Book excerpt: Why is it important to learn collocations and idioms?An appreciation of collocation and idioms will help you to: - use the words you know more accuratelyIn other words, you'll make (NOT do) fewer mistakes.- sound more natural when you speak and writeBy saying, for example, go blank, rather than forget everything, youwon't just be understood, you will - quite rightly - sound like a fluent user of English.- vary your speech and, probably more importantly, your writingInstead of repeating everyday words like very, good or nice, you will be able to exploita wider range of language. Learning collocations, idioms and phrases means no more struggle, pausing or confusion while dealing with any of the major skills of the language (writing, reading, speaking and listening). This is the most effective method to use English words in a correct but natural way.