1. Pattern and collocation: key to advanced, natural English

[유진승]

In order to go beyond the basic grammar and conquer natural English, we must absolutely master patterns and collocations.

PATTERN
 

In brief, the pattern of a word is the typical structure that follows the word.

Some verbs have an object (intransitive 자동사) and some do not (transitive 타동사):

Smoke was rising from the chimney.
She raised the gun and fired. (Oxford) 

But some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive:

He trained as a teacher before becoming an actor.
They train dogs to sniff out drugs. (Oxford) 

Some verbs are followed by -ing and some by to-infinitive (부정사):

We're considering buying a new car.
We're planning to buy a new car.
I'm thinking to buy a new car.

He succeeded in getting a place at art school.
She failed to get into art college. (Oxford)

Some verbs have to-infinitive after an object and some omit it:

He forced me to do it.  

He made me do it.

Different speech verbs have different patterns:

tell:  tell sth / tell me sth / tell me about sth / tell me that... (sth=something)
say:  say sth / say that... / say to me that...
talk:  talk / talk about sth / talk to me / talk to me about sth
speak:  speak / speak (about) sth / speak to me / speak to me about sth

You shouldn't talk things like that. (X)
You shouldn't say things like that. (O) = say sth

He spoke that he was angry. (X)
He told that he was angry. (X)
He told me that he was angry. (O) = tell me that...
He talked that he was angry. (X)
He said that he was angry. (O) = say that...

How can you say so fast? (X)
How can you tell so fast? (X)
How can you talk so fast? (O) = talk
How can you speak so fast? (O) = speak 

Some adjectives are followed by that, wh-words (what, how, etc.), to-infinitive, and/or -ing (Collins Grammar Patterns, Oxford):

We must be sure that public money is spent wisely.
The government is unsure what to do.  
Be sure to give your family my regards.

Healthy food can and should be delicious to eat.
People are slow to learn but once they learn they don't forget.

I felt good seeing them again.
They were busy enjoying themselves at the party.

Some similar expressions have similar patterns:

I had no difficulty (in) making myself understood. (Oxford)
They're having fun working on their boat. (BE) 

Also, nouns are typically followed by that, to-infinitive, or various prepositions.

See "Using a dictionary for word patterns" for an explanation of using pattern information in English-English dictionaries. For deeper understanding of patterns, you can go to the Collins Cobuild <Grammar Patterns> series.

COLLOCATION

Collocation is the way words fit together (단어들이 서로 어울리는 것), and these fitting words are called collocates. Let's first look at collocations in the Korean language:

옷을 입다      wear clothes
신발을 신다   wear shoes
안경을 끼다   wear glasses

Koreans do not say 옷을 신다 or 안경을 입다--different objects go with different verbs. But English speakers use "wear" for all three objects. This shows that collocation is a matter of habit in different languages. There are also examples in the opposite direction:

eat food         음식을 먹다
take drugs     약을 먹다  
drink water    물을 먹다 (마시다)  

Note that a word combination may be correct in grammar and pattern, and yet incorrect in collocation. For instance:

lie: tell a lie (O), say a lie (X), speak a lie (X)

Tell sth, say sth, and speak sth are all correct patterns, but only tell goes with lie.

Here are more examples of collocation:

verb + noun
@ visit: pay a visit (O), perform a visit (X), conduct a visit (X)
@ surgery: perform surgery (O), conduct surgery (X)
@ hands: raise hands (O), lift hands (X)

adjective + noun
@ smoker: heavy smoker (O), large smoker (X), strong smoker (X)  
@ summary: broad summary (O), wide summary (X)
@ detail: great detail (O), big detail (X)  
@ surprise: big surprise (O), great surprise (O), large surprise (X)  
@ impact: major impact (O), extensive impact (X)  --> 대대적인 영향

verb + adverb
@ drive: drive quickly (O), drive fast (O), drive swiftly (X)
@ speak: speak fluently (O), speak smoothly (X)

To check collocation, you can use a collocation dictionary (BBI Dictionary of World Combinations, Oxford Collocation Dictionary) or corpus.  

You may wonder if you have to worry about collocation every time you combine words. I would say not every single time, but as much as possible.

There are different degrees of collocation. Some collocates attract each other so strongly that breaking their partnership would be very awkward ("perform a visit"), whereas some collocations are less strong and allow exceptions ("devastating impact" is better, but "destructive impact" is OK). We should mainly worry about the first case.

Drills: Which is right in the brackets?

1. He has suggested [to change / changing] the business model.

(To continue...)

Answers

1. changing

[박수지]

thank you so much. l will hard study english.....

[ldhthomasoo]

Thank you very much for the instrumental information. I am going to check it out with the column whenever I am free. With the information, I think I can improve my writing skill. Many thanks to you, Mr. You(?) again.

[영작매니아]

좋은 게시물이네요. 스크랩 해갈게요~^^

[dear my]

Thank you for a good script.

[jamespitt]

thank you for your information.

[jamespitt]

감사합니다. 스크랩해 갈께요. 영어공부에 도움이 많이 될꺼 같습니다.

[Epik]

좋은 게시물이네요. 스크랩 해갈게요~^^

[sagamimicro]

thank you sir. I'll study english. I think I can improve my structure and writing skill. thank you for your good information.

[파이퍼9]

첫 번째 설명에서 intransitive를 타동사로 하셨는데 자동사 아닌가요? transitive가 타동사이구요. 확인 부탁드립니다.

[유진승]

앗, 파이퍼9님. 맞습니다. 제가 깜빡 실수를 했네요. 지금 바로 수정을 했고요, 감사드립니다.