Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
Has a native English speaker ever said to you
"Hmm... What you said doesn't sound right. "
"We just wouldn't say it like that."
Often, this is simply because you've used
the wrong words in combination with each other.
There are only a small number of words
that work with a single word in English.
Take the word question for example.
It's a noun, or it can be a verb, but it's a noun!
And there are a group of adjectives
that are often used with this noun to help describe it.
An awkward question or a difficult question.
There are also a group of verbs that are often used with
Now, compare this to the verb, make,
which is not usually used with question.
Certain adverbs and prepositions are also used
with question when others are not.
When words go together like this,
words that frequently occur together
The reason why native speakers say
that something you said sounds weird or strange
is because they're not used to hearing
They don't often get said together,
Part of the problem is that you're probably translating
Words that are commonly used together
if you translate those words directly, you get
which is not the correct way to say this in English.
Can you think of any examples in your own language
Where you translate words directly and it just
doesn't work in English, it doesn't make sense.
I'm sure you can think of some that you already know.
It's likely that collocation is the problem
that you're just using the wrong words together.
The problem here is that it's very easy
and use words that sound okay in your own language,
when you translate them in your head,
but they sound strange or even wrong
in that combination in English.
To explore the idea of collocations a little more,
we're going to focus on just one simple verb, make.
And we'll explore some of the common collocations
specifically, make, with a noun or a noun phrase.
And we just have to start with food.
The verb make is so commonly used with
It's used with meals like lunch, dinner, breakfast.
I prefer to make breakfast at home on Sundays.
You can use it with food, cake, soup, dessert.
If you're making dinner, I'll make dessert!
But there are many other nouns
make a note of the ones that you don't know
and look them up in the dictionary after this lesson.
He's made the decision to quit his job after 15 years.
Love.
They made love the night before he left the country.
they made him an offer he couldn't refuse!
We don't want to make any assumptions yet,
We've made some really good friends
Can I borrow your phone, I need to make a quick call.
You can make a sound or a noise.
If we make a noise, they'll hear us.
I make my bed as soon as I get up in the morning.
If you're unhappy with the service,
You need to make him an apology.
Note here, that it's quite formal
to use make with complaint and apology.
In informal speech and writing,
you can use the verb forms complain and apologise
If you are unhappy with the service,
when we went out for dinner last night.
Have you made any plans for your summer holidays?
I'll admit that we may have made a mistake there.
After three years, the business is finally making a profit!
But equally, you can also use make with loss.
After three years, the business is still making a loss.
Once the groom made his speech, the music started.
Effort. You can make an effort.
He really made an effort to have fun at the party.
I think we've invited about 200 people..
I really should make a list so I know for sure!
I heard he made his money on the internet.
Your son has made a lot of progress at school this year.
He needs to make a statement to the police.
After our poor performance last month,
You can make an error, which is similar to a mistake.
Uh ohh.. I think I've made an error.
You made me a promise last year!
Time. She needs to make more time for her family.
So Emma what nouns aren't used with make?
but some of the common mistakes are
He's making a party on Friday night.
Don't use make with party in English.
The artist makes her pictures outside.
The verbs draw, create, paint a picture are possible
We're making a barbecue in the park tonight,
The verbs have and cook are possible here
but make just doesn't make sense.
Make an accident is also incorrect.
I hope they didn't make an accident.
The verbs have, saw and cause are possible here
The idea of English collocations
We just focused on the verb make
and look at all of the different nouns
But learning words together like this in chunks
in common collocations is a really good idea.
You're learning and practising a word along with
the other words that it commonly appears with.
Next time you learn a new word, I want you to try it.
Let's say you just heard the noun, innovation,
and you wanted to spend some time exploring
some of the words that it's commonly used with.
And you can easily do that using an English
I've got a few links to some good ones
but innovation is commonly used with the adjectives
technical, scientific, educational innovation,
Scientific innovations are helping
the team to develop new technologies.
that are used with innovation.
encourage creativity and innovation.
Occur. How does innovation occur?
And a common preposition used with innovation is in.
allowed the research to progress.
Well I really hoped that this lesson helped you to see the
value of learning common collocations together,
learning words in chunks together to train your brain
which words to use with other words.
This type of study is crucial to training your brain
to think in English instead of in your own language.
It helps words come to your mind more quickly
and efficiently without thinking about it too much,
if you're learning them together.
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and the link to do that is in the description below.
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