Focus on Language Study

The Language Study pages in the Macmillan Essential Dictionary have been designed to help you to improve your knowledge and use of the English language. They contain information on how words are formed (Word formation) and how new meanings develop (Metaphor), how words relate to each other (Collocation, Register, Text types) and how they are pronounced (Pronunciation).

Increasing your vocabulary is an essential part of learning a foreign language — and remembering new words and phrases is often the hardest part. We have included a separate section (Topic vocabulary) that brings together words and phrases that will help you to talk and write about key topic areas.

Throughout this section there is advice on how to improve your learning strategies, activities to practise these strategies, and exercises to test what you have learnt. We hope that you will find these pages informative, useful — and, above all, enjoyable.

This month we return to the topic of collocation and take a look at less fixed expressions such as 'word + noun' combinations and functional expressions. As usual, you can read the article in British or American English.