Collocation Forks
vocabularyaccuracypracticepairslow prep15-20 min
A central word is on the board. Three "branches" fork out: verbs that collocate with it, adjectives that modify it, prepositions that follow. Pairs fill each branch. Reveals that a word's vocabulary knowledge includes its collocational company.
Procedure
- Write a target noun on the board: decision.
- Draw three forks radiating out:
- Verbs that go with it: make / reach / take / reverse / postpone / challenge
- Adjectives that modify it: difficult / wise / hasty / bold / final / informed
- Prepositions that follow: about, on, to (depending on structure)
- Pairs brainstorm each fork. 5 minutes.
- Pool with another pair (Pairs Compare).
- Verify: check a couple of uncertain items in a dictionary or corpus (Corpus Pattern Hunt).
- Each student writes 3 sentences using 3 different verb-adjective-noun combinations.
Why It Works
- Knowing a word = knowing its collocates. This is the Lexical Approach's central claim.
- Three-dimensional vocabulary: verbs + adjectives + prepositions build a richer map than a dictionary definition.
- Natural generative output: combinations produce grammatically varied sentences.
- Error reduction: students who internalise strong collocations produce fewer awkward phrases.
Good Fork-Target Nouns
| Noun | Typical strong collocates |
|---|---|
| decision | make / reach / wise / difficult / on X |
| impact | have / make / significant / negative / on X |
| research | conduct / publish / extensive / preliminary / into X |
| attempt | make / fail in / successful / first / at X |
| responsibility | take / accept / heavy / shared / for X |
| effort | make / put in / considerable / renewed / to V |
| conclusion | reach / draw / firm / inescapable / about X |
Variations
- Reverse forks: central word is a verb (take), forks are: nouns it collocates with / adverbs that modify it / prepositions/objects.
- Register forks: separate "formal" from "informal" collocates. take a decision (formal) vs make a decision (neutral).
- Collocational density: race to fill the fork with as many high-quality collocates in 3 minutes as possible. Penalise weak ones.
- Cross-language fork: for bilingual learners, compare English fork vs L1 fork of the same concept. Reveals transfer errors.
Tips
- Target high-frequency nouns (impact, research, factor, effect, reason, issue). These appear in almost every academic or IELTS essay.
- Don't accept rare or low-yield collocates just to fill the fork. Extend collocates with decision, yes, but isn't as useful as reach/make/take.
- Build a class collocation dictionary across the course, one page per fork-noun.
- Pair with Corpus Pattern Hunt to verify uncertain collocates against real usage.
Source
Lewis, M. (1993) The Lexical Approach. LTP. McCarthy, M. & O'Dell, F. (2017) English Collocations in Use. Cambridge. Nation (2013) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language on collocation depth.