Fill in the Blanks
🔒 Log in to trackCollocation blanks: word partnerships that decide the answer
🔒 Log in to trackA collocation is a pair of words that native usage glues together. When a blank sits beside a verb or an adjective, the answer is usually whatever that word partners with — not any word of similar meaning.
| Verb + noun | Adjective + noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pay attention / compliments | staunch supporter | loyal follower |
| strike a balance / a bargain | soaring prices | rising fast |
| break the news / a record | grave mistake / crisis | very serious |
| take place / pride / measures | scathing attack | bitterly critical |
| make efforts / amends | teeming millions | crowds of people |
| do business / justice / harm | invaluable service | too valuable to price |
| commit a mistake / a crime | abject poverty | utter, hopeless |
| reach a conclusion / a consensus | conclusive evidence | settling the issue |
| cast a vote / a glance | close scrutiny | careful examination |
| lay emphasis / claim / hands on | level playing field | fair conditions |
| gain ground / momentum | glaring error | shockingly obvious |
| bear fruit / a resemblance | barren land / effort | unproductive |
How to use the governor. Identify the word immediately governing the blank:
- blank after a verb → the verb's usual object (break the news, take place);
- blank before a noun → the noun's usual adjective (grave mistake, close scrutiny);
- blank after a noun → its usual verb (prices soar, attention pays? — attention takes pay).
Why collocation beats meaning. 'made a mistake' and 'committed a mistake' both 'make sense', but SSC's standard answer follows the strongest partnership (commit a mistake, commit a crime). Similarly reach a conclusion (not arrive a conclusion), pay attention (not give attention), heavy rain (not strong rain).
Register check. When two partnerships both exist, the neutral-formal one fits SSC prose: hold talks beats hold chats; offer condolences beats give sorrows (which is not even an English partnership).
Build your pairing instinct in two weeks: one table of 10 pairs a day, and each pair immediately used in a sentence of your own. Recognition in the exam comes from having produced the pair once, not from having read it.
What a collocation blank really tests
The sentence is grammatically complete with almost every option — give attention, do attention, make attention all parse. What decides the answer is partnership: English fixes which word teams up with which. You are not choosing the best word; you are recognising the only word that native usage allows.
The verb + noun swaps that papers love
- pay attention / a visit / a compliment / heed — never give, do or make.
- take place / a decision / a step / a risk — never give or do.
- make a mistake / progress / an effort / a noise — never do.
- do harm / good / a favour / one's duty — never make.
- commit a mistake / a crime / an error (formal register) — the decoy is did.
- catch a cold / a thief / a signal; keep a promise / a secret; break a promise / the news; burst into tears / into laughter; reach a conclusion / a verdict; meet a deadline / a requirement; strike a balance / a deal.
Drill them as whole chunks — never as verb + blank.
Adjective + noun pairs
heavy rain / traffic; strong wind / coffee / odour; fast asleep; sound sleep; narrow escape / margin / victory; close shave / contest; grave mistake / risk; solemn pledge / promise; stark contrast / reality; loud applause. The planted decoys are near-synonyms that refuse the slot: strong rain, quick asleep, tight escape — wrong even though they look plausible.
Prepositional collocations
When the blank sits before or after a fixed preposition, the chunk is the answer: emphasis on, comply with, abide by, capable of, fond of, congratulate somebody on, insist on, married to, superior to, deal in (trade) vs deal with (handle). The sentence gives you the preposition; only one word completes the pair.
Register and fixedness
Some partnerships are frozen: null and void, part and parcel, safe and sound, first and foremost — no word can be swapped in. Others allow near-synonyms in free writing (reach/arrive at a decision) but the exam plays it safe: if an option set contains two real collocates, the setter has usually locked the context with a phrase or a preposition elsewhere in the sentence — read the WHOLE sentence before answering.
How to train
Ten chunks a day, tested in both directions (verb → partner, partner → verb). In the exam, say the completed sentence silently: give attention to the instructions — no trained ear accepts it. The chunk either rings whole or it does not; hesitation means the partnership was never learnt.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
do / make / take / give / pay verb swap
The blank is a verb before a noun like attention, place, a visit, a decision; the options are the swap-family (pay, give, do, make, take).
Read the noun after the blank — attention, place, visit are the tells.
Recall the chunk: pay attention, take place, pay a visit, take a decision.
Reject options that parse but do not partner: give attention, do a visit, make place are all un-English.
Why it works: the do/make/take family all fit grammar; only the fixed chunk fits usage, and the exam is testing exactly that.
Please ___ attention to the instructions before the demo begins.
Show solutionHide solution
pay attention — the chunk is pay attention; give, do and make attention are all un-English.
Adjective + noun partnership
The blank is an adjective before rain, escape, sleep, pledge; the options are near-synonym adjectives (heavy/strong, narrow/close, fast/quick).
Name the noun that follows the blank.
Fetch the fixed partner: heavy rain, narrow escape, fast asleep, solemn pledge.
Test the decoys aloud — strong rain, quick asleep are the classic near-misses.
Why it works: near-synonyms are chosen because they sound almost right; the fixed partnership is the only defence.
The trekkers were caught in ___ rain on the third day.
Show solutionHide solution
heavy rain — rain partners heavy; strong rain and powerful rain are not idiomatic.
Event and body-reaction collocations
The sentence describes illness, emotion or sudden reaction (a cold, tears, laughter); options are movement verbs (catch/burst vs take/rush).
Identify the event: falling ill, crying, laughing.
Fetch the chunk: catch a cold, burst into tears, burst into laughter.
Reject literal substitutes — take a cold, rush into tears are not idioms.
Why it works: these reaction chunks are frozen metaphors; the exam banks on candidates literalising them.
She ___ into tears when the results were announced.
Show solutionHide solution
burst into tears — the fixed reaction chunk; break, rush and dash into tears are un-idiomatic.
Frozen idiomatic expressions
The sentence hints at news, escape or an event that must be phrased idiomatically (break the news, a narrow escape); one option completes the idiom.
Read the whole sentence for the situation: delivering bad news, escaping by inches.
Match the frozen expression: break the news (to), a narrow escape.
Reject synonym swaps — crack the news, thin escape are not the idiom.
Why it works: idioms are single vocabulary items written as several words; partial recall produces the planted decoys.
The manager had to ___ the news of the layoffs to the staff.
Show solutionHide solution
break the news — the idiom for delivering unwelcome information; crack, tear and split the news do not exist.
reach / meet / strike outcome verbs
The blank sits before an outcome noun (a balance, a deadline, a conclusion, a verdict); the options are hitting-class verbs (strike, hit, knock, beat).
Name the outcome noun.
Fetch the chunk: strike a balance, meet a deadline, reach a conclusion, arrive at a decision.
Check the prepositions around the blank — meet THE deadline (no preposition), arrive AT a decision.
Why it works: outcome verbs look interchangeable but each has a locked partner; the decoys are physical verbs applied literally.
The team worked over the weekend to ___ the submission deadline.
Show solutionHide solution
meet the deadline — the fixed partnership; match, catch and equal a deadline are not idiomatic.
Shortcuts that save time
Read the sentence up to the blank, stop, and ask: 'What does this word usually take next?' Answer from memory, then look at the options — your answer is usually sitting there verbatim.
The two leaders held detailed ___ on the border dispute.
Show solutionHide solution
'held detailed...' asks for a discussion noun → deliberations. Celebrations/medications are topic-inappropriate; 'reverberations' is sound.
Collocation options in SSC are often same-suffix decoys (-tions, -ments). Kill them by topic first: a border dispute invites talks/deliberations, never medications.
For verb blanks, complete the object in your head: 'attention is ___' → paid. If your completing verb is an option, mark it and move on.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Choosing a synonym that breaks the partnership ('pay attention' → 'give attention').
Being impressed by long words; the collocation answer is usually the ordinary word.
Ignoring the preposition that follows the blank ('deliberations on', 'effect on').
Confusing adjective–noun order: the blank's side tells you its part of speech.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
pay attention/heed; take place/step; make a mistake/progress; do harm/good; commit a crime.
heavy rain, strong wind, fast asleep, narrow escape, solemn pledge, stark contrast.
The preposition in the sentence fixes the chunk: emphasis ON, comply WITH, capable OF.
Frozen pairs (null and void, part and parcel) accept no substitutes.
Say the sentence silently — the chunk rings whole or it does not.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 7 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.