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Collocational Opposites

Fill in the middle column with an adjective that is opposite in meaning to the word in the first column, but makes a correct word association with the word in column three. (Note: The idea of 'opposites' is invalid unless confined to contextual or collocational opposites. Too often teaching oversimplifies this idea unhelpfully.)

helpful                 suggestion
efficient                 system
careful                 piece of work
safe                 choice
light                 green
light                 suitcase
light                 rain
light                 work


(Note: This exercise is taken from Michael Lewis, Pedagogical Implications of the Lexical Approach, pp. 262-263)

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