Using Collocations for Natural English - Elizabeth Walter, Kate Woodford 2010

Collocations for relationships
Review Units 9-12

Family and friends

The collocations in this unit focus on natural ways to talk about families, relationships and the way in which people are connected with each other.

Many collocations that describe family members and friends refer to how close or how distant the relationship is. Other collocations give information about how well the people in a relationship get on.

1 Complete the groups of collocations with words from the box. Use a dictionary to help you if necessary.

2 Match the collocations in Exercise 1 to the definitions 1-10.

1 someone that you are related to but not closely

2 a family where the parents and children have strong relationships and are very involved with each other

3 someone who is known and liked by two people who also know each other 4 a lot of people who know and like you

5 a happy family in which there are no big changes or problems

6 someone who you know and like a little but do not have strong feelings for

7 a family in which there are many problems and bad relationships

8 closely related family members, such as parents, children, brothers and sisters

9 someone that you are related to by birth and not by marriage

10 someone who you used to know a little in the past

3 Complete the newspaper extracts with collocations from Exercises 1 and 2.

Jewellery designer dies

The sudden death has been announced of Timothy Carlton, the famous jewellery designer. Carlton, a favourite both of celebrities and royalty, has died at his home, aged thirty-eight. He was raised in Bristol, the only child of two teachers. They were, said friends and neighbours, a 1... family who did everything together and kept themselves to themselves. Neither parent had siblings, so after the death of his father last year, the designer had no immediate 2... . James Plant, an old 3... of the jewellery designer, claimed that Carlton had become something of a loner in recent years. 'It seemed strange to me because he'd had a very 4... circle of friends when we were hanging out together he seemed to know just about everyone in London! In recent years, he never answered my calls so I sort of gave up trying. We had a mutual 5... who still saw him from time to time, but she reported that he had changed a lot.'

Criminal's troubled childhood

Kai Turner himself was from a deeply dysfunctional 6... . His mother was an alcoholic who was incapable of looking after her son. His father left the family when Turner was two years old, never to return. His mother then embarked on a series of relationships that lasted a month or two. Neighbours report seeing various men at the property. The young Turner was therefore raised by a series of 7... acquaintances who stayed at the family home for a period and then left. This was, in every way, the opposite of a stable 8... . The boy was isolated, with no siblings or cousins and few friends. The only blood 9... he had regular contact with was his ill and inadequate mother and she was too ill to look after him. Shelly Turner, 54, a distant ^10... of the family, visited the house once in 2004 and described the young Turner, aged seven at the time, as a 'wild child, completely out of control'.

4 Are the statements true (T) or false (F)?

1 Timothy Carlton was from a loving family.

2 James Plant was a close friend of Carlton in the past.

3 Timothy Carlton had never been very sociable.

4 No one had seen Timothy Carlton in recent years.

5 Kai Turner was from a loving family.

6 Kai Turner had contact with a number of adult males throughout his childhood.

7 Kai Turner had other brothers and sisters.

8 Shelley Turner is closely related to Kai Turner.

5 Match the sentence halves.

1 He was an old acquaintance who I hadn't

2 She was a fairly casual acquaintance - I never

3 Her mother had left home when she was six and her father was an alcoholic. It was a

4 Dan and I were introduced by a

5 I have family in Canada but

6 We only invited immediate family

7 He was married to her aunt

8 They have a very wide circle of friends and they're

9 She had very nice, supportive parents and a sister who she got on well with

10 He's from a very close-knit family so he's always

a mutual friend.

b they're fairly distant relatives.

c and they seemed a very stable family.

d on the phone to his parents and sisters, telling them his news.

e to the funeral.

f completely dysfunctional family.

g knew her very well.

h always socialising with them.

i so he wasn't a blood relative.

j seen for years and years.

Classroom extra

Ask students to use three or four of the collocations in these two pages to make sentences relating to members of a famous family. Then put them in pairs to exchange their sentences. Can they guess the family?

More than just friends

There are a lot of collocations relating to romantic love. Some describe love starting and the circumstances in which love happens, while others refer to the strength of love and the speed at which it starts. There are also collocations describing the end of romantic relationships.

6 Read a report on a TV show and match the collocations in bold to the meanings 1-8. Then listen to the recording and pay attention to the where the stress falls in the collocations.

And now, for an update on this week's CELEBRITY GOSSIP, OVER TO MICHAEL MAXTON.

It looks as if Sweetie star, Mariella Streak, has fallen in love again. The twenty-six- year-old actress has apparently been dating movie legend, Mario Lowe. It's said that the couple had a whirlwind romance on the set of Al Walker's latest film, Seems Like Yesterday. Lowe has reportedly told friends that he is madly in love with the young actress. (Aren't we all, Mr Lowe!) You might recall Lowe went through a particularly messy divorce only last year after five years of marriage to pop star, Lolly Havers.

Well good luck to you, Mariella! Meanwhile, it was love at first sight for opera diva Rebecca Romano and film director, Jed Parker, when they met on the French Riviera. Both were holidaying in the region when a mutual friend invited them over for dinner. But will this holiday romance fade as quickly as their tans? (And is it really only three months since I was telling you about Parker's quickie divorce from his wife of ten years, Arletta Carmichael?) Only time will tell. And finally, since no Hollywood round-up is complete without a mention of Sean De Luca, I am sorry, ladies, to break the news that romance has blossomed for the dashing De Luca and his Hot! co-star, Lyla Carlstrom. Yes, apparently, Sean and Lyla have been inseparable since the series finished filming. So will De Luca give up his wild ways now that he's in a relationship? Watch this space!

1 love has started and developed between two people

2 a romantic relationship that starts when you are staying away from home for pleasure

3 a very unhappy and complicated end to a marriage

4 strong romantic feelings that start as soon as you look at a person

5 a romantic relationship that starts very quickly and unexpectedly

6 having extremely strong romantic feelings for someone

7 a very quick end to a marriage

8 started to have strong romantic feelings for someone

7 Match the comments 1-4 to the collocations in the box.

romance blossomed ✵ love at first sight ✵ messy divorce ✵ whirlwind romance

8 Put the phrases in the correct order to make sentences. Add punctuation where necessary.

1 romance/and it was unlikely/I knew/a holiday/it was just/to last

2 one of those/they had/quickie divorces/Hollywood-style

3 I met/in love/Simon and/and fell/at college

4 in love with/was trekking /he met while he/Alastair is madly/in New Zealand/a woman

9 Match the problems 1-8 to the advice a-h.

Relationships

Need advice? Not sure what to do or who to turn to? Remember, a problem shared is a problem halved.

1 I'm madly in love with my best mate's boyfriend. I've tried not to be but I'm crazy about him - I think about him all the time. I feel so guilty. What should I do?

2 I met a woman while I was holidaying in Spain earlier this summer and I am completely and utterly in love. Do holiday romances ever last? Is there just one person out there who met the love of their life on holiday? Please say there is.

3 I met a girl on a train last week and I swear, the moment I looked at her face, I knew she was the one for me. Could this be possible? Does love at first sight actually happen in real life?

4 I've fallen in love with my boss. I know it's wrong but I'm crazy about him and I strongly suspect the feeling is mutual.

5 I moved cities last year to be with a guy that I'd had a whirlwind romance with. left my friends and my job - everyone said I was crazy at the time. The thing is, the passion has started to cool and I'm now wondering whether they were right ...

6 I'm finally single again after a particularly messy divorce and feeling very cynical about relationships generally. Will these negative feelings pass?

7 Three months after a quickie divorce, my best mate has started a new relationship and she's already talking about marriage. How can I talk sense into her?

8 Romance has recently blossomed between two of my best friends and, I'm ashamed to say, I'm feeling a bit left out. Am I being silly here?

a Forget it -this relationship is doomed. Always remember the golden rule: never mix business with pleasure.

b You can't. You've got to let her make her own mistakes. If she's daft enough to rush into a second marriage so soon, that's her own affair.

c Are you mad? What's more important to you - a friend for life or a passing passion? Come on, girl, you can do better!

d Well, my best mate met her husband (Lars) while travelling round Norway eight years ago. They're as in love today as they've ever been.

e No, your feelings are totally natural - it's just a bit of a shock. You'll get used to it in time and they're still your friends, even though they're an item.

f Personally, I doubt it. I think it's more likely you just really fancy her.

g They will -but give yourself time and don't put pressure on yourself to find a new partner.

h Well you can't say they didn't warn you. Maybe it's time to call it quits and go back to your mates. Hey, we all make mistakes!

Classroom extra

Ask your students to discuss in pairs which pieces of advice they agree with and which they do not.