English Collocations- Counting Syllables Consonant Clusters Practice

English Collocations- Counting Syllables Consonant Clusters Practice

Put the words in one group below together to make common English collocations (mainly
compound nouns) with two syllables, three syllables, four syllables and five syllables.
There should be one of each, so label the collocations with their number of syllables to
check, making sure you can actually pronounce them that way.

cloak

cleaning

dry

presenter

freelance

room

TV

writer

classical

glasses

spring

music

sun

roll

windscreen

wipers

orange

five amps

sixth

place

the Czech

republic

thirty

squash

fifteen

bullying

handbag

hundredths

straight

line

workplace

strap

blue

chip company

filmed

in 3D

plastic

straw

track

suit

hair

ankle

Phillips

label

sticky

screwdriver

strained

spray

day

analysis

horror

film

needs

links

URL

trip

Go through the answers as a class, saying the collocations from the shortest to the
longest in each section, making sure you pronounce them with the right number of
syllables each time.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015

Answer key

2- cloak room
3- dry cleaning
4- freelance writer
5- TV presenter

2- spring roll
3- sunglasses
4- windscreen wipers
5- classical music

2- sixth place
3- orange squash
4- thirty five amps
5 – the Czech Republic

2- straight line
3- handbag strap
4- fifteen hundredths
5- workplace bullying

2- track suit
3- plastic straw
4- filmed in 3D
5- blue chip company

2- hairspray
3- strained ankle
4- sticky label
5- Phillips screwdriver

2- daytrip
3- horror film
4- URL links
5- needs analysis

Find individual words above with consonant clusters (= two or more consonants together
without a vowel between them, like “pl” or “ths”). Mark the number of syllables on those
words and make sure you can pronounce them that way, without adding extra
unnecessary syllables.

Say collocations from above and see if your partner can count the number of syllables
without looking above. Then do the same with individual words from above and your own
ideas. Then tap out a number of syllables and see if your partner can make a word or
expression that matches that number of syllables.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015