Exercises

13.1 Look at A and B opposite and complete these weather collocations.

1 crisp ............................................... 5 a hard ...............................................
2 patches of ............................................... 6 torrential ...............................................
3 strong ............................................... 7 unbroken ...............................................
4 a biting ............................................... 8 a blanket of ...............................................

13.2 Look at A and B opposite. Change the underlined words so that each sentence has the opposite
meaning.
1 There was a light wind yesterday.
2 The wind picked up in the evening.
3 The weather is likely to improve tomorrow.
4 It was scorching hot here yesterday.
5 There may be some light rain later on today.
6 The mist came down at about midday.

13.3 Replace the underlined words in this message with collocations from the opposite page.

Jill Hadfield 26 May at 12:59

I wish I’d worn a warmer jacket. There’s a very cold wind. At least it’s not
raining heavily today. We had such heavy rain yesterday. I wish I was
sunbathing on a Mediterranean beach.

12 3

13.4 Answer these questions about the collocations on the opposite page.
1 What might make a river burst its banks?
2 What can you probably see if someone says, ‘It looks like rain’?
3 What kind of wind is a freak wind?
4 Is it harder to drive if there’s dense fog or if there are patches of fog?
5 What kind of weather conditions have you got if the rain is described as driving rain?
6 If we talk about severe weather conditions hitting or striking an area, what kind of image is
created?
7 What, apart from wind, can blow or whistle?
8 Which of these verbs suggests most destruction and which least?
The storm destroyed / damaged / devastated the town.
13.5 Look up these words in your dictionary. Note down two more collocations for
each one.
wind rain snow

Over to you
Either listen to the weather forecast on an English-language TV or radio channel or go to the website
www.bbc.co.uk/weather. (You can enter the name of your own country to get information about
the weather there.)
Make a note of any other useful weather collocations that you find.

English Collocations in Use Intermediate 31

14 Travel
A Travel, journey, trip
Look at these emails and note the different collocations for travel, journey and trip.

Reply Forward Reply Forward

Clara, Hi Natalie,
Have you made your travel arrangements for the I know next week is a business trip, but you must
sales conference yet? If you want a good travel do some sightseeing too. I suggest we take a day
agent, I can recommend Atlas World. They trip to Canamuca. It’s about two hours by car, and
specialise in business travel. Their number is we can take a boat trip to the island and have lunch
2587996. They’re very helpful. there. Looking forward to seeing you. Safe
Noah journey2.
David
Reply Forward 2
said to someone who is about to make a journey
Hi Mia,
Reply Forward
I’m finally here after an extremely tiring journey!
The flight was three hours late, they lost my Nora,
luggage, then there were no taxis at the airport. I I got some travel brochures with details of
hope my return journey1 is better! I’m at the camping trips. Want to meet for lunch to look
Hotel Rex, room 1305, tel: 987745. Give me a call. at them? One of them is in Chile, but it’s a long
Miles overnight journey from the capital to get there,
so maybe we should look nearer home?
1
The opposite of return journey is outward journey. Lorna

B Flights
These collocations are all rather formal ones connected with flying:
Palair offers excellent in-flight entertainment, with the latest films and music.
The in-flight magazine includes maps and information about major airports.
[announcement by a cabin attendant] Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll shortly be landing at Dublin Airport.
Please fasten your seatbelts.
The passenger boarded the plane on time, but it was delayed taking off and she missed her
connecting flight in Amsterdam.
Domestic flights are often more expensive than international ones. [flights within a country]
Do you normally prefer a window seat or an aisle seat when you fly?
We managed to get a charter1 flight; it was half the price of the scheduled2 flight.
1
flight on a plane rented for special use
2
regular flight organised by the company which owns the plane

The weather en route is fine, and we anticipate a smooth flight3

to Stockholm today.
3
The opposite is a bumpy flight.

C Accommodation
We stayed in a small, family-run hotel.
The Panorama is a rather run-down hotel in a back street near the city centre.
The Palace is a luxury hotel on the main square of Porto Alegre.
I can’t afford to stay in smart hotels. I always have to look for budget accommodation. [very cheap]
I’d advise you to make a reservation before you go. The hotels near the beach are very popular and
get fully booked during the summer.

32 English Collocations in Use Intermediate

 Exercises

14.1 Complete each sentence with trip, travel or journey.

1 I’ll get some ............................................... brochures today and we can start planning our holiday.
2 Tom is away on a business ............................................... all week.
3 It’s a rather difficult overnight ............................................... to the mountains but it’s well worth it.
4 I prefer to arrange my holidays myself rather than use a ............................................... agent.
5 On Saturday we went on a day ............................................... to an interesting old castle.
6 Was it a tiring ............................................... from Seoul to Los Angeles?
7 On summer weekends we often used to go on camping ............................................... .
8 Do you use a special firm to arrange business ............................................... for your staff?
9 Do you make your own ............................................... arrangements or does your secretary do it all?
10 I hope your flight is on time tomorrow. Safe ...............................................! See you at the airport.
14.2 Complete these sentences.
1 We couldn’t ............................................... a reservation; all the hotels were ............................................... booked.
2 As I’ve got long legs, I usually ask for an ............................................... seat on a long flight, but on the flight to
New York I had a ............................................... seat and I got a great view of Manhattan as we came in, even
though I didn’t have much leg-room.
3 We’re only scheduled to have about half an hour in Dubai, so I hope we don’t miss
our ............................................... flight.
4 They seem to have much better in-flight ............................................... on that airline; they have the latest films
and you can play video games.
5 Passengers must ............................................... their seatbelts before take-off and landing.
6 Passengers with seats in rows 1 to 25 are now invited to ............................................... the plane.
7 The Principality Hotel was rather ...............................................-down and we were very disappointed.
8 You can spend a lot of money and stay in a ............................................... hotel or you can look for
budget ............................................... .
14.3 Answer these questions about travel collocations.
1 What is the opposite of a smooth flight?
2 Which of these two kinds of flight do most people prefer and why?
3 What do we call a flight which is not a charter flight?
4 What do airlines often provide for passengers to read?
5 What is the difference between a business trip and business travel?
6 What is the opposite of outward journey?
7 If a hotel is family-run, is it especially trying to attract families as guests?
14.4 Write about 100 words describing a recent personal travel experience. Use the collocations
from this unit.

Over to you
Next time you fly, look at the signs at the airports you pass through, which are often in English
as well as the local language(s). Find and make a note of three useful collocations.

English Collocations in Use Intermediate 33