UppInt A: Collocations

Collocations are words that are "friends" and belong together. They are often used together and sometimes it's hard to explain why it is so, except that it sounds "right" and it is widely used. To sound more natural and to enrich your vocabulary, you need to understand which words can come together and which words cannot. When you learn them, it is probably best to learn them in "chunks" as a group, rather than separate them. There are many categories of collocations:

Some of the most common types are:               (From http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htm)

• Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
• Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
• Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
• Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)
• Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
• Verb + Expression With Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
• Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly) 

    
http://esl.about.com/od/engilshvocabulary/a/collocations.htm
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htm
http://www.recitfga.qc.ca/English/activities/vocabularypower3.asp#colloc