Chapter 1 the study of collocations

1.3.4  Summary of the Three Approaches 
 
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The three approaches to the study of collocations focus on different 
aspects of the phenomenon of collocation.  The lexical composition approach 
regards lexical analysis as independent from grammar and considers lexis an 
autonomous entity, choosing its own collocates which can be enumerated and 
classified in lexical sets.  The semantic approach tries to find semantic features 
based on the meaning of lexical units that would enable the prediction of their 
collocates.  The structural approach tries to establish patterns of collocations 
that include grammatical and lexical words alike.   
 
The semantic and the lexical composition approaches are restricted to 
the study of a small number of collocations (usually 'verb noun' and 'adjective 
noun' collocations); they exclude grammatical words from their scope, and 
eventually they achieved only limited results. 
 
The structural approach, on the other hand, examines more patterns of 
collocations, includes grammatical words in the study of collocations, and 
provides a framework for the study of collocations that is feasible and 
systematic (e.g. the collocational patterns included in the BBI).