Collocations of have

Examples for collocation

Collocation exercises

• Which word collocates with all the words given?

• 1. fried, poached, fresh, raw, frozen, grilled, smoked _________________

• 2. summer, warm, winter, tatty, shabby, trendy, second-hand _____________

• 3. dangerous, desperate, common, born, hardened, master _______________

• 4. massive, huge, crowded, packed, outdoor, indoor, sports _______________

• Answers. 1 = fish, 2 = coat, 3 = criminal, 4 = stadium

Speaking and writing activities for collocations

Speaking activities

• Get the students to do creative drills. For example, devise a 'Find somebody who...' activity for them to practise collocations. For example,

• Find someone who

• .....has been on a strict diet

• .....has been in an embarrassing position

• .....has made a critical choice in his/her life etc.

• The students themselves could make up similar activities.

• Get the students to repeat the same activity, for example giving a short talk or telling a story, perhaps three of four times. This has been shown to boost fluency by activating collocations.

• Ask the students to brainstorm nouns on a particular subject, perhaps for a 

writing task e.g. what are the collocations of 'money'. Then get them to suggest verbs 

and adjectives that collocate with those nouns, then adverbs with the verbs, thus 

building up a number of lexically dense collocational fields.

A short break

Although Language learning is a painful process, there are some enjoyable experiences that people encounter in this process. Here are two examples:

An Arab Couple went to London hotel...
One day in hotel room, husband heard his wife scream"Farr! Faaaarrrrr" (which is the Arabic word for mouse).
Now he wants to inform room service but doesn't know english word for "farr" is.....
Husband : hello room service?
Room-service: yes sir ,how can I help you ?
Husband: Mmmm..... You Know tom and Jerry ?
Roomservice: yes sir ,I know tom and jerry ...
Husband: Wallah Habibi Jerry is here. 

example for connotation

collocation of power