Collocations Workshop

LEVEL: B1 (Intermediate)

PRESENTATION

Collocations are words that we use together often.

verb + noun: score a goal
verb + -ing form: go shopping
verb + adjective: get fit

It’s important to know collocations for your fluent speaking. Besides, it will help you in your exams as the missing words in gap-fill exercises often form collocations with the words before or after the gap.

Don’t worry, you know lots already!

PRACTICE

I. Match the words 1-6 with words a-f to make collocations:

1. pass/fail
2. primary/private
3. set (yourself)
4. go
5. get
6. specialise 		a. in
b. goals
c. an exam
d. (good/bad) marks
e. swimming/running
f. school

II. Put the collocations from ex. 1 in the categories below:

verb+ -ing form __
adjective + noun __		 verb + noun __ __ __
verb + preposition __

III. What part of speech do you need in each gap: noun (n), verb (v), adjective (adj) or preposition (prep)?

  1. Example: I went to a ….school which was very expensive (adj)
  2. Mark goes …..… every morning before school. ___
  3. Kate is unhappy because she ……. an important exam yesterday. __
  4. Our school specialises …………. art subjects. ___
  5. You must learn to set yourself……….. which you can achieve.__

Now complete the gaps with words from example 1.

IV. Choose the best phrase from the box to match with the verb, as in the example.

a lot of time……..money………an illness……….an account………a flat………a hobby………. a phone number………..part-time………..an accident…………a living
1. Ex: spend a lot of time
2. dial ……………..……
3. earn…………….…….
4. prevent……………….
5. raise……………..…..		 6. recover from……..
7. rent……………………
8. take up …………..…..
9. work…………….……
10. open …………

V. Now complete the sentences below with the collocations from ex.4:

Example: Anna and her friend spend a lot of time watching DVDs.

  1. Alex and Amy are still at school, but they …………. in their mum’s restaurant.
  2. Sarah, when you leave school, how are you going to …………?
  3. Max and Joe had to ………. when they went to study at university.
  4. I tried to ……….. to ask about the room to share but no one answered.
  5. Debbie is trying to ……… to start her own clothes-making business.
  6. It is very important to try to …………and injuries at work.
  7. Pete stayed in hospital for two weeks to …………… .
  8. When Helen retired, she decided to …………. . She chose painting.
  9. After Matt got married, he decided to ………….. from a bank to set up his own business.
  10. The landlord didn’t accept credit cards so Julie had to ……….. to pay her first month’s rent.

PRODUCTION

I. Give your partner the 1st part of some collocations from the exercises above and ask him/her to complete them.

II. Write 5 sentences using 2 collocations in each of them.

Listen to your partner’s sentences and write down the collocations you hear in his/her sentences.

Key

I. 1) c; 2) f; 3) b; 4) e; 5) d; 6) a.
II. verb + -ing form: 4e; verb + noun: 1c, 3b, 5d; verb + preposition: 6a; adjective + noun 2f.
III. 1) private (adj); 2) swimming/running (n); 3) failed (v); 4) in (prep) ; 5) goals (n)
IV. 2) a phone number, 3) a living, 4) an accident, 5) money, 6) an illness, 7) a flat, 8) a hobby, 9) part-time, 10) an account
V. 1) work part-time; 2) earn a living; 3) rent a flat; 4) dial a phone number; 5) raise money; 6) prevent accidents; 7) recover from an illness; 8) take up a hobby; 9) borrow money; 10) write a cheque

Материалы предоставлены компанией S2A – эксклюзивным представителем Pearson Test of English в Украине.