for, in, of, (a) round. For example: look at, move up, miss out, and keep away Some of the phrasal verbs form one word when they are used as a noun: e.g. crack
down (v) – crackdown (n)
make up (v) – make-up (n)
Idioms are groups of words in a fixed order that have a meaning that cannot
be guessed by knowing the meaning of the individual words. For example, pass
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the buck is an idiom meaning “to pass responsibility for a problem to another
person to avoid dealing with it oneself.
Following methods will be useful for improving the usage of collocations:
1.
Notice collocations. When you are reading, look at which words go
together. If you have to write about a topic, try to find a newspaper article or a
magazine article about that topic and look at the phrases that the journalist uses.
You’ll often see the same phrases again and again. It is a good idea to learn these.
Sample of newspaper articles: Look at these extracts from letters to an international magazine. Global problems. The environment. Your article on climate change was excellent. Rising sea levels and the increase
in greenhouse gases 1 are the result of our actions. We are disturbing the ecological balance everywhere, as can be seen in the decrease in fish stocks 2 in
the oceans.
1
gases which cause the greenhouse effect, especially carbon dioxide
2
the number of fish
It is dear that we must tackle pollution before it is too late. Exhaust fumes from
millions of vehicles and the burning of fossil fuels 3 are causing irreparable 4 damage to our environment.
3
fuels such as gas, coal and oil
4
which cannot be repaired (also irreversible)
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We must accept that we have seriously depleted
