Why use collocations?

Collocations exist throughout the English language. Every piece of spoken or written English has collocations in it somewhere. For us learners, selecting the right collocations will make our communications - both spoken and written – more natural and more like a native English speaker. This holds true even when the issue is not about basic intelligibility. For example, although other people can understand us when we use "strong rain" instead of "heavy rain", it may take more effort for them which can create a barrier to communication. Using incorrect collocations can also result in getting lower marks in tests.

Moreover, using collocations correctly makes our language more precise. Why? Most common single words in English have a wide variety of very different meanings, not to mention some meanings that overlap one another. For the listener or reader to understand the true meaning of something, context is used: that is, the words that come before and after and combine with the main word – these are collocations. If we choose the best collocations for the situation, we will be able to express ourselves much more clearly and convey a more precise meaning (rather than just a general meaning).

Remember, while we can create sentences with correct grammar and vocabulary, without collocations, we cannot communicate naturally, precisely, and with more details. We can engage the person we speak or write to better by making use of collocations.