year: she will be eight this year.
Current year: the budget for the current year was $13 million.
Previous year: they had married the previous year.
Following year: the following year he was made captain of the year.
The end of the year: work should finish around the end of the year.
Early years: little is known about his early years
The last/latter/closing years of something: he changed his opinion during the last years of
his life.
Somebody’s childhood/teenage years: the home in which she spent her childhood years.
The boom years: in the boom years, things weren’t too bad.
Somebody’s retirement years: he enjoyed his retirement years in wales.
In recent years: the number of cases has risen dramatically in recent years.
In later years: in later years, he regretted their argument.
People
Ordinary people: jack is ordinary people, just like you and I.
Working people: those working people request what they deserve.
Elderly people: most of the elderly people feel alone.
Disabled people: fortunately, there are many organizations take care of disabled people
nowadays.
Way
Long way (development/progress): the team has a long way to go. (needs to develop or
improve a lot) microwave have come a long way (have developed or improved a lot)
John is now well on the way to recovery
Go way:
Find way:
Get way:
Way out/out of/around (method of dealing): one way around the problem is recycling.
In a …way (manner): “hello”, he said in a friendly way.
Either way (choice/possibility): the election could go either way
On somebody way: want a lift? It’s on my way.
In a/one way (part of something that is true): in one way you’re right, I suppose.
Some/quite a way (quite a long distance): she had to park some way from the restaurant.
A long way off/away/ahead (far away in distance or in time): a peace settlement now
seems along way off
All the way down/cross/through (something) (=the full distance or length of something) Did
you really swim all the way cross?
Strange/funny/odd way (behavior): we all have our funny little ways.
Change/mend your ways (behavior) (=stop behaving badly) Erick should mend his ways.
Man
Make a man (out) of somebody: you think it makes a man of you, holding a gun.
A good-looking/handsome/man: Adam was a good-looking man when he was young
A married/single/divorced man: my advice is stay away from married men.
A strong man: Jeff is a such strong man
Day
The following, next day
The previous day
The other day (recently)
One, some day
The very day (the same day)
The bad/good old days
Early days (a time soon to make a decision or conclusion)
Disposition: how someone normally thinks and behaves
Adjective frequently used with disposition
