Collocation
What is meant by collocation? Collocation is a set of two words or more having a specific lexical meaning, e.g. strong tea, The Dead Sea, make peace, knock on a door, tic-tac-toe, hodge-podge. Collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. Collocation comprises the restrictions on how words can be used together, for example which prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which verbs and nouns are used together. Collocations are examples of lexical units. Collocations should not be confused with idioms. Collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Look at these examples: Natural English ... the fast train, fast food, a quick shower, a quick meal. Unnatural English ... the quick train, quick food, a fast showe...