1. Specialized Dictionaries I Dictionaries of Collocations
Chapter 6

2. This chapter introduces the concept of collocations and discusses how to use them in writing and in translation.
What is a collocation?
Collocations refer to the recurrent or habitual combinations of words that co-occur more often than they normally would based on chance.
These words combine corresponding to some linguistic conventions that dictate how to say things to produce natural-sounding language.
This habitual association or lexical patterning is not normally governed by any specific rules; they are just the result of many years of habitual use by the native speakers of the language.

3. Examples: Strong “wind” and “heavy rain would not be normal to say” heavy wind “or “strong rain.”
(typical: pay a visit; less typical: make a visit; unlikely: perform a visit)
(typical: break rules but not regulations; waste time but not squander time)
(deliver or pronounce a verdict / pronounce but not deliver a sentence)

4. In Arabic
In English
رجل كبير و ليس رجل قديم
ولد طويل و ليس ولد مرتفع أو شاهق و جدار عال
امرأة جميلة و ليس وسيمة – رجل وسيم و ليس جميل
ربان/ قائد السفينة و رئيس الوفد
يسلم رسالة
يلقي خطابا
ينقل انباء
يوجه ضربه
يصدر حكما
تلد طفلا
-an old man and an old house
-a tall boy, a high wall
-a beautiful woman, a handsome man
-the captain of the ship, the president of the
Delegation
-Deliver a letter
-Deliver a speech
-Deliver news
-Deliver a blow
-Deliver a verdict
-Deliver a baby -

5. Collocations fall into two major groups:
grammatical collocations (colligations)
lexical collocations.

6. Grammatical collocations
Lexical collocations
consist of a content word and a grammatical or function word (i.e., the co-occurrence of words, verbs or adjectives with prepositions or certain features of grammar; e.g., deal with, insist on, fond of, afraid of,..etc)
exist between content words.
Typical lexical collocations consist of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.
They may have any of the following patterns:
verb + noun (wind a watch, quench one’s thirst, reach a verdict, launch a missile)
(2) adjective + noun (torrential rain, strong tea)
(3) noun + verb (volcanoes erupt, bombs explode)
(4) noun1 + of + noun2 ( a school of whales, an act of violence)
(5) adverb + adjective (closely acquainted, deeply absorbed, keenly aware)
(6) verb + adverb (apologize humbly, affect deeply, appreciate sincerely)

7. Some words have a wide range of items with which they collocate (run: company, business, show, car, stockings, tights, nose, wild, debt, bill, river, course, water, color, test, presidency, etc.) while some others have a limited collocational range (shrug)

8. Collocations and translation:
Differences in collocational patterning between two languages create problems for translators. If the translator fails to recognize collocations, it would be very difficult for him to find appropriate equivalents in the target language.
The best way to deal with collocations is :
1- to look at the main element in a collocation (the noun in an adjective+noun combination or the subject or object of a verb).
This main element is usually referred to as the "core word" and the word which combines with it is the "collocate".
2- Look up the core word in a dictionary of collocations or an English-English dictionary. Some of these dictionaries devote sections for information on collocation.
3- If they don’t, then examples may help; they can give you an idea about what words are likely to collocate with a certain word.