Natural English
How to Remember English Collocations as Complete Phrases
Knowing effort does not automatically tell you which verb to use with it. A collocation is a combination of words commonly used together. This exercise treats a useful phrase as the learning unit, so you practise more than an isolated definition.
By Khang Nguyen · Updated September 12, 2026 · 2 min read
Choose phrases you expect to use
Start with five phrases from something you are reading or listening to. For this exercise, use make an effort, reach a conclusion, pose a problem, raise awareness, and play a role. Check the meaning and usage of unfamiliar combinations before creating a mnemonic.
Keep the phrase with a short example. “The campaign aims to raise awareness of food waste” gives you more information than awareness alone. Record useful connecting words too: knowing awareness of helps you build the next part of the sentence.
Encode the whole combination
At a desk, imagine a tiny builder making a glowing object labelled effort. At a staircase, imagine reaching a platform labelled conclusion. At a mirror, imagine a problem posing for a photograph. These are deliberately literal prompts for the phrases, not definitions of their individual words.
For raise awareness, picture a crane raising a sign about food waste. For play a role, picture someone stepping onto a stage to play a named character. Say the complete phrase while imagining each event, then check that the scene brings back the verb as well as the noun.
Practise the grammar around the phrase
An image will not tell you every grammatical form. Move from “make an effort” to “She made an effort to arrive early.” Then try “They are making an effort to reduce waste.” The stable combination remains useful while tense and subject change.
Write one sentence about your own life for each phrase. Keep it simple enough that you can inspect the structure. If you are uncertain, consult a learner dictionary or ask for feedback before turning the sentence into a review prompt.
Review with gaps and a real task
Hide the verb in each phrase and retrieve it. On a later attempt, hide the noun instead. Finally, put the phrases away and explain a decision, describe a problem, or suggest a change using whichever expressions fit naturally.
Do not force all five phrases into one paragraph. The goal is to choose language that conveys your meaning. Keep a phrase in active practice if you can recite it on the route but cannot use it when an appropriate situation arises.