 Colocations in English. What are collocations? Simply put, collocations are words that commonly go together. Let's look at some examples. What word goes in the blank? I usually a shower in the morning. I usually take a shower in the morning. Why not make a shower or do a shower? Because, over the years, the expression has developed in English and now this is the most common way to say it. Other expressions like this are take a bath, take a nap, take a test, take medicine, take time. Can we use other words? Yes you can, but they might sound strange to native speakers. That's why it's important to get collocations right. For example, if you say eat medicine, people will understand what you mean, but it sounds incorrect to them. In some cases, other expressions are acceptable, although not so common. For example, take a nap is the most common. Have a nap is okay, but not so common. In other cases, the context or the situation matters or makes a difference. For example, John has a test tomorrow. This is a statement of fact. That means his test is scheduled for tomorrow. John is taking a test now. That means he's sitting down and writing the answers on the paper. There are hundreds of collocations in English. The easiest ones to remember are the ones that follow the pattern verb plus object or verb plus adjective. For example, take a break, do homework, have fun, have a good time, get sick. The more difficult ones involve prepositions. For example, belong to, escape from, focus on, respond to, search for, talk about, wait for. In most cases, if you omit the preposition, it's considered incorrect. For example, he waited his friends. No, that's wrong. We should say he waited for his friend. We talked the weather. No, that's incorrect. We talked about the weather. Sometimes the collocation depends on the object being referred to. For example, I apologized to my mother. I apologized for my mistake. Luckily, we have organized a whole list of these types of collocations for you. See below in the description. Some collocations with adjectives require a B verb before and a preposition after them. For example, be afraid of, be worried about, be responsible for. If one of these elements is missing, it is incorrect. For example, I fond chocolate. No, that's wrong. We should say I am fond of chocolate. Once again, we have organized a whole list of these for you. Please see the link in the description below. Now it's time to test your knowledge of collocations with a short quiz. Fill in the blanks with the correct word. Ready? Okay. Question number one. Stella, the bus to work every day. Sits, goes, takes, travels, takes. Number two. Please pay attention, the teacher. Two, four, from, about, to. Number three. I usually bowling on Thursdays. Do, go, take, play. Number four. She couldn't concentrate her homework. On, for, with, about. Number five. Did you participate? The service project? With, in, for. Number six. They are opposed. The new policy. At, of, for, to, to. Number seven. He was accused. Many crimes. At, to, of, for. Number eight. The Jeep comes equipped. A V6 engine. By, on, for, with. How'd you do on the quiz? Did you get them all right? Don't forget to check out the links in the description below. Thanks for watching. Remember to subscribe to our channel to get regular updates when we publish new videos. To see more videos like this, click on the link above. Or check out our websites for more free English learning resources. ESLgold.com or freeenglishstudy.com.