Common Collocation Patterns

What you'll learn: the main collocation patterns English relies on — verb + noun, adjective + noun, adverb + adjective — and a topic-based word bank you can start using immediately.

What a collocation is

A collocation is a pair (or small group) of words that native speakers habitually put together, even though other combinations would be grammatically correct. You "make a decision," not "do a decision." Traffic is "heavy," not "strong." An opinion is "strongly held," not "hardly held." None of this is a grammar rule — it's a pattern of usage, and it's one of the fastest ways a rater distinguishes controlled, natural English from a technically correct but slightly "translated-sounding" response.

The three patterns to watch for

• Verb + noun: make a decision, take a break, reach an agreement, raise a concern, pay attention
• Adjective + noun: heavy traffic, strong opinion, significant impact, high demand, valuable experience
• Adverb + adjective: highly effective, deeply concerned, widely known, fully aware, increasingly common

Worked example: a paragraph built on collocations

Compare a flat draft with a collocation-aware revision, both answering a Speaking/Writing prompt about environmental habits:

Flat: "People do bad things to the environment. This makes big problems. Governments must do actions to fix it."

Revised: "People engage in harmful habits that damage the environment, and this creates significant problems over time. Governments must take decisive action to address the issue before it becomes irreversible."

The revision swaps "do bad things" for "engage in harmful habits" (verb + noun), "big problems" for "significant problems" (adjective + noun), and "do actions" for "take decisive action" (verb + adjective + noun) — none of these are rare words, just the natural pairing of ordinary words.

Topic word bank: collocations by theme

• Work: meet a deadline, take on a project, build a career, negotiate a salary, work under pressure — "She negotiated a higher salary before accepting the offer."
• Health: maintain a balanced diet, get enough sleep, manage stress, recover fully, seek medical advice — "It's important to seek medical advice early rather than waiting."
• Education: pursue a degree, acquire skills, drop out, enroll in a course, broaden your horizons — "Studying abroad really broadened my horizons."
• Environment: reduce emissions, conserve resources, raise awareness, take action, have a lasting impact — "The campaign helped raise awareness about plastic waste."
• General opinion language: hold a view, share a concern, draw a conclusion, strike a balance — "We need to strike a balance between growth and sustainability."

Common mistakes

• Literal translation from another language — "do a mistake" instead of "make a mistake"; "do a photo" instead of "take a photo."
• Mismatching intensifiers — "strong rain" instead of "heavy rain"; "big headache" instead of "bad/splitting headache."
• Using do and make interchangeably — do generally pairs with tasks/duties (do homework, do the dishes), make with creation/decisions (make a plan, make a decision).
• Forgetting collocations extend to prepositions — "responsible for" not "responsible of"; "interested in" not "interested on."

Recap

Vocabulary range on CELPIP isn't only about knowing more individual words — it's about knowing which words travel together. Pick one topic word bank above, write two original sentences using two collocations from it, and check that the pairing sounds natural before your next practice response. Small, correct pairings consistently outscore ambitious, mismatched ones.