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Questions and Answers
What does ESP stand for in the context of the text?
What does ESP stand for in the context of the text?
In the context of the text, what is an example of a dedicated vocabulary for a specific profession?
In the context of the text, what is an example of a dedicated vocabulary for a specific profession?
What is the purpose of using specialist words and jargons within a group according to the text?
What is the purpose of using specialist words and jargons within a group according to the text?
Which profession mentioned in the text uses specific language to discuss product specifications with customers?
Which profession mentioned in the text uses specific language to discuss product specifications with customers?
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What is one aspect that distinguishes Business English from everyday language according to the text?
What is one aspect that distinguishes Business English from everyday language according to the text?
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In the context of the text, what does 'gearing' most likely refer to?
In the context of the text, what does 'gearing' most likely refer to?
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Which group is more likely to use a phrase like 'We’ve had some SF6 leakage'?
Which group is more likely to use a phrase like 'We’ve had some SF6 leakage'?
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'Business communities use specific language to communicate in specific context,' implies that:
'Business communities use specific language to communicate in specific context,' implies that:
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What type of communication takes on a different dimension when applied within a business context?
What type of communication takes on a different dimension when applied within a business context?
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Which term is used to describe language that is inaccessible to individuals outside of a particular language community?
Which term is used to describe language that is inaccessible to individuals outside of a particular language community?
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Study Notes
Collocation and Colligation
- Collocation refers to groups of words with related or similar meanings, e.g., "letter" collocates with verbs like "write", "post", "read", and "open", and adjectives like "covering", "follow-up".
- "Market" collocates with adjectives denoting place (e.g., "European", "French", "South East Asian") and size (e.g., "huge", "large", "big", "small").
Colligation
- Colligation is a phenomenon in which words tend to occur in particular grammatical patterns, e.g., "letter of application", "letter of complaint", but not "market of Europe".
- Written and spoken grammar can be very different, and word forms acceptable in one type may not be acceptable in the other.
Spoken Grammar
- Spoken grammar is used in real-time interaction and has different word-order rules, uses contractions (e.g., "can't", "won't"), hesitations (e.g., "er", "uh"), repetition, ellipsis (words left out), and is often vernacular.
- Utterances are often left incomplete or change their form halfway through.
- Common features of spoken grammar include fronting and tags.
Functional Words
- Functional words deal with the relationship between lexical words or indicate how they are to be interpreted.
- Examples of functional words include:
- Determiners (e.g., "the", "some", "a", "any")
- Pronouns (e.g., "it", "they")
- Modals (e.g., "can", "should")
- Prepositions (e.g., "in", "to")
- Coordinators (e.g., "and", "but", "or")
- Wh-words (e.g., "why", "whose")
- Inserts (e.g., "yeah", "well", "ouch")
Multi-Word Units
- Multi-word units consist of two or more words that act together as a single unit.
- Examples include "nevertheless", "how do you do", and phrasal verbs like "start off" and "bring up".
- These units are not complete utterances, but rather function as a single word.
- Studies have shown that it is easier to store "chunks" of language than individual parts.
Idioms
- Idioms are a type of multi-word unit where the meaning is not clear from the individual words.
- Examples include "It's going to crop up", "We've missed the boat", and "He's in the driving seat".
- Idioms often have no particular logic to their formation, they simply exist as a fixed expression.
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Description
Test your knowledge on collocations and colligations, which are groups of words that are commonly found together or demonstrate a mutual grammatical relationship. Explore how words like 'letter' and 'market' collocate with verbs or adjectives in different contexts.
