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.
0
votes
2answers
26 views
Is “stabilize into” a valid collocation?
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!
0
votes
1answer
49 views
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
115 views
Is “All MEEMIES are SCREAMING” a Strong Collocation?
Stormy Petrels:
According to this article Elliott Moreton categorize particular group of words as "Stormy Petrels".
A stormy petrel, also known as a storm petrel, is an Atlantic seabird (also ...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
What does “social ease” mean?
I saw this collocation in a book, but I didn't find something on my dictionary, so I decided to ask you.
"Our mind-reading abilities play a key role in our work and relationship successes, our sense ...
1
vote
2answers
59 views
Bring is standard and good verb and collocation for “Excuse”?
Do you think "bring" verb is a suitable and correct verb and collocation for using with "Excuse"? I didn't see it in any famous dictionaries, including Oxford Collocations Dictionary and I guess it's ...
-1
votes
1answer
42 views
“A servile propaganda operation”: is the “propaganda operation” collocation leveraged proper in this context?
[...] has ever had at his disposal—a servile propaganda operation.1
I was looking at some ngram for collocations with propaganda and there are many more results with campaign and machine for instance ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
Odd sounding phrasal verb splits with specific pronouns. Are there rules? [duplicate]
Give the examples...
A:
Did you check it out?
Did you check the book out?
Did you check Netflix out?
Did you check the recommendation out?
Did you clean it out?
Did you wipe it off?
Did you log it ...
0
votes
1answer
26 views
“have a refined bearing” OR “have a bearing with/of refinement”
thank you for answering my question.
I was learning "bearing" with all its collocations, and there I learned that it can be used to describe the way in which someone move/stand/behave.
I recalled ...
0
votes
1answer
107 views
Why is 'have difficulties' incorrect? [closed]
But it is far enough away that early explorers had difficulty/difficulties finding it.
What should I choose completing the exam task?
There is the answer 'difficulty' in the keys but the authors do ...
0
votes
3answers
87 views
What words go together with savvy? Business-savvy? Technology-savvy? [closed]
Are there rules to matching words with savvy?
1
vote
1answer
183 views
Undergo vs Suffer an accident
I was doing a CAE Practice Test on Use of English (It is a multiple choice exercise) when I came across the following example:
Her life was cut tragically short. She ______ a horrific accident at
...
0
votes
1answer
18 views
what is the sentence pattern in following sentence, specificcally what is the function of 'consistent with'?
Consistent with maximizing the impact of rewards, managers should look for ways to increase their visibility.
2
votes
2answers
43 views
Repeat/repeated offender
In legal talk, specifically regarding criminals, it is standard usage to call someone who has broken the law several times a "repeat offender." However, I don't understand why such a person wouldn't ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
What is the correct way to say “have a shot (of a drink) in praise of your youth days”?
What is the correct, usual way in English to say "have a shot (of a drink) in praise of your youth days"?
2
votes
3answers
208 views
What's the difference between 'left out' and 'missed out'?
There is a sentence:
Negative comments were left out.
Can I say:
Negative comments were missed out. ?
What is general different between miss out and left out ?
I'm not sure which tags I should ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
“A comment is in place”
Does the following collocation exist in English?
a comment is in place
If not, do you recognize it as an improper loan from another language? It is used by a writer to communicate that, before ...
5
votes
2answers
90 views
'The phrase “cute puppy,”is not considered a collocation.' Is this correct?
I am a data scientist who has a question about collocations based on a book I am reading. The book is "Feature Engineering for Machine Learning: Principles and Techniques for Data Scientists" by ...
0
votes
3answers
77 views
Relieve feelings
When we want to mean
" lessen the intensity of the feelings"
，we often use the phase
"calm someone down".
However,a few days ago, I heard somebody say something like this
‘‘Ever after my ...
1
vote
1answer
108 views
Collocation: Rates are large/small or high/low?
What is the proper adjective for rates?
"..the learning rate is low/high.."
or
"..the learning rate is small/large.."
It seems that there are different opinions:
Numbers can be described using ...
0
votes
1answer
22 views
What are tax-derived finances?
Maybe this is not a question relating to the usage of the English language. I struggle to find the explanation of "tax-derived finances".
Here is the context:
"The principal reasons for this are ...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
achieve (at least some) reduction
In an article I am writing, I use the following sentence:
"Despite our hypothesis, the time-based switching strategy performs the best and achieves at least 29% reduction in falls."
I am confused ...
1
vote
1answer
303 views
Which is idiomatic: “kite is flying” or “kite is floating”? [closed]
Is it idiomatic to say "A kite is floating in the sky"?
Most of the time I see "A kite is flying in the sky".
4
votes
3answers
225 views
How to use the word “ripped”?
My heart was ripped, you sewed it with your thread of love.
And when you saw other ripped heart you asked me for your thread and unsewed my heart and left it ripped again, I saw you as a stitcher ...
0
votes
1answer
174 views
Can we “give kind cooperation”?
Is it correct to write the sentence below?
All participants gave good cooperation in the workshop.
Please suggest.
-1
votes
2answers
70 views
can one say “he is my biggest example”?
can one say "he is my biggest example" (if one wants to say someone serves as a shining/inspiring/great example for oneself)? Or in other words does example collocate with big(gest)? (Non-native ...
-1
votes
1answer
2k views
“Apply to” vs “apply for”
Do I need to be registered before I can apply for university
Do I need to be registered before I can apply to university
Do I need to be registered before I can apply for my Bachelor of ...
0
votes
0answers
43 views
Comedy movie vs. comedy
In Check Your Vocabulary for Natural English Collocations by Jon Marks and Alison Wooder there is an exercise about choosing a word which makes an awkward collocation:
a low-budget/comedy/science ...
1
vote
2answers
91 views
Can the word “go” be used as a helping verb?
For instance:
“Go eat your dinner.”
It appears that the word “go” is being used as a helping verb. Is it being used a helping verb? If so, can “go” only be used as a helping verb in imperative ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
What is the correct way to collocate something average and a period of time? [duplicate]
I want to translate "average monthly salary" into English, in relation to a specific period which is "from September to April" (non-inclusive).
Will it be correct to just concatenate these two ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
Giant slayer, witch hunter: why the singular form? [duplicate]
It is clear that the meaning of the collocations is:
slayer of giants
hunter of witches
But, why do they stay in singular when they are in a juxtaposition?
What is their grammatical funticion? Which ...
-1
votes
1answer
72 views
what does the word “comprised” mean in this context? + a question about collocation
1- I found this on the CNN web page:
"We request the FBI open an immediate investigation to determine if these reports are accurate and to explore the extent to which information and sources may ...
1
vote
1answer
20k views
What is the meaning of “power dynamics”?
I've seen this words in news article and books but have no idea what it means.
I've googled everywhere but couldn't find any answers.
Can someone elaborate what it means?
I'm guessing maybe it's ...
0
votes
0answers
49 views
complicated / complex and possible modifiers
A text I wrote (well, translated actually) contained the phrase:
"the question is highly complex".
After more than a year (!) it's been returned to me with some corrections, and the phrase above ...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
How best to describe poor communication in terms of low-rate of exchanged messages
I had a communication problem with a customer via an instant messenger.
Please advice on how to say formally that I had to wait long for his responses and we exchanged just a few phrases per day.
I ...
1
vote
4answers
404 views
What is the opposite of bored stiff?
I'm reading "Cambridge Collocation in use" and find this sentence
( I’m bored stiff in this lesson!) so can I use Stiff with another word to make the sentence opposite?
Thanks
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Is the phrase “Shape outlines of something” correct? [closed]
Is the phrase "shaped the outlines" grammatically correct in this sentence? I want it to indicate that this subject played a key role in shaping my interests:
By introducing leading approaches to ...
2
votes
1answer
141 views
Why and how did “Shinto shrine” largely replace “Shinto temple”?
According to ngrams, "Shinto shrine" and "Shinto temple" were roughly equal in popularity until the 1930s, but nowadays, "Shinto shrine" is roughly 9 or 10 times more common than "Shinto temple", ...
1
vote
3answers
428 views
”…you think of (or) about tomato ketchup”? [closed]
Please help me find the correct answer
When you think about Heinz, you may probably think ______ tomato ketchup.
In the blank space, is the correct preposition about or of?
0
votes
1answer
603 views
What does “black voice” mean?
What does "black voice" mean? I've seen it in the Peter Pan book:
'Captain, let go,' he cried, writhing. Now for the first time we hear the voice of Hook. It was a black voice. 'Put back that ...
2
votes
0answers
55 views
Broken down by year [article]
With nouns like age or gender, the phrase "Distribution disaggregated by age/gender" sounds fine (at least to me).
As for the noun "year", which is countable, "disaggregated by year" makes me doubt ...
2
votes
2answers
714 views
'Except for' vs. 'Except on'
I am available on weekdays, except on Thursdays.
I am available on weekdays, except for Thursdays.
I have found two threads talking about it, but in both of them there were suggestions to change the ...
2
votes
6answers
1k views
The electricity _______ [closed]
My questions is slightly different than the one suggested.
For my MA study I am working with oral messages produced by learners of English as a foreign language. So, while the most appropriate form ...
0
votes
0answers
116 views
The next of the week (the structure and meaning)
I have just received an e-mail where a friend of mine (unlike me, a native English speaker) used the phrase "till the next of the week". How common is this? I have been using English as the primary ...
0
votes
3answers
58 views
extreme situations in a fuzzy phenomenon [closed]
I wanna point to extreme cases of a fuzzy phenomenon but I don't know how to call them:
- two ends of the spectrum
- two head of the spectrum
- ...
I'm wondering if someone tell me, how a native ...
-1
votes
1answer
940 views
Whisper into or whisper in?
Which is the correct one:
She whispered in his ear.
Or
She whispered into his ear.
1
vote
1answer
627 views
Which verb should I use that means to have somebody's trust for a long time? [closed]
What is the right verb for when we want others' trust for a long period? Do we keep, retain or preserve their trust ... ?
Example:
By speaking only the truth I can ... their trust for a long ...
1
vote
0answers
412 views
delighted by/at/with/that/to [closed]
I'm delighted at/by the way she takes care of me.
I'm delighted at/by how she dances.
I'm delighted with the way she takes care of me.
I'm delighted with my new xbox.
I'm delighted that she was able ...
0
votes
0answers
348 views
Distinguishing between animate and inanimate by using “specified by” versus “specified with”
I am curious about the following problem:
The amount was specified by Stephen.
The amount was specified with Stephen.
The amount was specified by a coefficient.
The amount was specified with a ...
3
votes
2answers
9k views
Does “ since forever” make sense?
I've heard "since forever" used by many. I can't get my head around the contradiction in terms. Is it correct?
3
votes
1answer
13k views
“apply to” vs. “apply for” an opportunity
I am trying to complete the following sentence:
" . . . where certification qualifies students to apply [prep.] a wider range of employment and higher learning opportunities."
I have noted the ...
