Chapter 1 the study of collocations

Table 4.  Types of Collocation used in the study* 
TYPE EXAMPLE 
1. Noun Preposition argument 
about 
2. Noun to Infinitive 
(it was a) pleasure to do it 
3. Noun that-clause 
he took an oath that he would do .... 
4. Preposition Noun in 
agony 
5. Adjective Preposition angry 
at 
6. Predicate Adjective to Infinitive 
she is ready to go 
7. Adjective that-clause 
she was afraid that she would fail... 
8. SVO to O/ SVOO 
he sent the book to his brother 
9. SVO to O 
they described the book to her 
10. SVO for O/ SVOO 
she bought a shirt for her husband 
11. SV(O) Preposition O 
we export to many countries 
12. SV to Infinitive 
they began to speak 
13. SV Infinitive 
we must work 
 
164

---

14. SV V-ing 
he kept talking 
15. SVO to Infinitive 
she asked me to come 
16. SVO Infinitive 
she heard them leave 
17. SVO V-ing 
I caught them stealing apples 
18. SV Possessive V-ing 
they love his clowning 
19. SV(O) that-clause 
they admitted that they were wrong 
20. SVO to be c 
we consider her to be well trained 
21. SVOc 
she dyed her hair red 
22. SVOO 
the teacher asked the pupil a question 
23. SV(O) Adverbial 
he carried himself well 
24. SV(O) wh-word 
he asked how to do it 
25. S(it) VO to Infinitive 
it surprised me to learn of her decision 
26. SVc 
he was a teacher 
27. Verb Noun/Pronoun (creation) 
make an impression 
28. Verb Noun (eradication) 
reject an appeal 
29. Adjective Noun strong 
tea 
30. Noun Verb bees 
buzz 
31. Noun1 of Noun2 
a piece of advice 
32. Adverb Adjective deeply 
absorbed 
33. Verb Adverb affect 
deeply 
34. Noun Noun aptitude 
test 
35. Miscellaneous in 
fact 
36. Preposition Determiner Noun 
on the contrary 
 
165

---

37. Phrasal Verb 
to pass on 
Note:  S: Subject, V: Verb, O: Object, c: complement 
* Henceforth, ‘Preposition’ and ‘Prep’, ‘Adjective’ and ‘Adj’, ‘Noun’ and ‘N’, 
‘Verb’ and ‘V’, ‘Infinitive’ and ‘Inf’, ‘creation’ and ‘creat’, ‘determiner’ and ‘det’ 
are used interchangeably depending on the availability of space in the tables.  
See also table of abbreviations. 
 
 
The categorisation of the above collocation types in lexical and 
grammatical collocations by the BBI (see section 1.3.3.) was further refined by 
Zhang (1993).  According to Zhang, a lexical collocation is "a type of collocation 
where one component recurrently co-occurs with one or more other 
components as the only lexical choice or one of the few lexical choices in a 
combination" (Zhang 1993:14).  A grammatical collocation, on the other hand, is 
"a type of collocation where one component recurrently co-occurs with one or 
more other components as a grammatical category, rather than a particular 
lexical item" (Zhang 1993:14).  In other words, if a collocation is lexicalised, i.e. 
if the combination of an open class word (verb, noun adjective, adverb) and a 
preposition or another open class word is used as a single word, e.g. 'to do 
one's homework', 'to depend on', 'strong in', then it is a lexical collocation.  If 
the collocation is a combination of an open class word (verb, adjective, noun, 
adverb) and a clause, infinitive, gerund, or preposition, then it is a grammatical 
collocation, e.g. 'enjoy + V-ing', 'want + to infinitive'.  Zhang's definition of 
lexical and grammatical collocations was found to be more appropriate than the 
 
166

---

BBI's for pedagogical research, and this study considers the following types to 
be lexical collocations (Types 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 were also defined as 
lexical collocations by the BBI):