In celebration of Valentine’s Day, a few collocation challenges related to the theme of love…
Adverbs in love
The following adverbs all collocate into the pattern:
(adv) + in love
Which one do you think is the most frequent?
- hopelessly
- desperately
- insanely
- head over heels
- madly
- wildly
- deeply
- secretly
- passionately
- completely
Check answers in the comments box below.
Idioms with heart – romantic or not?
The following list of idioms all contain the word heart. Decide if you think they have a connection with love and romance or not.
- absence makes the heart grow fonder
- have a heart of gold
- my heart was in my mouth
- your heart isn’t in something
- home is where the heart is
- let your heart rule your head
- break somebody’s heart
- do something out of the goodness of your heart
- set your heart on something
- young at heart
- open your heart to someone
- give your heart to someone
Check answers in the comments box below.
I ♥ word formation
Change the word in CAPITAL letters to another word from the same family to complete the phrases / sentences below.
Example: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. ABSENT
- It was love at first sight. The first time he met her he was completely __________ of his feet. SWEEP
- She gazed into his eyes __________. ADORE
- She’s been getting anonymous love letters from a secret __________. ADMIRE
- It was a __________ and often stormy relationship. PASSION
- They lived __________ ever after. HAPPY
Check answers in the comments box below.
IH Santa Clara Blog 
Adverb in love:
The adverb from the list which collocates most frequently in the pattern ADV + in love is MADLY
You can fall/be madly in love (with someone)
According to the corpus we checked, here are the adverbs from the list in order of frequency: madly, deeply, helplessly, desperately, wildly, completely, secretly, passionately, insanely, head over heels.
Idioms with heart:
The idioms with a very strong connection to love and romance are:
absence makes the heart grow fonder = when you’re away from the one you love, you love them even more
break somebody’s heart = make someone feel very unhappy
give your heart to someone = give your love to one person
I love word formation:
1) swept (past participle of the verb to sweep)
2) adoringly
3) admirer
4) passionate
5) happily