19 English Collocations with Think | A Smart Way to Boost Vocabulary & English Fluency

When talking about tidying up the house, why do English speakers use,

do the laundry, do the dishes, do the ironing,

and then make the bed. Why not do the bed?

The answer is collocations.

If you consistently watch my Confident English lessons,

particularly my lessons on vocabulary, you've heard me use that word before,

but what exactly are collocations and how can learning them

help you express yourself with greater clarity and build sentences

more easily in English? Those are the questions I'm going to answer today. Plus,

I'll help you get started with your focus on learning collocations by sharing

19 collocations with Think.

This includes collocations that use the word think,

express what you think, indicate that one thought has led to another.

Ask for time to think,

describe what others think and show that you have some doubt

about what you think.

But first, if you don't already know,

I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

Everything I do here is designed to help you get the confidence you want for

your life and work in English.

One way I do that is with these weekly Confident English lessons where I share

my top confidence and fluency, building strategies, targeted grammar topics,

and advanced-level vocabulary.

Just like in this lesson on collocations today. While you're here,

make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English channel on YouTube so you

never miss one of my future lessons. Now,

let's go back to that question of why English speakers use. Do the laundry,

do the dishes, do the ironing and make the bed.

The reason is some words in English regularly

occur with other words.

It's like the words are best friends.

They show up in sentences together. Often,

these commonly occurring combinations of words are called collocations,

and if we make unexpected changes to these collocations,

if we use a different word,

these variations or alterations can sound distinctly unusual

or even like an error. Now, when it comes to collocations,

English speakers use them in all conversations and all forms of

communication. As a result,

it's important for you to learn collocations to strengthen your comprehension.

Moreover, just like learning Fraser verbs or idioms in English,

being able to use collocations when you speak allows you to express

yourself more naturally and with greater clarity.

You're also able to enhance your fluency by learning these common

combinations of words.

You can build or create sentences in English more quickly and more easily.

Before we take a look at specific examples of collocations, I want to recap,

A collocation is two or more words that regularly

occur together with a high level of probability and learning.

Collocations can help you understand which words commonly go together

and which words don't. With that in mind,

let's focus on 19 collocations with think,

and we'll start with common collocations that use the word think,

for example, honestly, think personally, think,

hate to think, dread to think, and sudder to think.

Now,

those first two honestly think and personally think are typically used to

express our true opinion,

particularly if we think that opinion may not be welcome or even popular.

We might also use it when giving advice. For example,

if a coworker in your office makes a mistake, you might say,

I personally think you need to let the boss know you've made that mistake.

The collocation hate to think is used to emphasize that you

don't wanna think about something because it's uncomfortable or unpleasant.

For example,

a friend of yours might be going through a difficult time at work and she might

say, I hate to think what I would do if I lost my job. Now,

the last two on that list,

dread to think and shudder to think are typically used to express

that thinking about a particular situation brings a lot of worry,

fear, or anxiety. For example,

the lifeguards rescued him just in time.

I shudder to think what would've happened if they hadn't,

and now let's take a look at three collocations we use to express

what we think or to express an opinion. For example,

in my opinion, I think I'm of the opinion that,

and I subscribe to the theory that, and here are two examples,

sentences using those collocations. Number one,

I'm of the opinion that if you are kind,

kindness will come your way. And number two,

I subscribe to the theory that everything happens for a reason.

Of course, in any conversation where you're sharing what you think,

you may need more time to think,

and here are six collocations we use.

When you need that time to think carefully,

to give it some thought, to have a good think, to have a long think,

to have a hard think, and lastly,

to have a long hard think about something.

Let's take a look at three example sentences that highlight how we can use these

collocations after the meeting,

she thought long and hard about how they could improve their strategy.

Our second example, clearly with that injury,

you need to have a good hard think about whether you should run another

marathon this year. And finally, thanks for your offer.

I'll definitely give it some thought.

Our next category are collocations that indicate that one thought has

led to another. The first one inclined to think,

we typically use this collocation to express an opinion that

we're not really sure about, but we're leaning in that direction.

We also have the collocation lead one to think and to think

ahead or think in advance. Let's take a look at a few example sentences.

First,

I'm inclined to think Hannah's idea just might work.

The second example,

unfortunately the confusing text messages led her to think their

dinner plans had been canceled. And third,

I believe we should think ahead and start planning for the event.

Now we have two more categories to go,

and the next one is collocations about what others think.

For example, common knowledge,

widespread belief and opinions are divided.

For example, it's common knowledge that she's the strongest athlete on the team.

In other words, it's something that everyone knows.

Our second example is there's a widespread belief that vinegar

can ease the sting of a jellyfish,

but the truth is hot water is a much better idea.

Similar to common knowledge,

a widespread belief is something that most people believe.

And our final example for this category,

opinions are divided as to whether the new paint color should be olive

green or a light mov. And now our final category,

before I ask you some practice questions,

collocations that indicate you're worried or have doubt about what you think,

and in this category we have two of them. First,

a nagging doubt or a nagging feeling.

This is used to express that you have recurring worry or

anxiety about something. That feeling just won't go away.

For example,

imagine a coworker is going to give a big presentation in English tomorrow

and they're having some worries. They might say,

I have this nagging feeling that everything is going to go horribly wrong

tomorrow.

The second collocation for this category is to be wrestling with a

problem, issue, or situation.

We use this when we're thinking over a problem and going back and

forth in terms of how to solve it or what the solutions might be.

For example, I've been wrestling with this situation for over a week now.

To finish with this lesson on collocations,

I want you to practice and I have two questions for you. Number one,

what would you say to a friend of yours if it sounds like they need

more time to think about a particular problem?

Try using one of the collocations you learned here today and share your answer

with me in the comments below. My second question,

what collocation could you use to express your thoughts on

climate change? Again,

use one of the collocations from this lesson and share it with me in the

comments below. If you found today's lesson helpful to you,

I would love to know and you can tell me in one very simple way.

Give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube and while you're at it,

don't forget to subscribe so you never miss one of my Confident English lessons.

Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.