A brilliant way to make your English sound more natural because collocations are “ a combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance” (Oxford Advanced Language Dictionary OALD).
Like vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and idioms, collocations are simply a matter of learning so I highly recommend a dedicated ‘list’, which you can add to as you come across them. The list below could kick off your ‘collocations list’ and as always I would recommend www.quizlet.com as a free tool to learn vocabulary. Watch my two videos in ‘Language Learning Hacks’ to get you started with Quizlet.
The OALD also gave us a couple of example of collocations like ‘resounding success’ or ‘crying shame’. This is one common pattern, in which an adjective (resounding) links up with a noun (success). You can see another common pattern in my latest video ‘https://youtu.be/IeZz5tZisnE ‘What are collocations?’ and naturally in the examples below. Here you see a verb (run) & a noun (a meeting)
So without further ado, let’s dive into your 10 business collocations to get your list started.
- “What a way to run a meeting! Nobody was given a chance to say anything”.
- “We have to weigh the options before we make a decision”.
- “Did you close the deal then? “Yes, signed and sealed!!”.
- “We are facing a big problem and today we want to come up with ways how to tackle the problem. Any ideas to kick us off?
- “I’ve had enough!. Every time I put forward a suggestion, they don’t listen.
- “Even if it takes some time, we’ll hammer out a compromise.
- “It was unlucky to suffer a setback like that we have to brush ourselves down, regroup and attack!!!”
- “I think you miss the point, Bill. He didn’t say that he was opposed to the scheme: he just said it wasn’t as good as it could be”.
- “I hope the change in dates won’t pose a problem for you”
- “Could you give an example of what you mean?”
idioms (Redewendungen), dedicated (), to come across sth (auf etw. Stoßen), to kick off (loslegen), resounding success (‚durchschlagender Erfolg), crying shame (eine wahre Schande), without further ado (ohne weiteres), to run a meeting (ein Meeting leiten), to weigh the options (die Optionen abwägen), to close the deal (den Deal abschließen); signed and sealed (unterschrieben und besiegelt), to face a big problem (sich einem großen Problem stellen), to come up with sth (sich etwas einfallen lassen), to tackle the problem (das Problem anpacken), to kick off (hier: anstoßen/beginnen), to put forward a suggestion (einen Vorschlag machen), to hammer out a compromise (einen Kompromiss ausarbeiten), to suffer a setback (einen Rückschlag erleiden), to brush oneself down (sich zusammenreißen), to regroup (sich neu formieren), to miss the point (den Punkt verfehlen), to be opposed to sth (gegen etwas sein), to pose a problem (ein Problem darstellen)