Collocations, Idioms and Phrasal Verbs IN CONTEXT
Collocations
A collocation (also collocate) is a word or phrase which is frequently used with another word
or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to speakers of the language. For example, heavy rain
Idioms
An expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words. For
example, to have your feet on the ground is an idiom meaning to be sensible.
Phrasal verbs
A combination of words that is used like a verb and consists of a verb and an adverb or
preposition, for example give in or come up with
Any long English text, spoken or written, will contain many examples of the three. Often,
intermediate students who cannot go beyond intermediate level struggle to deal with how
dense a language can become once we have learned the simple grammatical structures and
have mastered a large set of vocabulary.
Text
It was the entry of McDonald’s into Rome in 1986 that sparked off the “slow food
movement” – a tongue-in-cheek reaction against fast food by a journalist who felt the need to
celebrate meals prepared with love and consumed at leisure. Fifteen years on, the
organisation spans 50 countries and has more than 70,000 members.
Now the idea is moving on to what is being called the “slow cities” movement, and towns in
many countries are being invited to join more than 30 Italian communities who have taken
up the challenge of resisting the frenetic, everquickening pace of living and trying to improve
the quality of life. Text: The Guardian Weekly
Phrasal verbs
1. sparked off the “slow food movement” There are 5 main types of phrasal verb. This type
has a transitive verb whose object can come in two positions.
i. McDonald’s sparked off the slow food movement.
ii. McDonald’s sparked the slow food movement off.
iii. McDonald’s sparked it off.
iv. (We cannot say) McDonald’s sparked off it.
Collocations
A collocation (also collocate) is a word or phrase which is frequently used with another word
or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to speakers of the language. For example, heavy rain
Idioms
An expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words. For
example, to have your feet on the ground is an idiom meaning to be sensible.
Phrasal verbs
A combination of words that is used like a verb and consists of a verb and an adverb or
preposition, for example give in or come up with
Any long English text, spoken or written, will contain many examples of the three. Often,
intermediate students who cannot go beyond intermediate level struggle to deal with how
dense a language can become once we have learned the simple grammatical structures and
have mastered a large set of vocabulary.
Text
It was the entry of McDonald’s into Rome in 1986 that sparked off the “slow food
movement” – a tongue-in-cheek reaction against fast food by a journalist who felt the need to
celebrate meals prepared with love and consumed at leisure. Fifteen years on, the
organisation spans 50 countries and has more than 70,000 members.
Now the idea is moving on to what is being called the “slow cities” movement, and towns in
many countries are being invited to join more than 30 Italian communities who have taken
up the challenge of resisting the frenetic, everquickening pace of living and trying to improve
the quality of life. Text: The Guardian Weekly
Phrasal verbs
1. sparked off the “slow food movement” There are 5 main types of phrasal verb. This type
has a transitive verb whose object can come in two positions.
i. McDonald’s sparked off the slow food movement.
ii. McDonald’s sparked the slow food movement off.
iii. McDonald’s sparked it off.
iv. (We cannot say) McDonald’s sparked off it.
