In the app, you look up a word to see what words go with it. Luckily that stellar authority of the English language, the Oxford University Press, and Paragon Software of Freiburg, Germany (a company known for data management and security software) have teamed up to create an app that makes these word combos easier for learner English speakers to figure out. Also, a slim, light person might also be a heavy drinker. ![]() There’s nothing wrong, technically, with saying ‘thick tea’ or ‘heavy tea’ – but we don’t. Calling someone literally a ‘heavy drinker’ in another language might be heard as implying they are simply overweight drinkers. While native speakers tend to ‘just know’ what words can be used with what, this habitual usage is what trips up learners of any language, as learners (I’ve done this myself) tend to find their other-language words for the same instances and just translate them across. ![]() ![]() Other combinations might give the same message but would not be what we commonly expect to hear. For example, in English we tend to team ‘strong tea’ and ‘heavy drinker’. It’s the habitual combinations of words in common usage. Do you know what collocations are? I wasn’t 100 per cent sure, I must admit.
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