Advanced Collocations: Words That Live Together

Some words simply “live together” in English — native speakers use one specific verb or adjective with a given noun, and any other choice sounds slightly off.

Notice

  • “Conduct research,” not “make research.”
  • “Draw a conclusion,” not “take a conclusion.”
  • “Pose a threat,” not “make a threat” (though “make a threat” exists with a different nuance — a direct verbal threat).
  • “Bear in mind,” not “have in mind” (which means something slightly different — to already be planning something).

Rule

Rule: these are collocations — words that habitually occur together, not because of a grammar rule, but because of convention. At C2, sounding natural depends heavily on knowing the “right” collocation, since a grammatically correct but uncollocated phrase (like “make research”) immediately marks a speaker as non-native.

Practice

  1. Which verb collocates with “research”: “make,” “do,” or “conduct” (most formal)?
    Answer: “Conduct” is the most formal/academic collocation; “do research” is also correct and more neutral.
  2. Which verb collocates with “a conclusion”: “draw,” “take,” or “make”?
    Answer: “Draw a conclusion” is the correct collocation.
  3. Complete the collocation: “Please ___ in mind that the deadline is Friday.”
    Answer: “…bear in mind that the deadline is Friday.”
  4. Why can uncollocated (but grammatically correct) English sound “foreign” even when it is technically not wrong?
    Answer: Because native fluency depends on conventional word pairings, not just grammar rules — an unusual pairing sounds unnatural even if it is understandable.

Connect

Test your knowledge of advanced collocations with the Vocabulary Quiz.

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CEFR: C2

Azizul Hakim
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