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Come And Try This! - Motion & Purpose
Predatory animals will not want to waste a lot of their precious energy on running and hunting.

Come And Try This! - Motion & Purpose

Practise common word pairs in English, like stop and think. Learn why some pairs sound natural, build vocabulary, and use them in sentences that feel fluent and everyday.

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“Stop and think” is a very natural pair for pausing before a decision. It sounds more everyday than choices like “halt and reckon”.

In ESL Medium, learning common collocations helps your English sound more natural. Some words are often used together, and recognising these pairs makes speaking and writing quicker and clearer.

  • Collocation: Words that are commonly used together, like make a decision or stop and think.
  • Everyday English: Natural language people use in normal conversations.
  • Synonym: A word with a similar meaning, such as begin and start.
What is a collocation in English?

A collocation is a pair or group of words that native speakers often use together, such as take a break, make a mistake, or stop and think.

Why do some word pairs sound more natural than others?

Some word pairs sound natural because they are commonly used in real speech and writing, while unusual pairs may be correct but are not typical in everyday English.

How can I learn collocations more easily?

You can learn collocations by noticing them in reading and listening, keeping a short list of new examples, and practising them in your own sentences.

1 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
My cousin has invited me to ... ... the new restaurant in his village.
... go and see ...
... come and try ...
... travel and visit ...
... drive and taste ...
It will be 'come' rather than 'go' ~ because from the cousin's point of view (when he made the invitation), we would be moving towards him. Also, we would hope to 'try' the restaurant ~ in other words, discover directly what their food is like ~ rather than just looking at the outside of it!
2 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
' (...) So we ... ... a meal there, and, frankly, we were a bit disappointed.'
... went and had ...
... go and eat ...
... drove and consumed ...
... travelled and tried ...
We 'have' a meal in English, rather than 'eating' or 'taking' it.
3 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
I needed to ... ... before I drove any further.
... pause to reflect ...
... stop and think ...
... wait and consider ...
... halt and reckon ...
Answer 2 is the strongest and most natural combination. Note that the verbs are usually linked with 'and' rather than 'to' in English, even though the first verb is done for the reason of ('to') doing the second ('stop and think', 'come and see' etc.)
4 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
As far as results are concerned, we shall have to ... ... .
... delay to find out.
... wait and find out.
... wait and see.
... discover later.
'Wait and see' (as you may well already know) is the classic phrase here!
Meanwhile, Answer 4 didn't even contain two verbs!
5 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
'You do not need to do anything active quite yet; just ... ... .'
... stay and hear.
... sit and listen.
... stop and wait.
... remain and observe.
Another fairly classic phrase from schools and colleges in times gone by. We believe students these days are less happy to absorb learning in such a passive way ... it used to be called 'chalk and talk' (i.e. a teacher would write on the blackboard, using a stick of chalk, and speak about some facts). These days learning is a lot more interactive, like this Quiz!
6 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
Predatory animals will not want to waste a lot of their precious energy on running and hunting: a clever animal will ... ... until a victim comes near enough for a quick successful attack.
... look and listen ...
... watch and wait ...
... wait and see ...
... lie and learn ...
This pair, with its alliterative W's, is another classic phrase. It can also be used about people who observe a situation developing, without playing an active part in it. ('Let's watch and wait for the Council to make a decision')
7 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
'I've no idea what they're up to next door, making all that noise. Why doesn't someone ... ... ?'
... go and see.
... go and ask.
... go and look.
... go and watch.
Perhaps the most classic such phrase of all, with its two, short, common everyday verbs. We use 'see' in the sense not just of vision, but general discovery of what is going on (including hearing, presumably); once someone has explained something new to us, we may also say 'I see' ( = 'it is clear to me now; I understand').
We talk about people 'being up to' something when we are not quite sure, but we have a strong suspicion that they are doing something ~ probably something that we would not approve of. ('It sounds as though that cat is up to something, out in the garden.')
8 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
'At long last, we have an engineer ... ... tomorrow ... ... the washing machine.'
... come ... / ... and mend ...
... coming ... / ... to mend ...
... comes ... / ... to fix ...
... to come ... / ... fixing ...
'We have him coming to mend ... ' is the heart of this sentence. In this case, he will come specifically 'to mend' the machine, so we use 'to' rather than 'and' in the link.
'Mend' and 'fix' mean pretty much the same (and so does 'repair'), but 'fix' is the most informal of the three words. We can also 'fix' an appointment ('If we're both free mid-morning, let's fix that for 11.15').
9 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
During the afternoon the children ... ... the island.
... swam out and explored ...
... swam away to visit ...
... swam off to discover ...
... swam out to try ...
They swam 'out' ( ... away from the bank or shore, across a 'body of water' such as a lake) and then they explored the island. It seems to be suggested that they could see the island from the shore, and swam out with the specific purpose in mind of visiting it and having a closer look.
Answers 2 and 3 come close to expressing the same sequence of actions, but their English is not so natural; 'try' (in Answer 4) is just about understandable in the context, but not good English either.
10 .
Choose the answer which completes the gap/s in the best clear, sensible English.
A classic line in a movie or soap opera may come when two characters (usually men) are having an argument somewhere indoors: one of them makes a provocative remark, and the other wants to 'sort it out' with a fight, so he says:
'Just you ... ... that !'
... go out and repeat ...
... come outside and say ...
... leave and say ...
... move out and repeat ...
In such a context you might also hear ' ... step outside'; the idea being (presumably) that they need more space to fight, or would rather not do it in the presence of ladies or other people. It would be an invitation to 'come' rather than 'go' outside, because the speaker is already assuming that is where they will be (i.e. he is 'itching to get on with the fight').
We are sure you would never be in such a situation, but you can see how useful phrases like this can be, and how easy they are to make!
Author:  Ian Miles (Linguist, ESL and RE Quiz Writer & Tutor)

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