Questions tagged [collocation]
Collocation refers to the appearance or occurrence of groups or pairs of words, particularly when more frequent than random chance would suggest.
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What's so profound about deafness?
I can describe someone as profoundly deaf, but I don't seem to see the same adverb used to describe other conditions. This observation is supported by Google Books data.
Why is deafness specifically ...
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Is the phrase "very delighted" ever "wrong"?
I was just browsing the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and stumbled on this peculiar note under the entry for delighted:
Delighted is not used with ‘very’. You say:
I’m absolutely ...
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Can a train or a railway line "enter operation"?
I have come across the article Learning from Las Vegas: what the Strip can teach us about urban planning and saw this sentence, "the Las Vegas monorail that entered operation in 2004 has had to ...
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Who "died peacefully" first and when?
The question came to my mind when I read the recent news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, first appeared in the official Twitter account of The Royal Family as:
The Queen died peacefully at ...
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Can the predeterminer "half" comfortably occur before plural nouns without determiners?
So "half" belongs to a special class of words known as "predeterminers", those that can occur before determiners:
Half a century
Half the people in this company can't speak a ...
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Does "chagrin" mean embarrassment or annoyance?
I originally learned this word studying for the GRE:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/magoosh.resources/magoosh-gre-1000-words_oct01.pdf
chagrin (noun): strong feelings of embarrassment
Much to the the timid ...
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Onboard into/onto/to
I'm trying to figure out which is the right preposition to use after "onboard" (in the meaning of "integrate someone into an organization or familiarize him with one's products or ...
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Is it "increase" or "expand" when talking about vocabulary?
When my son said he doesn't recognise all the words in Wordle I commented that he is thus increasing his vocabulary.
He then contended that the correct word should be expanding.
Who is correct?
What ...
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Why is “learning hard” wrong yet “studying hard” is right?
Why does saying learning hard sound so terribly wrong and unnatural, given that working hard, exercising hard,
listening hard, thinking hard, and even it rains hard sound perfectly natural and get ...
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"Starting from version" vs "Starting with version" vs "Beginning with version"
When you write about software it is quite common to read that a certain version has introduced a new feature. Usually the new feature also will be available in later releases. I found three different ...
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Why are the "minutes of a meeting" called so? [closed]
The points discussed in a meeting once written are termed as "minutes" rather than "points".
What is the rationale?
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Can we say "they two" the way we say "you two"?
I am familiar with the expression "you two" used in sentences that address two people at once, as in:
You two weren't present in the meeting.
But is it okay to use this kind of expression ...
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What does the expression "goes the message" mean?
What does the expression "goes the message" mean?
I've just come across this expression and don't know how to explain / understand it.
An example:
Another way showoffs try to show how ...
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Can you ‘join an ideology’?
Obviously the verb join refers conventionally to a group of people, but what about ideologies? Can you ‘join veganism’? Or ‘join communism?’
A quick search showed me that this collocation is far from ...
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Join, join in or take part in a talent show? [closed]
Which of the following has the correct collocation? Please explain the differences. Thank you very much.
A. Tom has joined a talent show.
B. Tom has joined in a talent show.
C. Tom has taken part in a ...
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Is saying high/low (number) wrong?
I got this feedback of "wrong collocation" on my essay.
Here is the line -
The average level of computer ownership in 2002 was in the high fifties (in percentage).
The teacher said that '...
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Are there uses of the word eidetic not involving the word "memory"?
Title says it all. Are there ways to use the word eidetic that don't follow it immediately with the word memory? Seems like a waste of word with wonderfully unusual spelling.
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What's the reason for the word order of "would sooner have"?
I'm a native speaker from the UK, but after living for more than 10 years in a foreign country, I'm beginning to notice how my English is getting much worse.
The other day, I came across a phrase that ...
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What do you call the set of ngrams?
A lexicon is a list of words that belong to a particular language (see this answer).
Is there a name for "the set of all ngrams" ? I mean the set of all consecutive words (collocations and ...
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Collocations for litigation [closed]
In the sentence:
The company's financing prospects worsened after entering litigation
with several of its business partners.
I found this to be a bit vague, and not placing the emphasis on the right ...
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Anecdotic vs. Anecdotal… sometimes synonyms, but fairly non-exchangeable?
I’m a bit puzzled by these two words' meaning.
Observing examples and the use in context it looks like anecdotal is preferred to be used as an adjective with collocations such as: “anecdotal evidence”,...
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Predicative use of 'ongoing'
As a Spanish employee of a German multinational company, I have always cringed at my German colleagues' tendency to give 'ongoing' a predicative use, e.g. 'The meeting is ongoing'. I was sure that ...
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Does the collocation "to have a bad sleep" exist? [closed]
Does the collocation "to have a bad sleep" exist? For example, will it be grammaticaly correct if I use it in the sentence "He had a bad sleep last night and was not able to wake up on ...
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Is respect awarded, accorded or afforded?
I was revising a colleague's work, and saw the phrase "awarded the respect it deserves". This struck me as incorrect, but I was struck harder still by an uncertainty as to whether it ...
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Meaning: in a whirl of excitement
There is a phrase in Daddy-Long-Legs: "in a whirl of excitement". I searched for its meaning but I could not find something precise for that. Please let me know what does exactly that mean?
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"Soil acidification" or "acidification of the soil"?
I'm writing an article for a scientific magazine, and this is a particular example of a general doubt that often happens to me. When should I use "X of Y" instead of "Y X"? I hope ...
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Is the sentence "I could see his pulse beating." correct?
Can we use the verb "beat" for "pulse"? If not, what can we use?
Thank you
user323595
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Delexical verbs
Thanks a lot for your responses.
But let me ask my question in another way:
What's the difference between
a. I had a look around the room.
and
b. I looked around the room?
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Opposite opinion vs Opposing opinion
Suppose I think that puppies are cute (which I do) and someone thinks otherwise (how dare they?), i. e. puppies are not cute. Is the latter the opposing opinion or the opposite opinion? If both ...
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Using of "from what of"
I came across the following sentence, but I'm not sure that it's correct:
From what of the product we could test, there are still some problems.
Could you please tell me if it's a correct form? ...
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Is this collocation correct?
"This process was used to identify..."
I am not sure if "used" is correctly used here along with the word "process". Do you think it is correct, or should I replace it with "performed" or "carried out"...
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which is suitable for wine, "sourness" or "acidity"?
Which adjective is suitable for tastes of wine? And why?
I'd like to know which expression you usually use and if there is any difference.
More context: I had a chance to translate ”酸味”, which ...
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Active to Passive voice: "School classmates make the best friends"
Recently I've encountered one problem which I couldn't solve myself. I have a sentence, "school classmates make the best friends", and I want to rewrite it using the passive voice. However, after ...
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What does "be apparent in" mean?
since it is acknowledged that one’s mastery of language is apparent in their collection of vocabulary, strengthening your vocabulary is a must to anyone and everyone.
"be apparent in" is a ...
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Collocate with adjectives
Recently I have learnt stronger adverbs( absolutely, completely, totally) never collocate with non-extreme adjectives. So how do we know whether we can use "stronger adverbs" with a adj or not? Should ...
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Does it sound strange to write "plant's water and nutrients intake"?
there. I'd like to know if "intake" can be used with "plant" in "plant's water and nutrients intake". Or does it sound strange? Thanks.
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play on the computer
Does 'play on the computer' sound natural? For example, in a sentence like "Kids play on the computer too much these days ignoring other ways of having fun".
I know that I can just say 'computer ...
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How does this sound for native english speakers?
I left out the "I" ("I helped ...") in my last message which is quite common in colloquial german. (Ich habe heute eingekauft => Habe heute eingekauft). But reading this again, I think it might sound ...
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Is “tell advice” not idiomatic over “give advice”?
I was told by some users @Shoe and @Greybeard that “tell [...] advice” is not a collocation used by native speakers at all, “give advice” is the only expression used.
So I investigated to see whether ...
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Difference between drawn and haggard [closed]
In the novel Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon, we read:
She watched Adam now as he sat at his desk looking drawn and haggard.
Dictionaries such as Oxford and Cambridge are showing the same or ...
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Does one "study" a perspective?
Can a perspective be "studied"? And, what other verbs (e.g., understand, read, learn, etc.) can be associated with "perspective" on matters relating to knowledge?
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bitter intensity
What is the meaning of bitter intensity? For example:
Here and there we find a slight suggestion of the bitter intensity of
the poet X.
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Why is it a “garland of sonnets”? [closed]
William Shakespeare is famous for his ________ of sonnets.
A) garland
B) collection
C) anthology
D) couplets
My future and life is depend on this question, it is not about just to tell my teacher. ...
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Nobel prize in literature 2018 - what is "encyclopedic passion"?
The question is inspired by the today's announcement of the Nobel prize awards in Literature for 2018 and 2019.
The short description for Olga Tokarczuk has been worded as follows:
The Nobel Prize ...
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'Cheddar goes "good" with burgers?' Can "go" be seen as a verb of the senses?
I know that the adverb modifies a verb except for in some limited cases such as verbs of the senses or copula.
"It tastes good.", not "It tastes well."
"It looks good.", ...
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“The same with” or “The same as”
My housemate just showed me how to switch off the fire alarm in the kitchen in case that it sounds for no reason. Then I asked him “Can I do the same with the one in my room?”
Is it correct to use “...
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Is it correct to say "I associate my ringtone with a headache"?
The idea is that it is very annoying and I'm tired to hear the same tune over and over again. Please see the full sentence where the phrase is used below:
Aren’t you tired of your old boring ringtone ...
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suitable collocation
Do you have any idea for better collocation?
So I chose decided to study chemical engineering at the university to pursue my passion since at high school we just studied basic concepts.
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Is "stabilize into" a valid collocation? [closed]
Here is the full sentence:
"Despite the fluidity of this trope, in the middle of the twentieth century, it briefly stabilized into a distinct shape".
Thanks for the help!
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How would you describe the movement of a lever?
The story is that I was describing an action happens in the car park in class, and I got stuck, I said something like: "after putting a coin in the slot of the parking meter, then the lever would be ...
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