testing knowledge of lexical collocations

[maymr27]

Hi everybody:


Recently, I've prepared three tests to examine my students' competence of lexical collocations. These tests also have to do with a research paper I am recently writing. Since I am not a native speaker, I am not totally sure that the collocation tests are completely accurate. So I thought about having your valuable opinions concerning my items. Would you please have a quick look and tell me whethet these items are accurate? Also, would you please give me your permission to cite your validation (as native speakers) in my finished thesis?

Thank you very much in advance.

_________________________________________________
1. They __________ an offer which I couldn’t refuse.
A. made
B. did
C. gave
D. presented

2. Don’t _________ this opportunity. It may never come again.
A. fail
B. miss
C. lose
D. drop

3. The administration signed and ________ all the envelopes and sent them to the students.
A. closed
B. stuck
C. sealed
D. fastened

4. I hated to ___________ the news to Adam that he was fired from his job.
A. tell
B. deliver
C. provide
D. break

5. When Dana crossed the street against the red light, she actually _______ the law.
A. broke
B. disobeyed
C. went against
D. resisted

6. George __________ the music club to learn to play the guitar.
A. connected
B. combined
C. accompanied
D. joined

7. Which journals does the library______________?
A. join in
B. pay out for
C. subscribe to
D. contribute to





8. I've _____ a table for us at a Vietnamese restaurant.
A. booked
B. reserved
C. ordered
D. arranged

9. She _________ her thirst with a long drink of water.
A. satisfied
B. reduced
C. decreased
D. quenched

10. His bravery should be an example to _________ to all of us.
A. follow
B. understand
C. realize
D. track

11. There's no need to _________ offence. I was only joking!
A. feel
B. take
C. think
D. consider

12. She stood outside in the rain for a long time. That's why she _________ a bad cold.
A. caught
B. acquired
C. held
D. managed

13. In the latest elections, our party has ________ control of the council.
A. kept
B. held
C. stayed
D. brought

14. He ___________ compliments to the “people’s freedom” party for the orderliness he noticed in their work.
A. gave
B. offered
C. paid
D. showed

15. The company ________ profit exceeding thirteen million dollars in nine months.
A. did
B. accomplished
C. gained
D. made


16. I constantly check out magazines to ____________ the latest fashion.
A. follow
B. keep up with
C. attend to
D. stay in touch with

17. Our car ____________ on the freeway.
A. broke down
B. went down
C. failed
D. fell down

18. He has ________ his beard off.
A. cut
B. removed
C. shaved
D. took

19. The boss has __________ a very high opinion about her.
A. created
B. made
C. constructed
D. formed

20. She is expected to ___________ her baby on the 2nd of September.
A. bring
B. birth
C. deliver
D. get

21. He asked them to ____________ a more professional approach.
A. adopt
B. issue
C. assume
D. simulate

22. Researchers rarely ____________ research with a finished model of the causal process they want to test.
A. accomplish
B. raise
C. conduct
D. perform

23. It took a long time for Joe to __________ the habit of staying up until two in the morning. He’d been doing it since he was in his teens.
A. leave
B. break
C. remove
D. abandon

24. You should __________ your step when you hike on that trail; it’s very steep and dangerous.
A. watch
B. see
C. notice
D. take care of

25. I bought a newspaper at the airport with my last Brazilian reals, so I told the seller to ________ the change.
A. keep
B. take
C. have
D. get

26. Somebody is knocking. Would you please ___________ the door?
A. look at
B. see
C. get at
D. answer

27. I want to ___________a cottage for my vacation.
A. hire
B. rent
C. dissolve
D. discard

28. They _____________ five points against the visiting team.
A. scored
B. attained
C. added
D. acquired

29. The company has _________ some organizational goals.
A. appointed
B. established
C. adjusted
D. set

30. It is very hard to ___________ smoking because nicotine is a very addictive drug.
A. desert
B. quit
C. deny
D. cancel

_______________________________________________

Are you going to __________ Allen's party next Saturday night?
A. appear
B. go away to
C. attend
D. haunt

He _________ orders that the work should be started immediately.
A. gave
B. provided
C. offered
D. made out

I think they want to get married and _____________ a family.
A. begin
B. start
C. build
D. create

They are trying to _____________ their minds up where to go for their honeymoon.
A. keep
B. turn
C. do
D. make

We ______________ no difficulty in finding the house.
A. did
B. had
C. made
D. created



She __________ a decision not to go on the trip.
A. did
B. made
C. caught
D. produced

She never ____________ her promise of calling and dropping for a visit every now and then.
A. damaged
B. broke
C. missed
D. failed


The country is ____________ preparations for war.
A. doing
B. taking
C. making
D. having

She did not ___________ any answer to any of my questions.
A. provide
B. supply
C. bring
D. make


His salary is too low to help ____________ for his household.
A. arrange
B. add
C. provide
D. support

He ___________ many interesting experiences while traveling in Africa.
A. gained
B. achieved
C. benefited
D. made

These kinds of comic books _________ a lot of money for publishing houses.
A. make
B. produce
C. bring
D. get

They ___________ the chance of getting tickets for tonight’s performance.
A. failed
B. missed
C. lost
D. dropped

______________________________________________

He _________ a car accident in his way home. He broke his leg and badly hurt his back.
A. had
B. made
C. caused
D. found

It is difficult to ____________ classical music.
A. write
B. make
C. formulate
D. create


His face suddenly frowned and he seemed to ____________ trouble with his breathing.
A. feel
B. suffer
C. sense
D. have

She wants to ___________ you a visit. She says the children miss you very much.
A. give
B. pay
C. go to
D. drop in

They _____________ lunch at a sidewalk cafe overlooking the intersection of two broad, busy streets.
A. ate
B. fed
C. took
D. had

Don’t be concerned about being late. I’ll ____________ your laundry so that you can leave early in the morning.
A. wash
B. clean
C. do
D. finish

- Opposition leaders are ___________ direct contacts with the government in Kabul.
A. taking
B. having
C. doing
D. reaching

They expected the meeting to ___________ a great impact on the future of the country.
A. make
B. create
C. cause
D. reflect

He always used to ___________ excellent grades at college.
A. bring
B. obtain
C. achieve
D. result

___________ my advice and stay away from him.
A. do
B. have
C. take
D. listen to

He ____________ his grave opinions about the new environmental protection act.
A. told
B. said
C. spoke
D. expressed

The idea that I will never see her again has always __________ fear inside me.
A. aroused
B. grew
C. produced
D. made

Fred has given no good reasons for wanting to ___________ his relationship with his girlfriend.
A. cut down
B. finish up
C. end up
D. break up

The official who ignored the warning ___________ a serious mistake.
A. made
B. did
C. committed
D. performed

She tried to ____________ suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill.
A. commit
B. execute
C. accomplish
D. achieve

[JuanTwoThree]

Tell you what, I'll try and do ten and let anybody else go on. The point about collocations is that there needs to be no particular reason why the "wrong" answers are wrong except that they don't collocate as well:

Q1 put "me" in all the answers.

Q2 change "fail" to something more grammatical and so more possible.

Q3 good

Q4 I don't think the "wrong" answers are wrong enough.

Q5 same problem with "disobeyed"

Q6 ok but the wrong answers are too wrong.

Q7 good

Q8 none of the wrong answers are wrong enough

Q9 same problem with A especially

Q 10 "for all of us"


My suggestion is that you measure the students' ability on a scale: ask them to rank the answers from best to worst putting 1 for the best, 2 for the second etc and give them some credit for choosing the best answer as their second choice.

[Andrew Patterson]

Do you want me to make this into an on-line quiz, Maymr?

[Stephen Jones]

There are some questions with no correct answer and some with two or three correct ones.

[LarryLatham]

Hi everybody:


Recently, I've prepared three tests to examine my students' competence of lexical collocations. These tests also have to do with a research paper I am recently writing. Since I am not a native speaker, I am not totally sure that the collocation tests are completely accurate. So I thought about having your valuable opinions concerning my items. Would you please have a quick look and tell me whethet these items are accurate? Also, would you please give me your permission to cite your validation (as native speakers) in my finished thesis?

Thank you very much in advance.

_________________________________________________
1. They __________ an offer which I couldn’t refuse.
A. made
B. did
C. gave
D. presented

2. Don’t _________ this opportunity. It may never come again.
A. fail
B. miss
C. lose
D. drop

3. The administration signed and ________ all the envelopes and sent them to the students.
A. closed
B. stuck
C. sealed
D. fastened

4. I hated to ___________ the news to Adam that he was fired from his job.
A. tell
B. deliver (collocates, but not quite as strong, I think, in this sentence)
C. provide
D. break

5. When Dana crossed the street against the red light, she actually _______ the law.
A. broke
B. disobeyed
C. went against
D. resisted

Do you see what Stephen is getting at?

Larry Latham

[maymr27]

Hi again,


Thank you all for your valuable and insightful feedback. NowI see that some of the first ten items are problomatic. But what about the rest of the items? Are they ok? Please comment.
Dear Andrew Patterson: since these tests constitute a part of an unfinished research project, I am not totally sure (and comfortable) about publishing them on the internet yet. After the submission and discussion of my paper, I will be glad (and honored) to publish them in your website. Thank you.

May

[LarryLatham]

Hi again,


Thank you all for your valuable and insightful feedback. NowI see that some of the first ten items are problomatic. But what about the rest of the items? Are they ok? Please comment.

May

May, you're really asking too much here. We've identified a problem in your work, and hopefully you can benefit from that. But asking us to edit your whole test seems like you want us to do your work for you. Not fair.

Larry Latham

[JuanTwoThree]

I agree, it's a lot to ask.

One possible solution might be some kind "word association". Ask students what enters their mind when they hear "She tried to commit......" You should get a crime, suicide, adultery, fraud etc which would avoid the need to think up wrong answers. A second step might be to ask your students to rank the correct answers from most to least familiar to them.