Unit 5.1

Adjective and Noun Collocations


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Introduction

A collocation is a pair or group of words that habitually appear together.

Adjectives and nouns can have a particular collocation to convey a specific meaning.

Form

We form adjectives and noun collocations by putting adjectives before nouns.

The most commonly used adjectives and nouns collocations are:

  • Big disappointment, big failure, big mistake, big surprise…;
  • Heavy bag, heavy box, heavy rain, heavy snow, heavy suitcase, heavy traffic…;
  • Rich culture, rich history, rich people, rich vocabulary…;
  • Strong accent, strong drink, strong smell, strong taste, strong wind…

Example

  • The documentary was a big disappointment.
  • He admitted he made a big mistake.
  • We were walking in heavy rain.
  • You shouldn’t carry such a heavy suitcase alone.
  • I was late due to heavy traffic.
  • Rich people can afford to buy everything they want.
  • She reads a lot of books and has a rich vocabulary.
  • The man just wanted a strong drink.
  • This coffee has a very strong smell.
  • The strong wind stopped us from going for a walk yesterday.

Use

Before a specific noun we must put only a specific adjective to convey a specific meaning. If we use another adjective, the meaning could sound strange and not natural.

Summary

Collocations are a pair or group of words which habitually appear together to convey a whole new meaning.

We use adjectives and nouns collocations putting adjectives before nouns.

The most commonly used adjectives and nouns collocations are:

  • Big disappointment, big failure, big mistake, big surprise…;
  • Heavy bag, heavy box, heavy rain, heavy snow, heavy suitcase, heavy traffic…;
  • Rich culture, rich history, rich people, rich vocabulary…;
  • Strong accent, strong drink, strong smell, strong taste, strong wind…

For example:
— “She has a strong Italian accent.” = The word accent is placed after the adjective strong in the sentence.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

Related

Adjectives and nouns collocations are used to convey a whole new meaning. In addition to adjective and noun collocations; we also have Verbs and prepositions collocations.

For better understanding about the form of Adjective and noun collocations, you can learn about Adjectives used only in attributive position.

In A2 level, you can learn more about Common Preposition; Prepositions of time (locate an event in a time frame); Prepositions of place (locate an event in a space frame); and Prepositions of movement (express movement or directions).

Exercises

External link to Adjective and Noun Collocations exercises (157).



More exercises

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