Sense Relations – Collocation
Meaning Relations
Collocation
When two words co-occur, or are used together frequently, they are said to collocate. For example, while 'break out' means the start of something, we usually say a fire broke out or a war broke out but not a lesson broke out. There is no golden rule when it comes to collocation. A good dictionary shows you the possible collocations of a word.
- Subject noun + verb
Examples:The professor studies anthropology. (But not 'The professor learns anthropology.')The dog barks. (But not 'The dog talks'.)
- Verb + object noun
Examples:The students circulate the attendance sheet. (But not 'The students revolve the attendance sheet.')He fired a gun. (But not 'He shot a gun.')
- Adjective + noun
Examples:unsuccessful application (But not 'failed application')effective teaching (But not 'useful teaching')
- Adverb + past participle used as an adjective
Examples:poorly written, well preparedwell written, poorly prepared
You can build a collocation grid to help you distinguish which words go with your target words.
Example:
| a bank | a person | money | a car | a house | a wallet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rob |  |
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| steal | |
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| burgle | |
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| lift | |