Collocation - empirical etc.

Aim:
This slideshow page contains links to vocabulary resources, and a matching exercise on this vocabulary.

Collocation is a group of two or more words that often go together. This can be with

• verbs and nouns; e.g. 'to chair a meeting',
• adjectives and nouns; e.g. 'critical thinking', or
• adjectives and prepositions; e.g. 'interested in'.

In fact collocation happens between words of many parts of speech.

Knowing collocations will improve your English speaking and writing because:

• using the wrong collocations is an error
• using correct collocations shows that your English is good
• using correct collocations makes your English more like a native speaker

Instructions:
For each word you can click on the links to get a definition, example sentences, pronunciation or a Chinese translation.

Introduction:

Instructions:
Match the items in the boxes on the left with the items on the right:

1. Click in the table cell containing the item you want to move.
2. Click in the table cell where you want the item to go. The words will swap position.
3. If an item is in the right position, it will have a green background and a tick.
4. When all the table cells are green and have ticks, you have finished.