Nouns and the Words They Combine With
Nouns often combine with specific verbs, for example carry out research, pay attention, or with specific adjectives, for example medical research, undivided attention.
A Adjective + noun
noun
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adjectives that often combine with it
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example
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contact
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useful, valuable, personal, constant, close, frequent, intermittent1
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I made some useful contacts at the conference.
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debate
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considerable, heated2, intense, public, animated3
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After the lecture there was a heated debate.
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element
[= factor]
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crucial, decisive, fundamental
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Timing is a crucial element of the experiment.
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elements
[= parts]
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conflicting, contrasting, constituent4
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There are conflicting elements in the artist's work.
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energy
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excess, sufficient, nuclear
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Wind turbines create sufficient energy for the town's needs.
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phenomenon
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common, isolated, natural, recent, universal
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Such anti-social behaviour is a recent phenomenon.
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results
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conflicting, (in)conclusive, unforeseen, preliminary6, encouraging, interim7
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Our preliminary results were encouraging.
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role
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decisive, challenging, conflicting, influential, key, pivotal8
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Student activists played a pivotal role in the riot.
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sample
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random, representative
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A representative sample of the population was surveyed.
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in ... terms
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absolute, broad, relative, general, practical, economic
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People are better off in economic terms.
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way
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alternative, efficient, fair, practical, convenient, proper, acceptable
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It is important to treat your research subjects in a fair way.
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1 from time to time 2 strong, often angry 3 lively 4 that combine to make something 5 not expected 6 first 7 temporary 8 important
B Noun + verb
Most of the nouns in the table above are also strongly associated with specific verbs.
You can come into contact with someone or something or you can establish, maintain, break off or lose contact.
Academics may engage in debate or contribute to a debate. You talk about the debate surrounding an issue.
You can combine, differentiate or discern [recognise] the elements of a chemical compound.
You consume [use], conserve, generate [create], save or waste energy.
Phenomena emerge or occur and students will try to observe, investigate and then explain those phenomena.
Academics collect, collate [organise] and publish their results. Sometimes results are questioned or invalidated [shown to be wrong]. Occasionally they are even falsified! Roles may be defined or strengthened. People or factors can play a role or take on a role.
You can take or provide or analyse a sample.
You can discover, devise [think up], work out or develop a way to do something.
Exercises
1 Answer these questions about the adjective + noun combinations in the table in A.
Put these types of contact in order of frequency - frequent, constant, intermittent.
Which of these is a representative sample and which is a random sample: a sample chosen by chance, a sample chosen as typical of the population as a whole?
Which adjective describes the opposite of a common phenomenon?
Would you be pleased if you did some research and got inconclusive results?
What adjective other than key can be used with role to give a similar meaning?
Which suggests that there is more energy - excess or sufficient energy?
Can you name three people who play an influential role in a child's development?
If two of the four constituent elements of most language exams are reading and speaking, what are the other two?
2 Fill in the gaps in these sentences with a verb from B. Change the form where necessary.
I first …….. into contact with Abdul when I started my doctoral research in 1987.
The country ……… so much energy that we don't ……….. enough to meet all our needs.
The space race ………. an important role in post-war politics.
In her research project Diana …………. the phenomenon of extra-sensory perception but she was not able to come to any significant conclusions.
Although Hans's rivals attempted to …………. his results, they met with no success.
Green's poetry successfully ………… elements from a number of different traditions.
3 Match the beginning of each sentence with the most appropriate ending.
It took the team a long time to devise surrounding the issue of global warming.
During the war we had to break a blood sample for analysis.
There has been a lot of heated debate the role of project leader.
Ian Hartmann was invited to take on to the debate on cloning.
Part of my role was to collate off contact with colleagues abroad.
The doctor wanted me to provide seems to be emerging.
Scientists all over the world contributed the key elements in a graph.
A new and unexpected phenomenon a way to solve their problem.
Using shading helps to differentiate the results of our experiments.
4 Choose the best word from the box to fill each of the gaps.
conflicting
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crucial
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define
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discern
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engaging
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heated
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interim
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maintaining
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practical
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proper
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publish
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random
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taking
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She obtained her results by …….. a ……..sample of the population.
Before we go any further we must ……… each of our roles more precisely.
We must decide what is the ……… way to proceed, in ……… terms.
The group succeeded in ……… contact long after they had all left college.
My trip to Africa was the ……….element in my decision to work in conservation.
Specialists in the field of bio-engineering have been ………… in …….. debate on this issue for some time.
I am told that Smythe is about to ……… some ……. results.
8 Professor Powell was able to …….. some ………. elements in different accounts of the incident.
2 Reading
Task 1. The following input and a mind gap provide a reader with information on Human resource management; there is a close relationship between the two. Read the text and look at the diagram, then do the exercises given below.
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