Here we organize “polysemous words,” in which one English word has several meanings depending on the context, and “collocations,” which are fixed combinations of words.
Basic Rules
Examples of words with multiple meanings:
- fine: ①excellent（fine weather）/ ②very small（fine sand）/ ③a penalty（pay a fine）
- right: ①correct（the right answer）/ ②on the right（the right side）/ ③a privilege（human rights）
- still: ①continuing until now（still alive）/ ②quiet or unmoving（still water）/ ③however（conjunctive adverb）
- last: ①final（the last chance）/ ②previous or most recent（last week）/ ③continue or endure（The meeting lasted 3 hours）
- matter: ①an issue or affair（an important matter）/ ②be important（It doesn't matter）
- book: ①a book / ②reserve（book a hotel）
- order: ①sequence（in order of size）/ ②a command（give an order）/ ③request（order pizza）
Collocations（fixed combinations of words）:
- “strong tea / weak coffee”（not thick tea / thin coffee）
- “make a decision / take a photo / do homework”（different uses of make/take/do）
- “heavy rain / heavy traffic”（big rain is unnatural）
- “commit a crime / commit suicide”（commit + a negative act）
The meeting lasted longer than expected.（last = continue）
He was fined $100 for parking illegally.（fine = a penalty）
She made a difficult decision after long thought.（make a decision）
There has been heavy rain since this morning.（heavy rain）
Points to Note
① Determine the meaning of a polysemous word from context: Look at the words before and after it to identify its part of speech and meaning. “The book lasted 100 years.”← last is a verb.
② Distinguish make / do / take / have: make a mistake / do homework / take a shower / have a meal. They may all correspond to “do” in Japanese, but English uses them differently.
③ Memorize collocations as fixed expressions: “strong coffee（× thick）,” “heavy rain（× big）,” “fast food（× quick food）,” and so on, using dictionary examples.
④ Phrasal-verb collocations: pay attention to / make use of / take advantage of / make sense of are also fixed forms.
- Polysemous words: Determine the meaning of fine / right / still / last / matter / book / order from context
- Distinguish make / do / take / have: make a decision / do homework / take a photo / have a meal
- Adjectives of intensity: strong tea / heavy rain / fast food（big and thick are incorrect）
- pay attention to / make use of: fixed phrasal-verb collocations
Practice
- Determine the meaning of last from context and translate the sentence: The battery will last about 8 hours.
- Choose the appropriate collocation: (make / do) a mistake
- Translate “He remained standing there for one hour” using still（adjective still = unmoving or quiet）.