What are some examples of unusual collocations? I wonder if some commonly used collocations, such as “get over”, “prefer x₁ over x₂”, “end up”, “break the ice”, and “come up with” might be more confusing to non-native speakers than expressions that are less commonly used or involve more complicated words but are more literal. I was surprised to hear that a non-native speaker friend of mine did not understand the construction “out of x₁, x₂ is the best”.
What are some examples of unusual collocations? I wonder if some commonly used collocations, such as “get over”, “prefer x₁ over x₂”, “end up”, “break the ice”, and “come up with” might be more confusing to non-native speakers than expressions that are less commonly used or involve more complicated words but are more literal. I was surprised to hear that a non-native speaker friend of mine did not understand the construction “out of x₁, x₂ is the best”.