The smart way to improve your English | Learn Collocations

Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

Has a native English speaker ever said to you

"Hmm... What you said doesn't sound right. "

"We just wouldn't say it like that."

Often, this is simply because you've used

the wrong words in combination with each other.

There are only a small number of words

that work with a single word in English.

Take the word question for example.

It's a noun, or it can be a verb, but it's a noun!

And there are a group of adjectives

that are often used with this noun to help describe it.

An awkward question or a difficult question.

Relevant, probing,

or a burning question.

There are also a group of verbs that are often used with

question.

Ask, answer, face or have.

Now, compare this to the verb, make,

which is not usually used with question.

Certain adverbs and prepositions are also used

with question when others are not.

When words go together like this,

they're called collocations,

words that frequently occur together

in English sentences.

The reason why native speakers say

that something you said sounds weird or strange

is because they're not used to hearing

those words together.

They don't often get said together,

so it sounds a bit strange.

Part of the problem is that you're probably translating

words from your own language

directly into English.

Words that are commonly used together

in your language

but in English, they're not.

Hacer una fiesta.

It makes sense in Spanish but

if you translate those words directly, you get

make a party,

which is not the correct way to say this in English.

Can you think of any examples in your own language

that are like this?

Where you translate words directly and it just

doesn't work in English, it doesn't make sense.

I'm sure you can think of some that you already know.

It's likely that collocation is the problem

that you're just using the wrong words together.

The problem here is that it's very easy

to get into a bad habit

and use words that sound okay in your own language,

when you translate them in your head,

but they sound strange or even wrong

in that combination in English.

To explore the idea of collocations a little more,

we're going to focus on just one simple verb, make.

And we'll explore some of the common collocations

of that verb

specifically, make, with a noun or a noun phrase.

And we just have to start with food.

The verb make is so commonly used with

food, drinks and meals,

like coffee and tea.

Can I make you a coffee?

It's used with meals like lunch, dinner, breakfast.

I prefer to make breakfast at home on Sundays.

You can use it with food, cake, soup, dessert.

If you're making dinner, I'll make dessert!

But there are many other nouns

that collocate with make

and as I read them out,

make a note of the ones that you don't know

and look them up in the dictionary after this lesson.

First one, decision.

He's made the decision to quit his job after 15 years.

Excuse. Stop making excuses!

Love.

They made love the night before he left the country.

Offer.

After his interview,

they made him an offer he couldn't refuse!

Assumption.

We don't want to make any assumptions yet,

but he appears to be guilty.

Friends.

We've made some really good friends

since we moved here.

Phone call.

Can I borrow your phone, I need to make a quick call.

You can make a sound or a noise.

Don't make a sound!

If we make a noise, they'll hear us.

You can make your bed.

I make my bed as soon as I get up in the morning.

Complaint.

If you're unhappy with the service,

you should make a complaint.

And apology.

You need to make him an apology.

Note here, that it's quite formal

to use make with complaint and apology.

In informal speech and writing,

you can use the verb forms complain and apologise

in the same way.

If you are unhappy with the service,

you should complain.

You need to apologise to him.

You can make a mess.

The kids made a mess

when we went out for dinner last night.

You can make a plan.

Have you made any plans for your summer holidays?

You can also make mistakes.

I'll admit that we may have made a mistake there.

Profit.

After three years, the business is finally making a profit!

But equally, you can also use make with loss.

After three years, the business is still making a loss.

You can make a speech!

Once the groom made his speech, the music started.

Effort. You can make an effort.

He really made an effort to have fun at the party.

You can make a list.

I think we've invited about 200 people..

I really should make a list so I know for sure!

You can make money.

I heard he made his money on the internet.

You can make progress.

Your son has made a lot of progress at school this year.

Make a statement.

He witnessed the fight.

He needs to make a statement to the police.

And change.

After our poor performance last month,

we need to make some changes.

You can make an error, which is similar to a mistake.

Uh ohh.. I think I've made an error.

Make a promise.

You made me a promise last year!

Time. She needs to make more time for her family.

So Emma what nouns aren't used with make?

Well, lots

but some of the common mistakes are

make a party.

He's making a party on Friday night.

The verbs throw, have

and plan a party are possible

but make doesn't sound right.

Don't use make with party in English.

Make a picture.

The artist makes her pictures outside.

The verbs draw, create, paint a picture are possible

but make is not.

Make a barbecue.

We're making a barbecue in the park tonight,

do you want to come?

The verbs have and cook are possible here

but make just doesn't make sense.

Make an accident is also incorrect.

I hope they didn't make an accident.

The verbs have, saw and cause are possible here

but make is not.

The idea of English collocations

can be pretty overwhelming.

We just focused on the verb make

and look at all of the different nouns

that it collocates with.

And that's not all of them.

But learning words together like this in chunks

in common collocations is a really good idea.

You're learning and practising a word along with

the other words that it commonly appears with.

Next time you learn a new word, I want you to try it.

Let me show you what I mean.

Let's say you just heard the noun, innovation,

and you wanted to spend some time exploring

some of the words that it's commonly used with.

That's a really smart idea!

And you can easily do that using an English

collocations dictionary.

I've got a few links to some good ones

in the description box below

but innovation is commonly used with the adjectives

technical, scientific, educational innovation,

design or product innovation.

Scientific innovations are helping

the team to develop new technologies.

There are some common verbs

that are used with innovation.

Encourage, foster, facilitate

stifle or hinder.

The management team

encourage creativity and innovation.

Occur. How does innovation occur?

And a common preposition used with innovation is in.

Innovations in technology

allowed the research to progress.

Well I really hoped that this lesson helped you to see the

value of learning common collocations together,

learning words in chunks together to train your brain

which words to use with other words.

This type of study is crucial to training your brain

to think in English instead of in your own language.

It helps words come to your mind more quickly

and efficiently without thinking about it too much,

if you're learning them together.

If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure you subscribe

by clicking that red button down there.

I make a new lesson every week.

You can also translate this video very kindly

for your friends

and the link to do that is in the description below.

And of course you can keep practising

with more mmmEnglish lessons, right here.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week

for another lesson. Bye for now!