Collocations quiz

Let's start with a short quiz. Choose the best answer.

1. Which of these is good English?
a) make a photo
b) take a photo
​c) do a photo

2. Which of these is good English?
a) have a party
b) make a party
c) do a party

3. Which of these is NOT good English?
a) take a decision
b) make a decision
c) do a decision

Click "Read More" to see the answers!

1 b  We say "take a photo" in English.
When I go on holiday, I usually take lots of photos.

2 a  We say "have a party" in English.
I'm having a party on Friday. Would you like to come?

3 c  "Do a decision" is NOT good English.
We made / took the decision to close the school and move the lessons online.
I usually say "make a decision" but I hear "take a decision" quite often too.

A combination of words that go together like this is called a collocation. It's useful to learn the words together as a phrase and not just learn single words.

If you want to check if a collocation is correct, you might be able to find out in a normal dictionary but there are some collocation dictionaries online too. Here are three for you to try:
Ozdic
Flax
Online Oxford Collocation Dictionary  ​