ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS Final assignment for Semantics

MÉu b×a bµi tËp c¸c m«n häc PAGE English collocations by Do Thu Phuong – k18C Vietnam National University of Hanoi University of Languages and International studies Post Graduate Studies ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS Final assignment for Semantics Student’s name Do Thu Phuong Course K18, 2009 2011 Lecturer’s name Dr Ha Cam Tam Due date June 28, 2010 Hanoi 2010 ABSTRACT This research paper aims at discovering English collocations which have received less attention than idioms or phrasal verbs so far Withi.

University of Languages and International studies

Post Graduate Studies

ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS Final assignment for Semantics

Student’s name: Do Thu Phuong Course: K18, 2009 - 2011 Lecturer’s name: Dr Ha Cam Tam Due date: June 28, 2010

Hanoi - 2010

This research paper aims at discovering English collocations which have received less attention than idioms or phrasal verbs so far Within the scope of this final assignment, focus is put on an overview of English collocations but no comparison with other related phenomena, and the examples for illustration are extracted mainly from the course books (New Headway Intermediate 3rd edition and New Headway pre-Intermediate 3rd edition)

By using reliable secondary data and authentic primary data, I will present several features and categories of English collocations and illustrated them by different examples Besides, from my observations and personal teaching experience, I would like to give some advice on how to learn collocations naturally and teach them effectively

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

CONTENT

1 Definition of English collocations

2 Features of English collocations

2.1 Arbitrariness

2.1.1 Arbitrariness in formation

2.1.2 Arbitrary restriction

2.2 Syntactic modifiability

3 Classifications of English collocations

4 Discussions and recommendations

4 4 4

4 4 5 5

5 7

CONCLUSION

Reference

Appendix

10 11 12

As a teacher of English at Hanoi University of Technology, I have been trying hard to find an appropriate way to enrich vocabulary for my technical students who are always concerning the meaning of a word only However, when learning vocabulary, it is not just enough for students to know the meaning of a word because they need to pronounce it correctly

as well as identify its grammar characteristics and more importantly, they need to know which words it usually collocates with

Fortunately, my first year students’ main course books (New Headway pre-Intermediate, 3rd edition and New Headway pre-Intermediate, 3rd edition) include 5 out of 12 vocabulary units about word collocations Those parts give our students a good opportunity to enrich their vocabulary and make correct sentences

However, many teachers at my English department, I included, find English collocations rather confusing On the one hand, English words are collocated almost arbitrarily

On the other hand, the collocations are so diverse and even mistaken from idioms and multiword units To overcome these problems, I decided to conduct a research on English collocations From the discussions and findings, I would like to propose some pieces of advice for learning and teaching collocations in general and those in our main course books in particular

1 Definition of English collocations

The term “collocation” was first mentioned in the 19th century by J.R.Firth but until now it still remains a headache with different views from linguists and researchers From a more applied linguistic point of view, “collocation” is defined as follows: “Collocation is concerned with the ways words occur together, often in unpredictable ways” (Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell) or “Collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing” (Oxford Collocations Dictionary) or

“Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly Collocations refer to restrictions on how words can be used together, for instance, which prepositions are used with the particular verbs or which verbs and nouns are used together”

From the above-mentioned definitions, we can generally understand that collocation is

the way words often go together For example, we often say fast food, fast train, but it seems to

be unnatural to say quick food or quick train but quick meal or quick shower although those adjectives have the same meaning In other cases, we may hear strong coffee rather than powerful coffee, a nice horse but not a beautiful horse Moreover, we often say make a cake but never do a cake, do homework, but not make homework, and so on.

2 Features of English collocations

2.1 Arbitrariness

2.1.1 Arbitrariness in formation

The arbitrariness in formation of English collocations can be seen easily from several examples in the previous part In fact, there is no cohesive rule for the formation of collocations As a result, the best way for English learners to use collocations correctly is to

learn by heart They may learn such phrases as make peace/war but do military service, drink water but take medicine without being able to explain its co-occurrence principles Although

advanced learners and native speakers know collocations well and use them naturally, they still

fail to explain why tell the truth is correct while say the truth is unacceptable

2.1.2 Arbitrary restriction on the substitution of the elements of a collocation

The arbitrariness also takes place in the substitution of the elements of a collocation

From time to time, the substitution is restricted For example, we can say highly sophisticated,

and we can say extremely happy Both adverbs have the same lexical function, which is adding

the degree, or magnifying the impact of the adjectives (sophisticated, happy) However, they

are not interchangeable Still, other adverbs, such as very can replace both highly and extremely.

2.2 Syntactic modifiability

Unlike the majority of idioms, collocations are subject to syntactic modification In other words, the position of components in some collocations can be interchangeable following

grammatical rules For instance, we can say effective writing and write effectively, or it rains heavily and heavy rain

3 Classification of English collocations

English collocations can be classified into various categories based on different criteria, namely structure, semantic relations and strength In the scope of my study and with a view to helping my students use English collocations effectively, I would like to classify English collocations according to the criterion of structure

English collocations are structurally divided into two main types: lexical collocations and grammatical collocations The former are those that consist of at least one preposition that

is fixed in the collocation and the other is a base word such as noun, verb or adjective There are four patterns of grammatical collocations:

 Noun + Preposition: approval of, solution to, in favor of

 He finally managed to find the solution to the problem.

 The agreement still lacks approval of the committee.

 I am no longer in favor of his aggressive attitude.

 Verb + Preposition: think of, lead to, access to

 Let’s think of both bad and good points.

 His carelessness led to a series of serious consequences.

 It is not easy for students in rural areas to get access to Internet.

 Adjective + Preposition: interested in, afraid of, and surprised at

 We are not interested in learning technical terms.

 Do not be afraid of hardship.

 All students in class Bk30 were surprised at Hung’s mark in English final test.

 Preposition + Noun: at home, by mistake, on purpose

 Remember to revise the lesson at home.

 I took your handbag home by mistake.

 He was claimed to cheat in the exam on purpose.

The latter or lexical collocations, in contrast, do not include any preposition but only content words such as noun, verb, adjective or adverb There sub patterns are as follows:

 Adverb + Adjective

 This is the most surprisingly modern style I have ever seen

 We entered a colorfully decorated room

 Are you fully aware of the implications of your action?

 Adjective + Noun

 The doctor ordered him to take regular exercise

 The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage

 He has been digging the garden in hot weather.

 Noun + Noun

 Jack has gone for a job interview

 The ceasefire agreement came into effect at 11am

 I'd like to buy two bars of soap please.

 Noun + Verb

 His face is burning because he has been digging in the garden all morning

 Snow was falling as our plane took off

 The bomb went off when he started the car engine.

 Verb + Noun

 Hurry up or you will miss the bus

 I always try to do my homework in the morning, after making my bed

 He has been asked to give advice on this issue.

 Verb + Adjective

 She fell asleep during the lecture.

 How to keep fit and stay healthy?

 This type of fish sauce smells terrible

 Verb + Adverb

 I did my homework quickly and run as fast as possible to the amusement center

 Mary whispered softly in John's ear

 I vaguely remember that it was growing dark when we left.

 Adverb + Verb

 I wonder why you can peacefully sleep during my lecture.

 Highly appreciate your prompt response

 You only half understand what I mean

4 Discussions and recommendations

From the previous parts, you can see that it is totally not easy to learn and use English collocations expertly and naturally Here are some pieces of advice that you should follow to learn them:

 Be aware of collocations, and try to recognize them when you see or hear them

 Treat collocations as single blocks of language Think of them as individual blocks or

chunks, and learn strongly support, not strongly + support

 When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it (remember rightly, remember distinctly, remember vaguely, remember vividly)

 Read as much as possible as reading is an excellent way to learn vocabulary and

collocations in context and naturally

 Revise what you learn regularly and practice using new collocations in context as soon

as possible after learning them

 Learn collocations in groups that work for you You could learn them by topic (time,

number, weather, money, family) or by a particular word (take action, take a chance, take an exam)

 You can find information on collocations in any good learner's dictionary and you can also find specialized dictionaries of collocations

Once you have mastered the English collocations, you will manage to find an appropriate method to teach them From my observations and teaching experience, students often make no distinction between grammatical collocations and lexical collocations What they want to learn is how to find the right collocated words to make meaningful sentences Therefore, it is not necessary to emphasize the two categories of collocation but focus more on the patterns

Among all patterns provided in the two course books, the verb + noun patterns are the most widely used and tested However, students also often get confused with the patterns as they are so diverse To solve the problems, many teachers have tried to input them in students’ memory by encouraging them to practice through a lot of exercise like matching, identifying a verb that does not go with one among a group of nouns, fill in the blank with a correct noun/verb, etc) In my opinion, exercise is effective in helping students consolidate what they have learnt and it really works well if the exercise is designed carefully The following is an

extra exercise to help students identify different collocations of “make, do, take and get” when

they learn vocabulary about hot verbs on page 73, New Headway pre-Intermediate, 3rd edition

Fill in each blank with make, do, take or get

1………war/peace

2………nothing

Besides pictures, games also show its great significance in teaching collocations because the language output or the need to speak and write to express themselves in the games actually urges students to learn the collocations Just make sure the games can cover the collocations they have learned and they should be challenging enough to encourage and motivate students

CONCLUSION

English collocations are almost vital to those who learn English, especially the advanced learners and language teachers By mastering the collocations, your language will be

more natural and more easily understood Moreover, you will have alternative and richer ways

of expressing yourself and it is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words

Due to the limit of the final assignment, my research can cover neither the different views to explain the collocation phenomenon in English nor the distinction from some related language phenomena such as idioms, multiword units, etc However, I hope that my study will

be a useful source for my colleagues who have to teach collocations required by the course books and for those who want to learn more about English collocations

1 John and Liz Soars New Headway pre-Intermediate 3rd edition Student’s book Oxford University Press

2 John and Liz Soars New Headway Intermediate 3rd edition Student’s book Oxford University Press

3 Le Thi An Son, “English Collocations and the translation of lexical collocations into Vietnamese in literary context” B.A Thesis - Hanoi University of Technology, 2006

4 Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell “English Collocations in use” Cambridge University Press

5 Norbert Schmitt (2000).Vocabulary in language Teaching Cambridge University Press

6 Stuart Redman (1999).Basic Vocabulary in Use Cambridge University Press

7 “Collocations – samples” Online posting

http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations-samples.htm

8 Deveci, Tanij “Why and how to teach Collocations” Online posting

Short lists of common collocations extracted from vocabulary in New Headway

pre-Intermediate 3 rd edition and New Headway Intermediate, 3 rd edition.

Lexical collocations

have a bath get permission A bar of soap

a bar of chocolatea bar

Airmail have a good time Get nowhere A bar of chocolates Airport

have a rest

have lunch

Get a message A bottle of wine Hairdresser have lunch/dinner go camping A bottle of champagne Toothpaste

do business go fishing A bunch of flowers Toothbrush

do someone a favor Go overseas A bunch of people Dining room

do the housework go on foot A cube of sugar Waiting room

do the washing up Go wrong A pile of plates Birthday card

do your best go for a walk A pile of clothes Business card

do your hair go bankrupt A roll of toilet paper Shopping center

do your homework Say hello A school of fish Shopping list

make a mess Say goodbye A group of people Window frame

make a mistake Tell the time A flock of birds Sunset

make a noise Tell the truth A pack of cards Sunglasses

make an effort Tell a lie A package of tea Suntan

make a fortune Tell a joke A sheet of paper Teacup

make progress Lose weight A plate of metal Teapot

take a break Gain weight A piece of cake Post office

take a rest Keep a promise A piece of information Postcard

take a seat Keep a secret A cup of tea/coffee fireplace

take a taxi Keep the peace A class of beer Fire engine

take an exam Give advice A package of tea firework

take notes Give information A pair of jeans Sleeping pill

Get lost Give a present A pair of scissors Sleeping child

Get married Miss the family A dozen of eggs Toilet paper

Get divorced Miss the ball A tube of toothpaste keyboard