This document discusses grammatical collocation, specifically the collocation of prepositions by Azerbaijani English learners. It conducted a study examining the knowledge of 30 junior English learners from Azerbaijan University of Foreign Languages on the collocation of prepositions based on Benson et al's categorization. The study found a total of 1010 collocational errors, with the most in verb+preposition collocations and the fewest in adjective+preposition collocations. The errors resulted from either ignorance of grammatical rules or interlingual transfer from their native Azeri language, which does not use prepositions.

1. 1

2. International Conference on
Language, Literature and
Culture
2

3. THE STUDY OF GRAMMATICAL COLLOCATION
A SURVEY OF AZERBAIJANIAN ENGLISH
LEARNERS'
KNOWLEDGE OF COLLOCATION OF
PREPOSITIONS
Parisa Farrokh
p_farrokh@yahoo.com
English Translation
Department, Lahijan Branch,
Islamic Azad University,
Lahijan,
Lahijan, Iran 3

4. Abstract
This paper has a two fold purpose.First to survey different
linguistic attitudes toward the phenomenon of collocation
and it's categorization as well as to emphasize the role of
grammatical collocation in the process of second language
learning.Second the present study aims to find out the
Azerbaijanian English learners‘ knowledge of collocation
of prepositions based on Benson et al s categorization .
Since preposition is not used in Azeri, therefore the results
of this study may be used as additional information for the
teachers especially in teaching English grammar and
translation courses.
4

5. Also, the results may help Azerbaijanian
translators, English learners and translator
trainees for being able to provide the best
translation of English collocation of
prepositions. In Benson et al's category the
collocation divided into two main groups: lexical
and grammatical collocations. Each group
subdivided into different collocations of noun ,verb
,adjective, adverb and preposition. Collocation of
prepositions subcategorized in grammatical
collocation and consists of four collocations :verb+
preposition, noun+ preposition, adjective+
preposition and preposition+noun.30 junior English
preposition+noun.30
learners of Azerbaijan University of Foreign
5
Languages participated in this experiment.

6. They were selected from 50 students who participated in
an OPT general proficiency test. To conduct the present
study, a completion multiple choice test involves 40
questions ,10 questions for each collocation, was given to
the students .Atotal of 1010 collocational errors was
found.287errors related to verb+preposition,275 errors
related to preposition+noun,230 errors related to noun+
preposition and 200 errors related to adjective+
preposition. Based on the findings of this research, the
errors of collocation of prepositions resulted either from
ignorance of rule restrictions or interlingual transfer.
KeyWords: collocation, grammatical collocation,
preposition ,collocation of prepositions,
6

7. Introduction
Although it is generally accepted that
collocations are both indispensable and at
the same time problematic for foreign language
learners and especially for adult learners,
learners’ difficulties with collocations have not
been investigated in detail by EFL practitioners
so far (Nesselhauf, 2003). They therefore should
Nesselhauf, 2003)
play an important role in second or foreign
language acquisition .
7

8. The aim of this research is the investigation of
collocation, grammatical collocation and
Azerbaijanian English learners‘ knowledge of
collocation of prepositions based on Benson et
al's categorization.
categorization.
In this relation ,the research questions have been
formulated as follows:do Azerbaijanian English
follows:
learners' have problem in collocation of
prepositions?what are the most frequent errors
of collocation of prepositions?what is/are the
main source(s) of errors of collocation of
prepositions?
8

9. The following gives a general review of the
literature related to English collocation. First of
collocation.
all, the notion of collocation that was introduced
by different scholars is reviewed. In addition, the
reviewed.
scholars’ viewpoints about the differences
between collocation and other word
combinations were reviewed, too. After that, the
too.
types of collocations classified by different
researchers are investigated. Last, the study on
investigated.
Azerbaijanian English learners' knowledge of
collocation of prepositions and the sources of
errors of collocation of prepositions were
discussed.
discussed.
9

10. Notion of Collocation
Collocation, originated from the field of lexicon
studies, is a term defined and understood in
many different ways (Bahns, 1993). Generally,
Bahns, 1993)
there were two different sides of assertions about
this term. One of them argued that collocation
term.
was related to meaning; the other argued that
meaning;
collocation was not a semantic relation between
words.
words.
10

11. The literature reviews related to the two assertions
were arranged in this section.On the one hand,
section.
for the assertion that collocation was concerning
meaning, J. R.Firth has been regarded as the one
responsible for bringing the term into
prominence in the field of lexicon study (Carter
&McCarthy, 1988; Hill, 2000). In Firth's view,
1988; 2000)
the meaning of a word should be known by the
company it keeps (Hill, 2000). In other words,
2000)
collocation was about the meaning of a word and
about its relationship with other words (Hill,
2000)
2000).
11

12. Such a notion about collocation is often applied
to the subsequent research related to collocation.
collocation.
Similar to McIntosh (1961) and Palmer (1976),
1961) 1976),
Bolinger and Sears (1981) also mentioned that
1981)
the ranges and variety of collocations were
enormous.
enormous. They regarded collocation as a kind
of habitual association of words and asserted
that collocations resulted from native speakers'
experiences of the expressions repeated again
and again in certain given circumstances.
circumstances.
12

13. Therefore, depending on the context, the
collocations, like good chance, high probability,
and strong likelihood, might be considered
acceptable, but the collocations like strong
chance, good probability, and high
likelihood, unacceptable. Sinclair (1966), in a
(1966),
volume of papers in memory of J. R. Firth,
showed an interest in generating lexical sets by
the use of collocation. For Sinclair, grammar and
lexis were two different aspects.
13

14. Grammar could be described by structures
(syntagms) and systems (paradigms), while lexis
syntagms)
was about lexical items collocating with one
another—collocations
another— and sets
respectively.
respectively.According to Sinclair, collocation
was referred to as the co-occurrence of two
co-
words, but this co-occurrence was not indicative
co-
of two words occurring as a small fixed
grammatical set. Instead, it had two important
set.
features.
features.
First, there might be several or many words
between the two relevant items or the two
relevant items might even occur over sentence
boundaries.
boundaries. 14

15. Second, collocation was independent of grammatical
types.
types. In other words, collocation was not analyzed
by grammatical structures. The examples “he
structures.
argued strongly,” “the strength of his argument,”
“his argument was strengthened” (Carter &
McCarthy, 1988, p. 35) illustrate a constant
1988, 35)
relationship between the two words. On the other
words.
hand, however, some researchers held different
views from the above scholars' opinions. For
opinions.
example, McCarthy (1991) argued that the notion
1991)
of collocation was made use of as a kind of
cohesive device.
device.
15

16. He claimed that "collocation refers to the
probability that lexical items will co-occur, and is
co-
not a semantic relation between words." (p. 65).
words. (p. 65)
Such opinion suggested that collocation served
other function besides meaning in sentences.
sentences.
Another instance was Aghbar's (1990) 1990)
proclamation.
proclamation.He proposed that the notion of
collocation was not raised creatively for the first
time;
time; in fact, people had a memory of having
heard or seen these constructions before and
used them as such.
such.
16

17. Collocation and Other
Combination of Words
Words can be combined in numerous ways to form
meaningful thought groups if those words not
restricted.
restricted. That is what makes it hard to clarify
the notion of collocation. Among these possible
collocation.
combinations of words, some are fixed and
others are more loose.
loose.
17

18. In order to attain a clearer understanding of
collocation, it is necessary to draw a distinction
among collocations, idioms, and other kinds of
word combinations (Bahns, 1993; Wang, 2001;
Bahns, 1993; 2001;
Wu, 1996), though these combinations are quite
1996),
similar to one another, even, in a sense,
belonging to the category of collection. Wood
collection.
(1981) adopted both semantic and syntactic
1981)
criteria for distinguishing collocations from
idioms, colligations, and free combinations. In
combinations.
Wood's point of view, an idiom was fully non- non-
compositional and non-productive, while a free
non-
combination was fully compositional and
productive.
productive.
18

19. . However, Wood's interpretation about collocation
and colligation is still rather vague. On the other
hand, a collocation, as Nattinger and DeCarrico
(1992) suggested, with its meaning in a
restricted sense, was less frozen than an idiom,
and a colligation was compositional and
permitted only limited lexical variation.
Lewis(2000) had far more explanation to
differentiate collocation from colligation.
19

20. Collocation is the way one word co-occurs with
co-
another word, colligation is the way one word
regularly co-occurs with a particular (grammar)
co-
pattern, so, for example some verbs typically
occur with a particular tense, or a noun might
typically appear preceded by a personal
pronoun, rather than an article (pass my/your
driving test, It's my/your/our responsibility to...,
but I'll take the responsibility for...) (p. 137)
137)
Benson, Benson, and Ilson (1986b)
1986b)
distinguished collocations from other
combinations of words--compounds, idioms,
words--compounds,
transitional combinations (transitional
collocations), and free combinations.. 20

21. The following are the summaries of the five types
of word combinations, which are listed from the
most fixed combination to the freest one
proposed by Benson (1989) and Benson et al.
1989) al.
(1986b).
1986b).
21

22. 1. Compounds, the most fixed word combination,
are completely frozen, and no variations at all
were possible. The instances of nominal
possible.
compounds are like “floppy disk” and “aptitude
test”, and an illustration of compound verb (or
phrasal verb) is break through”.
through”.
2. Idioms referred to relatively frozen expressions
whose meanings did not reflect the meanings of
their component parts. The illustrations of
parts.
idioms were to “kill two birds with one stone”,
“to kick the bucket”, “to spill .the beans”, and so
on.
on.
22

23. 3. Transitional combinations (transitional
collocations), whose meanings were close to
their component parts, were regarded as more
frozen and less variable than collocations.
collocations.
Instances of such were “for old time's sake”, “the
facts of life”, “to be in a tight spot”, and the like.
like.
4. Collocations were loosely fixed, arbitrary
recurrent word combinations and the meaning
of the whole did reflect the meaning of the parts.
parts.
“Pure chance”, “to commit murder”, “close
attention”, and “keen competition” shared the
features of this category.
category.
23

24. 5. Free combinations were taken as the least
cohesive of all combinations. Their components
were the freest in regard to being combined with
other lexical items.The typical combinations of
this sort were “to recall an adventure” (an event,
an accident) and “to analyze” (report,
investigate) a murder.
24

25. Echoing what Benson et al. (1986b) attested,
al. 1986b)
Bahns (1993) also admitted that different from
1993)
idioms, the main characteristics of collocations
were that their meanings reflected the meaning
of their constituent parts, and that, in
comparison with free combination, they were
used frequently, sprang to mind readily, and
were psychologically salient. In other words,
salient.
there are "transitional areas" (Cruse, 1986, p. 41
1986,
between free combinations and collocations, and
between collocations and idioms).
idioms).
25

26. The Classification of Collocations
When it comes to the classification of collocation,
Benson et al.'s (1986a) has been second to none
al. 1986a)
so far (Liu, 1999a, Tsai, 1996). Much collocation
1999a, 1996)
research (Bahns 1993;Chang, 1997; Liu, 1999a,
1993; 1997; 1999a,
1999b, 2000a
1999b, 2000a; Wang, 2001) was conducted by
2001)
using what Benson et al. advocated about
al.
collocation.
collocation.
26

27. According to Benson et' al., collocation could be
sorted systematically into two major groups--
groups--
lexical collocations and grammatical
collocations. A lexical collocation could be made
up of nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs, like
“warmest regards”, “strictly accurate”, and etc.
There were seven types of lexical collocations,
labeled from a to g, whose structures and
examples were given below.
27

28. Lexical Collocations Adapted
from Benson et al. (1986a)
al. 1986a)
a.verb (donating creation or activation)+ noun
(pronoun or prep. phrase)
prep.
compose music; make an impression;
music; impression;
b. verb (meaning eradication or nullification)+
noun
revoke a license; demolish a house
license;
c. adjective + noun
28

29. strong tea; a rough estimate
tea;
d. noun + verb
bees buzz; bombs explode
buzz;
e. noun1 of noun2
noun1 noun2
a pack of dogs; a herd of buffalo
dogs;
a herd of buffalo
f.adjective + adverb/ adverb + adjective
sound asleep; hopelessly addicted
asleep;
g. verb + adverb
anchor firmly; argue heatedly
firmly;
29

30. On the other hand, a grammatical collocation was
made up of a dominant word,such as a noun, an
adjective, or a verb, and a preposition or
grammatical structure like an infinitive or a
clause.
clause. Benson et al. (1986a) further categorized
al. 1986a)
the grammatical collocations into eight small
groups, marked as G1 to G8, among which, G8
collocations contained nineteen English verb
patterns.
patterns. To make the types clear, the researcher
of the present study has listed the structures and
examples of grammatical collocations here.
here.
30

31. G1 noun + preposition ; Apathy toward
G2 noun + to inf.
inf. He was a fool to
do it.
it.
G3 noun + that clause He took an
oath that he would do his duty.
duty.
G4 preposition + noun;
noun; in advance; at
advance;
anchor
G5 adjective + preposition They are afraid
of him.
him.
G6 predicate adjective +to inf.
inf. It was stupid
for them to go.
go.
G7 adjective + that clause She was afraid
that she would fail the exam.
exam. 31

32. G8There are 19 patterns in G8:
svo to o (or) svoo
He sent a book to his brother. He sent his brother
brother.
abook
svo to o
They described the book to her.
her.
svo for o (or) svoo
She bought a shirt for her husband. She bought
husband.
her husband a shirt.
shirt.
sv prep. o (or) svo prep. O
prep. prep.
He came by train .We invited them to the meeting.
meeting.
32

33. Sv to inf.
inf. They began to speak
sv inf.
inf. He had better go.
go.
svv-ing
svv- They enjoy
watching television.
svo to inf. She asks me to
come.
svo inf. She heard them
leave.
svov-
svov-ing I caught them
stealing apples.
33

34. sv possessive v-ing
v- Please excuse my
waking you so early.
sv(o) that-clause
sv(o) that- They admitted
that they were wrong.
svo to be c We consider her
to be very capable.
Svoc She dyed her hair
red.
svoo We bet her ten
pounds.
34

35. sv(o)adverbial
sv(o)adverbial He carried
himself well.
sv(o) wh-word
sv(o) wh- He wants what I
want.
s(it) vo to inf. (or) s(it) vo that-clause
that-
It surprised me to learn of her decision.
It surprised me that our offer was rejected.
svc (adjective or noun)
She was enthusiastic. The flowers smell nice
35

36. Sinclair (1991) divided collocation into two kinds--
1991) kinds--
downward collocation and upward collocation.
collocation.
Different from Benson et al., Sinclair made use
al.
of two terms to classify collocations. One was the
collocations.
term "node," which was employed to stand for
the word studied; the other was the term
studied;
"collocate," used to represent any word
occurring in the specified environment of a node.
node.
Based on Sinclair's assertment, when A was
assertment,
"node" and B was "collocate"--collocation of A
"collocate"--collocation
with a less frequent word B, it was called
downward collocation, which contributed to a
semantic analysis of a word.
word.
36

37. The examples of this type were “advantage over”,
“afraid of”, “attitude toward”, and etc. In etc.
contrast, when B was "node" and A was
"collocate," it was called upward collocation. The
collocation.
examples of this type were “on purpose”, “by
accident”, “with caution”, etc. In this kind of
etc.
collocation, “the words tended to be elements of
grammatical frames, or superordinates"(p. 116).
superordinates"(p. 116)
37

38. Similar to Benson et al. (1986a), Lewis (2000)
al. 1986a), 2000)
listed different types of collocations that were
found regularly together if collocation was
defined as the way words occurred together.
together.
More types beyond Benson et al.'s classification
al.
were seen in his list. The researcher of the
list.
current study has rearranged them from the
collocations related to nouns (from 1 to 8) to
other types of collocations.
collocations.
38

39. 1. adjective + noun: a difficult decision
2. verb + noun: submit a report
3. noun + noun: radio station
4. verb + adjective + noun: revise the original
plan
5. compound noun: fire escape
6. binomial: backwards and forwards
7. trinomial: hook, line and sinker
8. noun + verb: the fog closed in
9. verb + adverb: examine thoroughly
10. adverb + adjective: extremely inconvenient
10.
39

40. 11. discourse marker: To put it another way
11.
12. multi-word prepositional phrase a few years
12. multi-
ago
13. phrasal verb: turn in
13.
14. adjective + preposition: aware of ....
14.
15. fixed phrase: On the other hand ....
15.
16. incomplete fixed phrase: A sort of ....
16.
17. fixed expression: Not half!
17.
18. semi-fixed expression: See you
18. semi-
later/tomorrow/on Monday.
19. part of a proverb: Too many cooks ....
19.
20. part of a quotation: To be or not to be .... (pp.
20.
133-134)
133-134) 40

41. Collocation of prepositions
Prepositions are generally troublesome to the
learners for whom English is a foreign/second
language (Ellis 1986, p.57). Boers and Frank
1986, p.57).
(1998, p.42) argue that prepositions are difficult
1998, p.42)
for ESL/EFL learners because they have literal
as well as figurative meanings. Jimenez Catalan
(1996, p.174) claims that Spanish students have
1996, p.174)
difficulty with mastering English prepositions.
Jabbour-
Jabbour-Lagocki (1990, p.162) believes that
1990, p.162)
English prepositions are notoriously difficult for
ESL/EFL learners to master because of L1L1
interference.
41

42. For native speakers, prepositions present little
difficulty, but for a foreign/second language
learner they are confusing and largely
problematic. For instance, saying, we are at the
hospital;
hospital; or we visit a friend who is in the
hospital.
hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We
couch.
watch a film at the theater but on television. All
these indicating that prepositions have strong
collocational relations with other elements of
language, and thus they are problematic for the
EFL learners.
42

43. Both the conventional approaches (such as
Grammar Translation Method) and the modern
approaches (such as Communicative approach)
to SLA have in different ways underplayed the
role of collocations. Shei and Helen (2000)
(2000)
believe that collocations have been largely
neglected by researchers, course designers and
EFL practitioners. The importance of
prepositions and their collocational properties
on the one hand for the non-native learners of
non-
English, and the problems that EFL students
have with collocation of prepositions on the
other hand, highlight the significance of the
present study.
43

44. Furthermore, there is an abundant stock of phrasal
and prepositional combinations in English that
represent innumerable collocations, and the
mastery over them and their collocational power
can affect Azerbaijanian English learners'
fluency as well as accuracy in both speaking and
writing .As mentioned earlier,in this research the
study of collocation of prepositions has been
done based on Benson et al's
classification,i.
classification,i.e.collocations of
verb+preposition,noun+preposition,adjective+p
reposition and preposition+noun.
preposition+noun.
44

45. Research Methodology
The purpose of this study is to show the most
frequent errors of Azerbaijanian English
learners' in collocation of prepositions. This
research deals with collocation of prepositions
according to Benson et al 's classification divided
into four main collocations:
verb+ preposition, noun+ preposition, adjective+
preposition and preposition+ noun.
45

46. Participants
The participants of the study were 30 junior
English learners of Azerbaijan University
of Foreign Languages participated in this
experiment. They were selected from 50
students who participated in an OPT
general proficiency test. All of them have
passed grammar ,reading and the
principle of translation courses.
46

47. Materials
To conduct the present study, a completion
multiple choice test involves 40 questions
,10 questions for each collocation,was
given to the students. Collocations taken
students.
from Oxford collocations dictionary.
dictionary.
47

48. Procedures
As it was already mentioned, participants of this
study, were selected from among 50 students who
participated in an OPT (Oxford Placement Test)
general proficiency test. Their scores were below
test.
the average (below 50). 40 multiple choice
50)
questions were given to them .the following
general patterns of collocation of prepositions
have been used:
used:
48

49. 1. verb + preposition collocation: consist of,
collocation:
insist on, indulge in, resist in
2. noun + preposition collocation: motivation
in, admiration for, argument about
3. adjective + preposition collocation: good at
,bored with, superior to, tired of
4. preposition + noun collocation: in
astonishment, with embezzlement, on
credit,
49

50. Data analysis and results
Based on the results of this research, a total
number of 1010 errors of collocation of
prepositions has been obtained. 287errors 287errors
of verb+preposition found in this research,errors
such as “ glance out” instead of“ glance at”.
Regarding the errors of preposition+noun 275
errors obtained ,errors like “with air” instead of
“by air”. In this research , errors related to
noun+preposition collocation were 230errors,
230errors,
for example choosing “sympathy on” instead of
“sympathy for”. 2oo errors of adjective+
preposition found in this paper, errors like “good50
in” instead of “good at”.(table1).
at”.(table1

51. Discussion and conclusion
Based on the results of this study, it was
found that the Azerbaijanian English learners'
have problems in using English collocation of
prepositions.
prepositions. The more frequent errors are verb+
preposition collocations, preposition +noun,
noun+ preposition and adjective+ preposition
respectively.
respectively. Regarding the source of students'
errors, it can be concluded that ignorance of rule
restrictions that is resulted from analogy and
failure to observe the restrictions of existing
structures were at times the reasons why
students produced unacceptable collocations.
collocations.
51

52. Some examples of this type of error are: “we
arrived in the hotel” instead of “we arrived at
the hotel”, “we lost with five goals to two”
instead of “we lost by five goals to two”(verb+
preposition), “I picked up the wrong bag in
mistake” instead of “ I picked up the wrong bag
by mistake”, “The man is now on the arrest”
instead of “The man is now under
arrest”(preposition+noun),
arrest”(preposition+noun),
52

53. “He made a feeble attempt in a smile”
instead of “He made a feeble attempt at a
smile”,“He is a good judge for musical
talent” instead of “He is a good judge of
musical talent”,(noun +preposition)
,“School must try to make science more
attractive for youngsters” instead of
“School must try to make science more
attractive to youngsters”, and “Results are
accurate in within 0.2 seconds” instead of
“Results are accurate to within
0.2seconds(adjective+preposition).
seconds(adjective+preposition)
53

54. In some cases ,of course the interlingual transfer
may cause errors . An interlingual error is one
which results from language transfer. In other
transfer.
words, it is caused by the learners‘ native
language.
language. Some errors of this kind which have
been found in this study, are: “He was angry
are:
from his bad behaviour (angry at) that is
because of direct translation of the Azeri
sentence ,“ onun pis davranɪşdan
davranɪ
əsəbləşdi”,here the suffix “dan” means “ from”
blə dan”
“and it is the reason of the error. Another
error.
example, He fell ill from Cholera in 1849( ill
1849(
with)which is the direct translation of Azeri
sentence “o 1849-cu vəbadan xəstələndi” here
1849- stə ndi”
54
also the suffix “dan” means “ from”.
dan” from”.

55. To conclude the above research, the Azeri students
make collocational errors while using collocation
of prepositions , mostly on account of the
ignorance of rule restrictions and interlingual
transfer.
transfer. Due to the importance of learning
collocations , some suggestions can also be made
about how to teach collocations.
collocations.
55

56. First, it is not sufficient merely to teach lexical
combinations, including collocations of
prepositions in isolation. Rather, they should be
isolation.
taught within context. Second, not only should
context.
the selection of collocations but also their
teaching should be with reference to L1, because
L1 showed to be highly influential in the
production of collocations. Third, since the use
collocations.
of collocations was highly correlated with
EFL/ESL learners' language proficiency,
collocations should be considered as an
important factor in determining their overall
proficiency
56

57. The findings of the present study are of practical
as well as theoretical importance to the
EFL/ESL practitioners in the teaching of
collocation and lexis to the EFL /ESL students. It
students.
seems that collocational competence can
influence EFL/ESL learners' overall language
ability.
ability. Collocations have an effective role in the
successful and native-like performance of EFL
native-
learners.
learners.
57

58. Since teaching prepositions is of outmost
importance to the EFL/ESL students, a
conscious knowledge of those prepositions will
help them in their struggle towards the
acquisition, manipulation and production of
English as a foreign language. Moreover, the
language.
findings of the present study will give teachers
some hints and guidelines as to overcome
EFL/ESL students' problems in collocation of
prepositions.
prepositions.
58

59. REFERECES
Aghbar,
Aghbar, A. A. (1990). Fixed expressions in written texts:
1990) texts:
implications for assessing writing sophistication. Paper
sophistication.
presented at a meeting of the English Association of
Pennsylvania State System Universities.
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64. Table (1).The distribution of collocational errors among Azerbaijanian English learners
Type of errors Number of errors Percentage of
errors
Verb+preposition 287 28.5%
Preposition+noun 275 26.9%
Noun+preposition 230 24.6%
Adjective+preposition 200 20%
64