COLLOCATION

Collocation is a familiar grouping of words, especially words that habitually appear together and thereby convey meaning by association.[1] In corpus linguistics, collocation defines a sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. In phraseology, collocation is a sub-type of phraseme. An example of a phraseological collocation, as propounded by Michael Halliday,[2] is the expression strong tea. While the same meaning could be conveyed by the roughly equivalent *powerful tea, this expression is considered incorrect by English speakers. Conversely, the corresponding expression for computer, powerful computers is preferred over *strong computers. Phraseological collocations should not be confused with idioms, where meaning is derived, whereas collocations are mostly compositional.

EXAMPLE OF COLLOCATION

open an account -> Would you like to open an account at our bank?
forgive a debt -> Do you think the bank would forgive a debt?
land a deal -> We landed a deal worth $3 million.
receive a discount -> If you buy three computers you'll receive a discount.

You can find more collocation examples and exercises to practice collocations by using the categories below. 

Verb Collocations

These sheets provide a matching game with some of the most common verb + noun collocations used in everyday situations. Here are some examples of the types of verb collocations you will learn:

to feel free
to come prepared
to save time
to find a replacement
to make progress
to do the washing up
etc.

·         Verb Collocations with Take, Have and Break

·         Verb Collocations with Catch, Pay and Keep

·         Verb Collocations with Save, Find and Go

·         Verb Collocations with Come, Get and Feel

·         Verb Collocations with Miss, Get, Do and Make

Business Collocations

These collocation sheets provide common collocations used in business and work settings. There are a number of forms including adjectives, nouns and other verbs that combine with these key words. Each sheet includes a number of collocation examples to illustrate usage. Here are some of the collocation examples you will find on these pages:

to key in a PIN
to deposit a check
hard-earned money
protection money
counterfeit money
etc.

Common Expressions

Collocations are often used as short expressions to describe how someone feels about a situation. In this case, collocations can be used in the adjective form, or also as emphatic expressions using an intensifier and a verb. Here are a few examples using some of these collocation examples:

We'd like to positively encourage you to buy this stock.
I deeply regret the loss of your loved one.
Tom's in an utter fury over the misunderstanding with his wife.
He went to a great length to explain the situation.

REFERENCES

http://esl.about.com/od/engilshvocabulary/a/collocations.htm