Announcing the Dictionary of English Collocations on WR
- Thread starter mkellogg
- Start date
Great addition, your brand continues to improve.
On another note (lalalaaaa) is there any chance you will ever sell a downloadable dictionary - say, one like Spanish-English? The reason I ask is because other dictionaries are downloadable and installed on the local machine (like Black's Law Dictionary) and this makes it possible to work off line. Working off line becomes a big deal when no hot spot is available and the lookups are much faster and easier compared to a physical dictionary. Sooooo, any chance of such an animal in the future?
On another note (lalalaaaa) is there any chance you will ever sell a downloadable dictionary - say, one like Spanish-English? The reason I ask is because other dictionaries are downloadable and installed on the local machine (like Black's Law Dictionary) and this makes it possible to work off line. Working off line becomes a big deal when no hot spot is available and the lookups are much faster and easier compared to a physical dictionary. Sooooo, any chance of such an animal in the future?
It is fairly easy for a technical person to extract all the content of those downloadable dictionaries and put it up on their own web server outside of the law. I've worked hard to build content like the collocations and don't want it to be stolen quite so easily. So, no, no plans for that.
Hi,
I love the collocations dictionary. I often recommend it to my students. However frequently find that my specific word (from my English lessons) isn’t listed. DearPrudence asked earlier if it were possible to make suggestions, additions to the list. I can’t find a link to do so.
Suggestion arising from a discussion thread today;
A blithering idiot/blathering on
I love the collocations dictionary. I often recommend it to my students. However frequently find that my specific word (from my English lessons) isn’t listed. DearPrudence asked earlier if it were possible to make suggestions, additions to the list. I can’t find a link to do so.
Suggestion arising from a discussion thread today;
A blithering idiot/blathering on
I think you could click the "is something missing?" link at the bottom of the "idiot" Collocations entry to suggest adding "a blithering idiot" to the list of "idiot" collocations. You could then append your suggestion about having a separate entry for blither/blather at the same time.
Glad you like it! We are quite proud of our work with this one.
Our coverage of words is fairly good, but "blather/blathering" isn't common enough for us to have worked on it. If this "dictionary" gets as much usage as we want it to, we will eventually add that word.
"I took a peek" and am offering thoughts: Great for those learning or teaching English or for new writers! Congratulations - Impressed. And am wondering, are or how are the collocations related to the distinct sense of space (time) in each language? I mean, is this helpful only for an English speaker writing in English? Or would there need to be guidelines provide for say a native speaker of Hindi who is writing using English for Special Purposes? And as I recently heard from a colleague there that English for Special Purposes is a very important way of approaching English, how can the speaker or writer of English (used for all purposes or monolingually) relate to the Special Purposes speaker or writer with the least cultural/cognitive gaps?
Lois
Yes, I think this is what it is basically created for: a way to find the right word in the right context.
Nice one!
Me too!
Hi,
I haven't looked closely but I hope a distinction is made between US and other varieties of English. I have noticed in Canada that the use of prepositions is at best, erratic and seemingly random. For example in the UK one arrives at or in. In Canada people say arrive to, which, to my ear, is completely incorrect.
I haven't looked closely but I hope a distinction is made between US and other varieties of English. I have noticed in Canada that the use of prepositions is at best, erratic and seemingly random. For example in the UK one arrives at or in. In Canada people say arrive to, which, to my ear, is completely incorrect.
Awesome. How can we enter suggestions? I'm thinking of "throw a fit" or "have a tantrum".
Yes! Or geographical regions. It about drives me nuts when people say, "Next on line" but I know that many in the US say it that way. Or "I'm excited for this weekend" (I only say, "excited about".)
Glad you like it.
There are plenty of terms, phrases and expressions that are missing. We did what we could and are hoping to see it become useful to enough people that it makes financial sense to expand it to more terms and languages.
I came across this thread as I was about to open a new one to express publicly how thankful I am to the developers of the collocations dictionary, and jumped in without hesitation.
I have recently discovered and began using it although I have regularly consulted WR Dictionary for years for definitions and synonyms. Dictionaries that adress collocations are rare on the Internet, and that of WR is an excellent work.
It is extremely helpful. Great job, guys! Keep up the good work!
I have recently discovered and began using it although I have regularly consulted WR Dictionary for years for definitions and synonyms. Dictionaries that adress collocations are rare on the Internet, and that of WR is an excellent work.
It is extremely helpful. Great job, guys! Keep up the good work!
Glad you like it.
is the order of the collocations based how frequently they appear in english?. eg. for "take" i see
- take the [money, bribe, offer, proposal]
- take a [shower, bath, phone call]
- etc...
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The order is based on a combination of highest-usage first, but we have grouped similar collocations.
I hope that helps!
We just looked at usage of phrases that use the term and tried our best to include everything that we consider important to know. We left out anything that we consider somewhat rare usage. Always remember that we did it from our perspective and that we can't cover everything 100%. We tried to cover US and UK usage, but I'm sure that we missed some slang usage or usage common in Canada or Australia. Overall, though, it should be a good, somewhat concise listing of "collocations" for each term.
I hope that helps!
That sounds like a remarkably useful resource for non-native English speakers!
Is there any plan to make Spanish collocations available as well? (I know there are fewer in Spanish, but there are still a lot of details to keep straight about which words properly go together.) Thanks!
I would love to, but can't justify the expense in creating it.
I understand. But wouldn’t people pay you for it?
I wish! No, I don't see any market for people paying for information on the internet like that. I would love for somebody knowledgeable to show me how, though.
Hi Mike,
Do you have a Patreon account? While nobody makes a living from having one, perhaps Spanish members might like to contribute to the development of a Collocations in their language. By which I mean, not creating the resource until the overall cost has been contributed. Just a thought, I have no idea of the ins and outs of what to do when it becomes obvious folks won’t put there hands in their pockets to pay the entire amount necessary for the development of such a resource.
Do you have a Patreon account? While nobody makes a living from having one, perhaps Spanish members might like to contribute to the development of a Collocations in their language. By which I mean, not creating the resource until the overall cost has been contributed. Just a thought, I have no idea of the ins and outs of what to do when it becomes obvious folks won’t put there hands in their pockets to pay the entire amount necessary for the development of such a resource.
I have considered doing something like that to fund development, but so far, I have decided against it. In this case, it could make sense if we could find enough people who would be interested. Currently, though, I only see a few requests, not a flood of people who would donate a substantial sum because it would help them with their work.
The joys of being Englishspeaking, we get a collocations dictionary first. I recommended it to over 168 adult English language students, last year.
Awesome
Your efforts are praiseworthy.For one to acquire mastery of any language , being knowledgeable as to how a word is collocated with is most necessary .
cool