Certain words are more likely than others to accompany other words. The words thick and dense, for example, can both accompany the words fog, forestand smoke, but only thick can accompany hair. This phenomenon is called collocation. We can say that thick collocates with hair, whereas dense does not:
| collocations with thick | collocations with dense |
| thick fog | dense fog |
| thick forest | dense forest |
| thick smoke | dense smoke |
| thick hair | —————– |
Often, collocation is not a matter of certainty but only of probability. The following exercise lists seven adverbs all of which are synonyms of very. Their use is not random, but they all accompany certain adjectives more frequently than others. Match the adverb and the adjective which collocate most easily. One, heartily sick, has been done for you.
| 1. vitally | a) successful |
| 2. acutely | b) popular |
| 3. heartily f) | c) serious |
| 4. deadly | d) important |
| 5. supremely | e) aware |
| 6. highly | f) sick |
| 7. immensely | g) confident |
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