# Announcing the Dictionary of English Collocations on WR



## mkellogg

Hi everybody,

I am excited to announce that we now have a "dictionary" of English collocations on WordReference.com.

Collocations are words that tend to go together.  You commit a crime, take a shower (at least in the US). You might be "raised on a farm". Sometimes languages are difficult and it is difficult to find the right adjective to go with a noun or use the language in an idiomatic way.  This work is our attempt to make it easier to find this information.

I am quite proud of our work here and hope it will be a great and invaluable resource for people, especially those learning English and trying to express themselves well.

Mike


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## swift

Awesome!


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## Peterdg




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## Hector9

Amazing


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## JeSuisSnob

Excellent! This will be a very useful resource!


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## irinet

That's wonderful news. I can't wait using it!


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## Translostlation

Good piece of work, Mike. I just had a look and it seems to be a wonderful addition to WR.


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## velisarius

It's great Mike, congratulations.

 It has me thinking about some other features of the dictionary though - ones that a lot of members never even discover, or that they forget about. 

Apart from 'English definitions' and now the new 'English collocations', there are these: 

'English usage' (I just discovered that one today ) 
'English synonyms'
the 'in context' feature (much underused, in my opinion)
'images'
the LISTEN pronunciation feature (available for many words)

It might be useful to promote these features in some way, every now and again, with an eye-catching but discreet reminder -  if that's technically possible.


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## chamyto

Great job, Mike!


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## DearPrudence

Great news! It looks brilliant: clear and complete. I need to find this kind of information pretty often so no doubt I'll be using this dictionary regularly.
Thanks and congrats!


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## DearPrudence

I've used it twice today already 
I wanted to use it again and thought I would go to the English dictionary page
chocolate - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

The problem is that once you're there, there is no link to the Collocations dictionary.
If you open the dropdown menu, it doesn't appear there (only the Thesaurus does and some bilingual dictionaries)

If you want to go to the Collocations dictionary from the EO dictioanry (and from a few other dictionaries too (for others, you have to add 2 extra clicks)), you have to

click on the arrow next to "English definition"
Click on "more..."
Scroll down to "English collocations"
Retype your word as the lookup box is now empty
Click on the magnifiying glass
 
And that is, if you know that such a dictionary exists.


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## velisarius

If you are in English Only and your dictionary box is on the default "English Dictionary", it's easy to find "Collocations" on the drop-down menu. 

I too had trouble finding it from another forum.


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## DearPrudence

Even when I am in the English Only _dictionary_, I can't see the English Collocations Dictionary in the dropdown menu 
I can from all the forums, but not from the dictionaries.

(sorry, I thought I could paste a screenshot but I can't)


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## Peterdg

It is there, you know 

When you are in the dictionary, e.g. English only, then on top of the page, there is a search box and next to it it says "English definition" with a down arrow at the right. Click the down arrow. The last entry there is "more...". Click "more..." and scroll down to the very end. There you can find the "English collocations".

Good luck!!


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## DearPrudence

Yes, like I said, five steps and I know it exists.
So I am not missing anything; there is no direct link from the dictionaries?


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## Peterdg

Then I must have misinterpreted your remark. What do you mean with a "direct link"?


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## DearPrudence

A direct/visible link from the dictionary page like those at the top of the page:

in Spanish | in French | in Italian | English synonyms | in context | images

or at the bottom: 

Look up "dive" at Merriam-Webster
Look up "dive" at dictionary.com

In other languages: Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | German | Swedish | Dutch | Russian | Polish | Romanian | Czech | Greek | Turkish | Chinese | Japanese | Korean | Arabic

(you don't only need to click several times, you also need to retype your word as well)


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## Peterdg

Ah, stupid of me. I was so proud that I found it in the drop-down menu.


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## mkellogg

I am excited to see such a positive reception to this. 


DearPrudence said:


> there is no direct link from the dictionaries?


Not yet. I wanted to get it published and introduced it to you all first. Thanksgiving got in the way a little, but the next step now if to link to it in a smart manner.  You all will soon tire of seeing links to it all over the place.


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## Quique Alfaro

Hola:

I have been browsing it and ... I love it!


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## Wandering JJ

I've had a look at it and I'm sure it will be of immense value!


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## chileno

Thank you Mkellog!


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## DearPrudence

Is it possible to add suggestions (eg: make/crack a joke)?


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## mkellogg

DearPrudence said:


> Is it possible to add suggestions (eg: make/crack a joke)?


I am surprised that make and crack a joke didn't make it in the list.

We will add a link to our "suggestions" page so that people can recommend improvements.


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## Amapolas

Thank you, Mr Kellogg! This looks like a great addition to the WR resource family. And no easy feat to accomplish, I presume. 
I'll go check it out right away.


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## Amapolas

velisarius said:


> It's great Mike, congratulations.
> 
> It has me thinking about some other features of the dictionary though - ones that a lot of members never even discover, or that they forget about.
> 
> Apart from 'English definitions' and now the new 'English collocations', there are these:
> 
> 'English usage' (I just discovered that one today )
> 'English synonyms'
> the 'in context' feature (much underused, in my opinion)
> 'images'
> the LISTEN pronunciation feature (available for many words)
> 
> It might be useful to promote these features in some way, every now and again, with an eye-catching but discreet reminder -  if that's technically possible.


Wow, I'd never noticed the 'English usage' feature until I read your post. I use the synonyms all the time, though, in both English and Spanish.


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## Sil1963

GENIAL!! OHHH. GREAT!!


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## WildWest

Finally.

I was looking for a reliable dictionary dealing with collocations, and that one seems very useful at first sight.

Thank you!

Edit: In addition, I hope this feature will be soon brought into use in the mobile app as well.


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## Court Interpreter VICTOR

Orale!!!


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## Maria Clara Torres

I absolutely love this dictionary.


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## mkellogg

Maria Clara Torres said:


> I absolutely love this dictionary.


Thanks! We worked hard on it and think that it gives great information. I am still trying to figure out how to get people to use it more...


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## Amapolas

mkellogg said:


> Thanks! We worked hard on it and think that it gives great information. I am still trying to figure out how to get people to use it more...


How about posting your above announcement in the English-language forums? 
You've got to have some influence with the moderators so you won't get deleted for going 'beyond the scope of the forum'...


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## mkellogg

Amapolas said:


> beyond the scope of the forum


Hi, Amapolas. Yea, the problem is that I came up with the rules (well, the moderators and I did) and it looks bad if I break my own rules!

I think the EO members will find out about it. That isn't a problem. I just need the millions of people who use the dictionaries to click through to it.  After my last post, I did realize a better way to show people the collocations. I hope to have it up and running in the next couple of weeks.


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## JeSuisSnob

We already posted a sticky in Sp-En Vocabulary, but perhaps it is a good idea to put a sticky in all the Sp-En forums.

Collocation dictionaries are a very, very useful tool for translators.


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## JeSuisSnob

OK. Now each forum and subforum of Spanish-English has its own sticky.


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## Wandering JJ

If it has its own sticky (which I believed meant it would stay in No. 1 position), then why is it is position 13?


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## JeSuisSnob

Wandering JJ said:


> If it has its own sticky (which I believed meant it would stay in No. 1 position), then why is it is position 13?


I just checked all the stickies we have in Sp-En and all of them seem to be in the right place. Could you report the one that you saw in position 13, Wandering? Thank you.


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## efriend

mkellogg said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am excited to announce that we now have a "dictionary" of English collocations on WordReference.com.
> 
> Collocations are words that tend to go together.  You commit a crime, take a shower (at least in the US). You might be "raised on a farm". Sometimes languages are difficult and it is difficult to find the right adjective to go with a noun or use the language in an idiomatic way.  This work is our attempt to make it easier to find this information.
> 
> I am quite proud of our work here and hope it will be a great and invaluable resource for people, especially those learning English and trying to express themselves well.
> 
> Mike


Great! Can't wait to check it out! Thanks for all that hard work


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## Vanda

Maravilha! How come I hadn't seen it before? This is my biggest issue with English. I need this tool a looot.


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## CharlesTESOL

Great news! Thank you all so much!!!


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## gotitadeleche

I just discovered this today. Awesome! Thank you so much!


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## ebdon

Hi, this is such a great resource! Really useful. However, I am wondering if it can be accessed via the WR app? As of yet, I can't find the English collocations dictionary in the app dictionary listings. If someone could help me find it that would be great! Or if it isn't currently in the app, whether it will be included in the app soon?

Thanks in advance


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## mkellogg

Thanks!  The apps?  Yes, the collocations should be there. We added them a few months ago. You should also be able to swipe to see the collocations of words when they are available. If you still can't find it, let me know and I will investigate.

Also, in the next week or two, we will be expanding the list of terms with collocations and have much better coverage of the most common words.


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## ebdon

That sounds great, it's a really useful tool. Thanks for your reply regarding the app. I've had another look and I've managed to find it but only by finding the English Collocations link at the bottom of an available term ( like "farm"). Then I see what you mean about swiping across to see collocations just like synonyms. I've now favourited it so it appears in my favourite dictionaries, although it's not listed as a separate dictionary in the listings. Perhaps it could be added there for people to find more easily?

Anyway thanks again and I'm looking forward to the expansion!


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## mkellogg

I see, it is not in the "All Dictionaries" list, at least in Android. We will get it updated.


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## HallePuppy

What a humongous task that has to have been! I'm tickled pink to find it. Now I'm busy figuring out how to get the same effect for Spanish. Thank you, thank you, Mike.


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## mkellogg

HallePuppy said:


> What a humongous task that has to have been


Hi, Halle. Thanks.  It was a bit of work, sure. The harder task is to figure out how to get people to start seeing and making use of it.  I am looking forward to creating collocations for Spanish, but we need to make the English version a success first.


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## diegoflores0703

can anyone give me link please?  Because I can't access to this collocations website .


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## velisarius

diegoflores0703 said:


> can anyone give me link please?  Because I can't access to this collocations website .



It's the very last option on the drop-down list of languages and language pairs to the right of the dictionary box. 

Not all English words are included in the collocations dictionary, so the simplest way seems to be:

Type your word into the dictionary box and click on English definition - for example, type "home" and click for this definition:
home - WordReference.com Dictionary of English
Since "home" does appear in the collocations dictionary, there is a link to it just below the listening symbol for audio:

in Spanish | in French | English synonyms | *English Collocations* | in context |images


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## Cuandolasfloresseabren

Congrats! Very useful!!


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## recuabuzz

vale


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## Pablo Peligroso

Great addition, your brand continues to improve.

On another note (lalalaaaa) is there any chance you will ever sell a downloadable dictionary -  say, one like Spanish-English?  The reason I ask is because other dictionaries are downloadable and installed on the local machine (like Black's Law Dictionary) and this makes it possible to work off line.  Working off line becomes a big deal when no hot spot is available and the lookups are much faster and easier compared to a physical dictionary.   Sooooo, any chance of such an animal in the future?


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## mkellogg

Pablo Peligroso said:


> a downloadable dictionary


It is fairly easy for a technical person to extract all the content of those downloadable dictionaries and put it up on their own web server outside of the law.  I've worked hard to build content like the collocations and don't want it to be stolen quite so easily. So, no, no plans for that.


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## L'irlandais

Hi,
I love the collocations dictionary.  I often recommend it to my students.  However frequently find that my specific word (from my English lessons) isn’t listed.  DearPrudence asked earlier if it were possible to make suggestions, additions to the list.  I can’t find a link to do so.
Suggestion arising from a discussion thread today;
_A blithering idiot/blathering on_


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## jann

L'irlandais said:


> DearPrudence asked earlier if it were possible to make suggestions, additions to the list.  I can’t find a link to do so.
> Suggestion arising from a discussion thread today;
> _A blithering idiot/blathering on_


I think you could click the "is something missing?" link at the bottom of the "idiot" Collocations entry to suggest adding "a blithering idiot" to the list of "idiot" collocations.  You could then append your suggestion about having a separate entry for blither/blather at the same time.


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## mkellogg

L'irlandais said:


> I love the collocations dictionary. I often recommend it to my students. However frequently find that my specific word (from my English lessons) isn’t listed.


Glad you like it! We are quite proud of our work with this one.

Our coverage of words is fairly good, but "blather/blathering" isn't common enough for us to have worked on it.  If this "dictionary" gets as much usage as we want it to, we will eventually add that word.


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## FeminaBrandao

mkellogg said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am excited to announce that we now have a "dictionary" of English collocations on WordReference.com.
> 
> Collocations are words that tend to go together.  You commit a crime, take a shower (at least in the US). You might be "raised on a farm". Sometimes languages are difficult and it is difficult to find the right adjective to go with a noun or use the language in an idiomatic way.  This work is our attempt to make it easier to find this information.
> 
> I am quite proud of our work here and hope it will be a great and invaluable resource for people, especially those learning English and trying to express themselves well.
> 
> Mike



"I took a peek" and am offering thoughts:  Great for those learning or teaching English or for new writers! Congratulations - Impressed. And am wondering, are or how are the collocations related to the distinct sense of space (time) in each language? I mean, is this helpful only for an English speaker writing in English? Or would there need to be guidelines provide for say a native speaker of Hindi who is writing using English for Special Purposes? And as I recently heard from a colleague there that English for Special Purposes is a very important way of approaching English, how can the speaker or writer of English (used for all purposes or monolingually) relate to the Special Purposes speaker or writer with the least cultural/cognitive gaps?  
Lois


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## mkellogg

FeminaBrandao said:


> Or would there need to be guidelines provide for say a native speaker of Hindi who is writing using English for Special Purposes?


Yes, I think this is what it is basically created for: a way to find the right word in the right context.


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## Mr.TechComm

Nice one!


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## jubayer

That's excellent!! thank you so much .....


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## Encolpius

I hope French, Spanish, Italian or Russian collocation dictionaries are on the way.


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## Cuandolasfloresseabren

Encolpius said:


> I hope French, Spanish, Italian or Russian collocation dictionaries are on the way.


Me too!


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## Sakalela

Hi,

I haven't looked closely but I hope a distinction is made between US and other varieties  of English. I have noticed in Canada that the use of prepositions is at best, erratic and seemingly random. For example in the UK one arrives at or in. In Canada people say arrive to, which, to my ear, is completely incorrect.


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## Chevere33

Awesome. How can we enter suggestions? I'm thinking of "throw a fit" or "have a tantrum".


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## Chevere33

Sakalela said:


> Hi,
> 
> I haven't looked closely but I hope a distinction is made between US and other varieties  of English. I have noticed in Canada that the use of prepositions is at best, erratic and seemingly random. For example in the UK one arrives at or in. In Canada people say arrive to, which, to my ear, is completely incorrect.



Yes! Or geographical regions. It about drives me nuts when people say, "Next on line" but I know that many in the US say it that way. Or "I'm excited for this weekend" (I only say, "excited about".)


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## mkellogg

Chevere33 said:


> Awesome. How can we enter suggestions? I'm thinking of "throw a fit" or "have a tantrum".


Glad you like it.   There are plenty of terms, phrases and expressions that are missing.  We did what we could and are hoping to see it become useful to enough people that it makes financial sense to expand it to more terms and languages.


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## WildWest

I came across this thread as I was about to open a new one to express publicly how thankful I am to the developers of the collocations dictionary, and jumped in without hesitation.

I have recently discovered and began using it although I have regularly consulted WR Dictionary for years for definitions and synonyms. Dictionaries that adress collocations are rare on the Internet, and that of WR is an excellent work.

It is extremely helpful. Great job, guys! Keep up the good work!


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## CecilStan

mkellogg said:


> Glad you like it.   There are plenty of terms, phrases and expressions that are missing.  We did what we could and are hoping to see it become useful to enough people that it makes financial sense to expand it to more terms and languages.



is the order of the collocations based how frequently they appear in english?. eg. for "take" i  see


take the [money, bribe, offer, proposal]
take a [shower, bath, phone call]
etc...
did you get some huge collection of texts and basically find that "take .. money/offer" appears more often than "take .. shower/bath"?...i know a collocation is inherently a frequently used phrase but just want to figure out relative to the other how common a collocation is...i guess knowing how you came up with the list would be helpful.


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## mkellogg

The order is based on a combination of highest-usage first, but we have grouped similar collocations.



CecilStan said:


> i guess knowing how you came up with the list would be helpful.


We just looked at usage of phrases that use the term and tried our best to include everything that we consider important to know. We left out anything that we consider somewhat rare usage.  Always remember that we did it from our perspective and that we can't cover everything 100%. We tried to cover US and UK usage, but I'm sure that we missed some slang usage or usage common in Canada or Australia. Overall, though, it should be a good, somewhat concise listing of "collocations" for each term.

I hope that helps!


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## ManOfWords




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## applepi

Have just used it and found it very useful.
Great job! Thank you!


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## mrcsph

Thank you so much.  Kudos to everybody involved in this new feature¡


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## Heredianista

mkellogg said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am excited to announce that we now have a "dictionary" of English collocations on WordReference.com.
> 
> Collocations are words that tend to go together.  You commit a crime, take a shower (at least in the US). You might be "raised on a farm". Sometimes languages are difficult and it is difficult to find the right adjective to go with a noun or use the language in an idiomatic way.  This work is our attempt to make it easier to find this information.
> 
> I am quite proud of our work here and hope it will be a great and invaluable resource for people, especially those learning English and trying to express themselves well.
> 
> Mike



That sounds like a remarkably useful resource for non-native English speakers!

Is there any plan to make Spanish collocations available as well? (I know there are fewer in Spanish, but there are still a lot of details to keep straight about which words properly go together.) Thanks!


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## mkellogg

Heredianista said:


> Is there any plan to make Spanish collocations available as well?


I would love to, but can't justify the expense in creating it.


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## barbarara

This is great! I would love to have the same tool for Spanish!!


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## Heredianista

mkellogg said:


> I would love to, but can't justify the expense in creating it.



I understand. But wouldn’t people pay you for it?


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## mkellogg

Heredianista said:


> I understand. But wouldn’t people pay you for it?


I wish! No, I don't see any market for people paying for information on the internet like that. I would love for somebody knowledgeable to show me how, though.


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## L'irlandais

Hi Mike,
Do you have a Patreon account?  While nobody makes a living from having one, perhaps Spanish members might like to contribute to the development of a Collocations in their language.  By which I mean, not creating the resource until the overall cost has been contributed.  Just a thought, I have no idea of the ins and outs of what to do when it becomes obvious folks won’t put there hands in their pockets to pay the entire amount necessary for the development of such a resource.


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## mkellogg

L'irlandais said:


> Do you have a Patreon account?


I have considered doing something like that to fund development, but so far, I have decided against it. In this case, it could make sense if we could find enough people who would be interested. Currently, though, I only see a few requests, not a flood of people who would donate a substantial sum because it would help them with their work.


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## L'irlandais

The joys of being Englishspeaking, we get a collocations dictionary first.  I recommended it to over 168 adult English language students, last year.


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## Edu_511

You are the mean, thank you very much!!!


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## boom boom boy 25

Awesome


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## A.Ramakrishna

Your efforts are praiseworthy.For one to acquire mastery of any language , being knowledgeable as to how a word is collocated with is most necessary .


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## boom boom boy 25

mkellogg said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am excited to announce that we now have a "dictionary" of English collocations on WordReference.com.
> 
> Collocations are words that tend to go together.  You commit a crime, take a shower (at least in the US). You might be "raised on a farm". Sometimes languages are difficult and it is difficult to find the right adjective to go with a noun or use the language in an idiomatic way.  This work is our attempt to make it easier to find this information.
> 
> I am quite proud of our work here and hope it will be a great and invaluable resource for people, especially those learning English and trying to express themselves well.
> 
> Mike


cool


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## DoeRoo

Tremendo. A question: will short sayings be welcome in this space?


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## mkellogg

DoeRoo said:


> Tremendo. A question: will short sayings be welcome in this space?


Thanks. We don't plan to add to it in the near future.


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