C2 Collocations and Idiomatic Expressions 1

Question 1

Which is the correct collocation in English?

Accepted Answer

make a mistake

Answer

'Make a mistake' is the standard English collocation; 'do,' 'take,' and 'have' do not collocate with 'mistake.'

Question 2

Which word correctly completes the phrase 'a ___ of evidence'?

Accepted Answer

body

Answer

'A body of evidence' is the standard collocation used in academic and legal English to refer to an accumulated set of evidence.

Question 3

She paid ___ attention to every detail of the report.

Accepted Answer

close

Answer

'Close attention' is the correct collocation; while 'deep' and 'strong' modify some nouns, they do not collocate with 'attention' in standard usage.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a correct collocation with 'make'?

Accepted Answer

make a research

Answer

'Do research' is correct; 'make' does not collocate with 'research' in standard English.

Question 5

Which word correctly collocates with 'tea' to indicate its strength?

Accepted Answer

strong tea

Answer

'Strong tea' is the established collocation; 'powerful,' 'mighty,' and 'intense' do not collocate with 'tea' in standard English.

C2 Practice Test