The Living Dictionary

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. See example
Mick Murphy

Combinations of words can express meaning

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.

See example

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.

See example

Getting the help you need from the dictionary

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English can help you choose the right verbs to use with nouns and the right adverbs to use with adjectives.

Examples:

take a bath / have a bath		do a bath
commit a crime		make a crime

See example

Try this exercise:

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):

See sample

Example 2:

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.

See example

Nouns are also used with adjectives. Students need to know which adjectives to use with which nouns. The dictionary can help with this too.

See example

Words used with verbs

Often the meaning of a verb depends on the nouns it is used with. You can follow advice or you can follow instructions

See example

Verbs and the nouns they are used with (or collocate with) are highlighted in dark type to show they function as phrases.

Over 300 entries have collocation boxes showing you the full range of collocates for the major meaning of a word.

See example

The CD-ROM can give even more help - it has room for extra examples which aren't in the book.

See example

Adjectives and their collocates

Some adjectives change their meaning according to the nouns they are used with:

See example

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.

Mick Murphy, Senior Editor

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English