Wordsmyth Blog

Tag: word combinations

  • About the Wordsmyth “Word Combinations” Feature

    The Word Combinations feature in Wordsmyth dictionaries displays words that are frequently used in combination with a particular headword. If you looked up “negotiate,” for example, you would be presented with words such as “accord,” “agreement,” “cease-fire,” “compromise,” “contract,” “deal,” “treaty,” and “truce.” You would also see words such as “actively,” “reportedly,” “safely,” and “successfully.”

    The sets of words that you are shown in the Word Combinations feature can help you find a word that is correct or appropriate to complete a particular meaning that you want to express. In addition, the words can help you refine your understanding of the word you looked up by showing you the pattern of general use for this word. For example, it may help to better understand the meaning of “apocryphal” if you know that it combines with words like “legend,” “tale,” “story,” and “account.”

    Seeing the words that combine with your word can also give you a sense of how this word may be differentiated from words with similar meanings. Even close synonyms combine with other words along different lines. For example, the words “obtain” and “acquire” have very similar meanings but combine with words somewhat differently. “Obtain” combines with “approval,” “patent,” “passport,” and “permission,” for example. “Acquire” does not typically combine with any of these but more often combines with words like “assets,” “wealth,” “competence,” “expertise,” “habit,” and “trait.”

    Combinations of words such as are shown in the Word Combinations feature are referred to by linguists as “collocations.” The term “collocation” actually refers to various types of word combinations ranging from fixed phrases and idioms, in which the words always go together in a certain way and cannot be interchanged with other words, to word combinations that occur frequently but are made up of words that can be easily interchanged with other words. The collocations that we display in the Word Combinations feature tend to be closer to the latter type. Most of them are “medium strength” collocations, such as “cool breeze,” “refreshing breeze,” “soft breeze,” and “gentle breeze.” Some of the collocations that we show, however, are “strong collocations” made up of words that seem to cling to each other, such as “commit” and “crime” and “tell” and “truth.” Some of the combinations that the data-gathering tool brings up in addition, such as “social + security” and “right + angle,” represent unique units of meaning in themselves and may also be found as dictionary headwords that have their own definitions.

    Word Combinations is a Wordsmyth subscription feature. If you are not currently a subscriber, try out the feature with a 15-day trial subscription. Then, under “Display Options” near the top of any entry, select “Word Combinations.” At the same time, why not try out our “Word Parts” or “Spanish support” features? The free subscription will also give you access to WILD, the Wordsmyth Illustrated Learner’s Dictionary designed for very young readers and language learners.

  • Building chunks of language with Word Combinations

    Wordsmyth’s Word Combinations, technically known as “collocations,” provide what is almost like a thesaurus in another dimension. You will find them in most entries in the Advanced Dictionary. Instead of listing synonyms, that is, words you might use instead of the word you are using, Word Combinations provide words to use with the word you are using. In other words, they help you start building a bigger chunk of a sentence.

    Compare the thesaurus’s “similar words” for the verb “laugh”:

    cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, howl, snicker, snigger, tee-hee, titter…

    …with the Word Combination adverbs for the verb “laugh”:

    aloud, appreciatively, bitterly, derisively, good-naturedly, harshly, heartily, hysterically, loud, loudly, maniacally, nervously, outright, raucously, ruefully, scornfully, softly, uncontrollably, uneasily, uproariously 

     

    The similar words allow you to choose from among words for more specific kinds of laugh: from a quiet titter to a hearty guffaw. The Word Combinations allow you to choose from among adverbs that writers frequently use to modify the verb “laugh.” “Ashley laughed uneasily at the cruel joke,” you might write. Or, “Ashley laughed good-naturedly when her error was pointed out.” (Ashley’s a likable person, evidently.)

     

    Word Combinations are the most frequent companions of the headword in published writing and broadcast speech. Thus, they represent the many ways in which the headword-concept is typically talked about and the words typically used to talk about them.

    In the entries, word combinations are organized by part of speech combination. Take, for example, the word “election.” The word combinations for the noun “election” fall into four kinds:

    adjective + (n.) election

    verb + (n.) election 

    (n.) election + verb   

    noun + (n.) election

    These formulas show you the kind of word (part of speech) and the position (before or after “election”) in which it appears in the corpus of texts. Notice that “election” has some verbs that appear before it and some that appear after it. Here are the full word combinations entries, with some comments in red:

     

    adjective + (n.)election     coming, competitive, congressional, contested, democratic, direct, disputed, fair, federal, forthcoming, fraudulent, free, general, gubernatorial, judicial, legislative, local, mayoral, mid-term, multi-party, multiracial, municipal, nationwide, nonpartisan, off-year, parliamentary, periodic, presidential, primary, provincial, scheduled, statewide, transitional, upcoming

     

    verb + (n.)election     boycott, cancel, certify, contest, delay, disrupt, influence, hold, monitor, oversee, overturn, postpone, precede, rig, schedule, steal, supervise  (These verbs that frequently have the word “election” as their object will give you a glimpse at all the things we can do to an election. )

     

    (n.)election + verb      loom, near
    (Which of these two verbs would you choose to talk about a coming election? It really depends how you feel about it.)

     

    noun + (n.)election   ballot, boycott, candidate, eve, fall, financing, landslide, legitimacy, midterm, month, outcome, poll, primary, recall, registration, round, run-up, runoff, turnout, vote, voting

     

    If you have read through these words, you may have noticed that some make sense when placed immediately before or after the headword “election”: “a fair election,” “postponed the election,” and “a fall [i.e., autumn] election.” True, you have to insert an article, “the” between “postpone” and “election,” but generally these are recognizable phrases that make sense.

     

    Others, especially in the noun+noun category, don’t seem like a chunk of a sentence: “legitimacy election” and “voting election,” for example. Often a preposition will need to be inserted between the words: “the legitimacy of the election,” “voting in this election” are some possible ways the word combinations will work in these cases.
    If you don’t know how to fit the two words together, a Google search on the two words will often return a number of similar examples of how they do.

     

    You can try this little exercise to get a feel for how to fill out a word combination:

     

    Complete these common noun + noun word combinations with the correct prepositions and articles.

    1. the eve   ____    ____   election
    2. the outcome  ____    ____   election
    3. the turnout   ____    ____   election

     

     Word Combinations is a subscription feature, but you can try it by signing up for a 15-day free Trial Subscription, no strings attached. (There is a Trial Subscription button on most pages of the Wordsmyth website.) We also include Word Combinations with many Academic Vocabulary of the Day posts.

     

    Read more about collocations here.