A good learner’s dictionary will give you information on collocations. Sometimes the information is highlighted in some special way. In other cases, the examples used in the dictionary include the most common collocations.
In the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (CALD), common and useful collocations are given in bold type. Look at the CALD entry for the word pain and note how useful collocations are highlighted in bold. A good dictionary will also tell you if a collocation is formal or informal. For example, CALD indicates
that to take somebody up on an offer is an informal collocation (accept an offer would be a more formal alternative).
Tip
When you buy a dictionary, make sure it gives good, clear information about collocations. When you look up words, if you don’t know the collocations, highlight them in your dictionary or transfer them to your vocabulary notebook.
-English Collocations in Use Intermediate
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