For February’s Grammar Lesson of the Month, CISL is asking our students to identify some mistakes with collocations. Some of the following sentences have errors; others are correct. Can you identify the mistakes, and correct them? The answers are at the bottom of this post. Good luck!

Find the Collocation Mistakes

1. Can you please make my picture?

CISL San Francisco Student, Jisu

2. I did a mistake on the CAE test.

3. I have to make my TOEFL homework before I go out.

4. Can you make me a recommendation for a good restaurant in Little Italy?

5. I’d love to give some suggestions to improve your IELTS Speaking Score.

6. He made the impression that he was nervous to try surfing.

7. He made a good impression on the company.

8. I didn’t get a raise.

9. Did you have some exercise today?

10. She had a baby last month.

 

Answers

1. Can you please make my picture?

  • The collocation is TAKE a picture.
  • Correct answer: Can you please take my picture?

2. I did a mistake on the CAE test.

  • The collocation is MAKE a mistake.
  • Correct answer: I made a mistake on the CAE test.

3. I have to make my TOEFL homework before I go out.

  • The collocation is DO homework.
  • Correct answer: I have to do my TOEFL homework before I go out.

4. Can you make me a recommendation for a good restaurant in Little Italy?

  • The collocation is GIVE (SOMEONE) a recommendation. (transitive)
  • You can also MAKE a recommendation, but the sentence must be intransitive.
  • Correct answer: Can you give me a recommendation for a good restaurant in Little Italy?

5. I’d love to give some suggestions to improve your IELTS Speaking Score.

  • Correct! We GIVE suggestions.

6. He made the impression that he was nervous to try surfing.

  • The collocation is GIVE THE impression. The expression “give the impression” differs from the example below, where we MAKE an impression upon another person.
  • Correct answer: He gave the impression that he was nervous to try surfing.

7. He made a good impression on the company.

  • Correct! We make an impression on a person.

8. I didn’t get a raise.

  • Correct! We GET raises and promotions in our jobs.

9. Did you have some exercise today?

  • The collocation is DO some exercise, or GET some exercise. We can also just use the verb “exercise.”
  • Correct answer: Did you get some exercise today?
  • Correct answer: Did you do some exercise today?
  • Correct answer: Did you exercise today? (No collocation)

10. She had a baby last month.

  • Correct! We use HAVE with pregnancy and labor.

Further Learning

Do you need some more work with collocations? Check out some of our articles on this topic: