Collocations: Common Verb-Noun Pairs
Common verb-noun collocations at B1–B2 extend beyond make / do / have / take into the broader collocational network of natural English. Pay attention, pay a visit, pay a compliment, pay the bill. Catch a cold, catch a train, catch fire, catch your breath. Save time, save money, save a life, save the day. Spend time, spend money, spend the weekend. Keep a promise, keep a secret, keep in touch, keep an eye on. Break a promise, break the law, break a record, break the silence. These are the verb-noun pairs that distinguish natural-sounding B2 English from translation-flavoured B1 English.
This worksheet builds B1–B2 fluency with common verb-noun collocations in everyday and analytical contexts.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- Collocation bank with 40+ verb-noun pairs grouped by verb (pay, catch, save, spend, keep, break, run, hold)
- Multiple-choice items targeting collocation accuracy
- Gap-fill in mixed contexts (news, dialogue, opinion)
- Rewriting task: replace incorrect verb choices with the correct collocation
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes with FCE/CAE prep extension
Common challenges: Borrow vs lend is one of the recurring traps — but verb-noun collocation errors are usually L1-driven: German Geld machen maps to earn / make money; Pause machen to take a break. Each pair must be learned individually. Frequency matters: pay attention is universal; pay your dues is more idiomatic; pay through the nose is heavily idiomatic. The worksheets focus on high-frequency core collocations first.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1 to B2, in intermediate and upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Collocation accuracy is a direct band-discriminator in Cambridge B2 First (FCE) Writing. Part of the Word Building & Style collection — the natural next step is Word Formation: Prefixes and Suffixes, which extends vocabulary work into morphological territory.
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