Word combinations in
the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Introduction
Language is like most things - it's
made up of lots of different elements which you have to put together
in the right order. If you're building a house, you can't do it
just with bricks - you need glass for the windows, wood for the
doors, and tiles for the roof. Language is like that. You can't
talk just with verbs, or just with nouns. You need a mixture. Some
words work well together, and some words don't. Words that are often
used together are called collocations, or word combinations.
Example: If a football team wins a
game but it was very close, you can call it a narrow victory. But
the opposite is not called a wide victory - it is called
a decisive victory. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English and the CD-ROM can help you decide which words to use
together.
Collocations are natural chunks of language that work together to express
meaning.
For example:
Ice and poor visibility caused minor accidents all over the country
In English bad visibility sounds OK - but poor visibility is more expressive,
more natural. Our research with the Corpus tells us that native speakers are 10 times more likely to say poor
visibility than bad visibility.
Examples of bad visibility
He should have done that before instead of insisting on our groping
our way up the Pan-Am Highway in darkness and bad visibility.
Flights were not disrupted by the bad visibility.
Examples of poor visibility
However, an extra allowance must be made for any head wind, and in poor
visibility inexperienced pilots should make sure that they are
close enough to keep the field in sight all the time.
The white football he regarded as another non-starter. Designed to counteract
poor visibility on murky winter afternoons, it had been
used in Scotland and by the visiting South Africans in 1924 before Arsenal
adopted it for a public trial match three years later.
The ice and poor visibility caused minor accidents all
over the country.
On the morning that John and I had arranged to do the conversion, the
weather was decidedly bad with poor visibility.
The convoy had escaped discovery until now due to bad weather and
poor visibility, but this was not to continue, and a series of
hard-fought combats now ensued.
It is not advisable to attempt this walk in conditions of poor
visibility since the plateau is featureless and it 's difficult
to know when you are close to the Ben Crom crags.
Avoid strong tides, offshore winds, poor visibility or
sailing in the dark.
We took off into the last of the evening sun in poor visibility
and I do not recall seeing any of the aircraft that took-off infrontof
me rise in the evening murk.
They would make a high approach, taking advantage of the poor
visibility at midday, bomb the place and beat it for home.
There is a lot of sheet ice and it is treacherous, even not taking into
consideration the poor visibility.
The offending driver may occasionally admit this fact but failing that
the poor visibility must be proved.
It's not easy to guess which words go together. A dictionary can help.
A dictionary on CD-ROM can give even more help and information. It makes
it easy to check the meanings of words which are used with the word you
are looking up.
The left-hand column shows a list of word combinations that are not
natural. Write the correct combination in the right-hand column.
When you have completed the exercise, click "Check" to find
out if you are right or wrong. If the text goes green, then you are correct,
if it goes red, then you are incorrect.
Words used with nouns
Many nouns are used with a particular verb. Thoughts occur
to you; situations arise, profits may soar. Often
it is difficult to guess which is the right verb.
Try this exercise: Some of the combinations listed in the left-hand column
are not natural English. Type the right combination in the right-hand
column.
When you have completed the exercise, click "Check" to find
out if you are right or wrong. If the text goes green, then you are correct,
if it goes red, then you are incorrect.
A dictionary which shows the most natural collocations will improve
a learner's fluency.
Example 1:
This dictionary entry for deadline tells you what the student can do
(meet the deadline or miss it); and what the teacher can do (set or impose
a deadline):
This CD-ROM entry for light shows you which verbs are usually used with
it. It also gives you lots of extra help with how to put the word into
a sentence when you need to use it.
By using the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the
new CD-ROM, learners have access to the maximum help available with collocations,
making their language more natural.
