Thursday, 18 December 2008
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Collocation Cloud
Welcome to Collocation of the Week - a site for advanced students of English. Each week I take a common word and look at five collocations of it, one a day. At the end of the week there is a short test where you can see what you have remembered.
If you want a PDF of the week's collocation, press the link at the bottom of the page.
If you want a PDF of the week's collocation, press the link at the bottom of the page.
4 comments:
Teacher, the last phrase is not that easy. I'd like to see another example, if possible, and maybe a synonym for it or phrase that would fit in the example instead.
Hello Yulia - probably the best way to understand 'want' in these contexts is to replace it with 'lack'. 'Tony didn't manage to eat all the cakes in Siberia, but it wasn't for the lack of trying.' In other words, Tony made a huge effort to eat all the cakes in Siberia, but he failed for another reason other than effort, such as the capacity of his stomach. Here, then, the phrase can be rewritten as follows: 'Tony didn't manage to eat all the cakes in Siberia, but he did his best.' I hope you find that helpful.
Thanks to you both. That was really helpful. Can I now check my understanding? Is my example correct and clear?
'I can't afford buying Buckingham Palace but it isn't for the want of money.'
Hello Anonymous - if you mean 'I can't afford to buy Buckingham Palace but it's not because I haven't got enough money, it's for some other reason like publicity', then, yes, your example is correct and clear.
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