Improve Your Vocabulary with Collocations
Collocations are words that naturally and frequently go together in a language. Instead of choosing words randomly, native speakers tend to use certain combinations that “sound right.” For example, we say ‘make a decision’ (not do a decision) and ‘deeply concerned’. These common word groupings are called collocations. Learning collocations is important because they make your English sound more natural and fluent. Rather than memorizing single words in isolation, it’s more effective to learn words together in the combinations that are commonly used.
Here are some useful collocations related to speaking:
be drawn into an argument
“Be drawn into an argument” means to become involved in an argument, often unwillingly or unintentionally. It suggests that you didn’t plan to argue, but something (or someone) pulled you into the disagreement.
Here are some examples:
I didn’t want to get involved, but I was drawn into an argument between my coworkers.
She tried to stay quiet, but she was drawn into the argument about politics.
He was drawn into an argument after making a small comment.
broach a subject
‘Broach a subject’ means to begin discussing something that you find difficult to talk about. If you ‘broach a subject’, you bring it up for the first time in conversation. Sensitive topics are difficult to broach. Here are some sentence examples:
She carefully broached the subject of moving to another city.
He didn’t know how to broach the subject of money.
I want to broach the subject of workload at the next meeting.
make broad generalizations
If you make a broad generalization, you take a specific situation or limited evidence and apply it to everyone or everything, even when it isn’t true.
Examples:
“Teenagers never listen to adults.”
“People from that city are always rude.”
“All managers care only about profits.”
open your heart to someone
If you ‘open your heart to someone’, you share your true feelings, thoughts, or emotions with someone, usually in a trusting, honest, and vulnerable way. It often implies letting someone understand your deeper self. Opening your heart to someone involves trusting that other person.
Examples:
After years of keeping her worries private, she finally opened her heart to her best friend.
He opened his heart to his partner and talked about his childhood.
Sometimes it’s hard to open your heart to someone new.
Mastering collocations is about noticing how words naturally partner with each other. When you learn collocations, you must learn the combination of words as a formula. Your English will become smoother and more fluent as a result. Pay attention to these patterns while reading and listening, and then actively use them in speaking and writing. Collocations are the building blocks of fluency, and the more you notice them, the more effortlessly your English will flow.
Improve Your Vocabulary with Collocations
