Let me introduce you to my essential guide on How To Use The Verb GIVE In English Collocations.
This covers practically every kind of collocation you will ever need using the verb to give.
Collocations can help you speak English with more fluency and in a more modern style.
So, let’s not waste time…
Let’s get started!
The Most Common Collocations Using The Verb GIVE
The most common way you can use GIVE in a collocation is like this:
Below are the most common ways to use this kind of phrase.
Let’s take a look…
Give Someone A Call
This means to call someone on the phone.
Hey, give me a call this Friday! Let’s go out!
John, can you give your mum a call? She wants to talk to you.
Just give him a call. He will be able to help you.
In the days of instant messaging, maybe calling someone on the phone is not so common these days.
But it was the only way a few years ago!
Here are some other ways to express this:
- Give me a buzz
- Give her a ring
Can you give me a buzz tomorrow? I have a question for you.
Give her a ring! Ask her out on a date.
Give Someone A Chance/A Second Chance
This means to offer someone an opportunity.
Or, maybe they did something wrong, but you offer them a second opportunity or chance.
Take a look below:
Give me a chance to prove myself. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Maybe someone says this to a boss when they are looking for a job.
Give me a chance! I’ve only tried it once!
In this context, maybe someone is trying to play a game. They are asking for more opportunities to prove themselves.
I decided to give John a second chance. I know he cheated on me, but I will give him one more try.
In this example, a young woman has decided to give her boyfriend, John, a second chance.
Maybe it will work out… Maybe not…
Give Someone Some Help/Give A Hand
These phrases both have the same meaning.
But it is more common to say give me a hand.
Hey, Nigel, give me a hand over here, can you?
In this sentence, a worker is asking his friend for some help with something.
Kathy, can you give your Dad a hand with the washing up?
In this case, a mother asks her daughter to help her father wash the dishes.
Give us a hand!
This is a very common expression — especially in England.
But when we say ‘US’ we don’t mean a group of people, we just mean one person or me.
Could you give Susan some help with the new project?
In a work situation, a manager might use more formal language to ask someone to help another coworker.
Note: You should always say ‘some help’, not just ‘help’.
Give Someone A Kiss/A Hug
When greeting family members or old friends, people sometimes kiss or hug the other person.
Hello, Timothy, come over here and give me a kiss!
In this sentence, a grandmother might be talking to her grandson. She wants him to greet her with a big kiss on the cheek!
Hey, can you give me a hug…
Here, a young woman is not feeling so good. So she asks her friend to hold her and embrace her to make her feel better.
Give Someone Some Advice
Sometimes you need other people to help you with a question in your life.
So you might ask them for advice.
You can use the following expressions:
Hey, give me some advice on this, would you?
Here, a worker is asking his colleague for advice.
Notice that you should say ‘some advice’ not just ‘advice’.
Let’s look at another example:
Hey, Jane, can you give me some advice on something?
In this example, a young woman is asking her friend Jane to help her with some issue in her life.
We all need some advice some time!
Give Me A Second/Minute
You can use this phrase to tell someone that you need more time.
Maybe you are meeting your friend for coffee, they call you and ask where you are.
You are nearly there, but need just one or two minutes.
You can say:
I’m nearly there! Give me a minute!
Now, of course, you don’t literally mean one minute. Maybe it will take you ten minutes.
But the point is, you are asking the other person to wait for a while.
In another context, a worker is helping his colleague with something.
The colleague is getting impatient and says: Hurry up!
The worker can respond by saying:
Give me a second!
This is a way to ask for more time.
Or to discreetly tell someone to be more patient…
Please note that with Give Me A Minute/Second, we usually use me.
We don’t often say: Give him a minute/second.
Give Me/Someone A Break!
This means to stop being so critical or to stop annoying someone.
It’s a way of telling someone to stop being unpleasant.
Imagine you are trying to finish some homework, but your friend keeps correcting you.
You can say:
Give me a break! Stop criticising me!
Or maybe an adult is always telling a child how to do something.
The child’s mother could say:
Give her a break! She’s only a child, she’s trying her best!
Give Me An Example
You can use this phrase when someone is explaining something to you, but you need an example to understand it more clearly.
Maybe your teacher is explaining a maths formula. But it’s difficult to understand.
So you could say:
Can you give me an example?
Usually, people are happy to do this!
But maybe the teacher is explaining to the class a difficult maths problem.
The teacher can see all the students looking confused, so she says:
Let me give you an example.
This can help explain the problem more clearly.
Give Me/Someone An Answer
This phrase might be used in more formal situations, like work.
Imagine a woman working in a company who needs her colleague to reply to something about work.
She might say:
Give me your answer by tomorrow morning.
She is being very clear about what she needs. She needs a clear answer in the morning.
Or a man has been made an offer to buy his car. He is not sure, so he needs to think about it.
He can say:
I’ll give you an answer in a couple of days, okay?
Then everything is clear.
Some More Collocations Using GIVE
Above are some very common collocations using GIVE.
But there are many more.
Shall we take a look?
Let’s get into it…
Give Up
There are two ways you can use this phrase.
The first is when you have reached a limit with a person.
Maybe this person is very difficult to talk to or live with.
So you can say:
Oh, I give up on you!
This means that you no longer wish to communicate with this person.
Or maybe you are working in a company, but the boss is very demanding.
The boss doesn’t give you one second of praise.
You can say:
I give up on my boss… I’m going to look for another job.
It means you have had enough of working for this person and you want to leave this job.
Essentially, to give up means to surrender or admit defeat to someone or something.
You tried, but you could not achieve a good result, so you decided to walk away.
The second way you can use GIVE UP is when you stop a bad habit.
Suppose a man wants to stop smoking cigarettes.
He could say:
I really want to give up smoking.
He means he no longer wishes to smoke and wants to stop!
Or another person who can’t stop eating candy.
I should really give up eating all this sweet food. It’s terrible for my health.
This person has a strong desire to stop eating all the sweet, unhealthy food in her life!
That is how to use GIVE UP in a collocation.
Don’t Give A ****!
WARNING: SOME BAD WORDS HERE!
Sometimes people lose their temper. They get angry!
They want to say to someone that they don’t care or they have no regard for the person or situation.
Imagine two people are arguing. John might be telling Keith that his shoes are terrible.
But Keith likes his shoes!
He could reply with the following:
I don’t give a shit what you think about my shoes! I like them!
Or maybe Simon has made his girlfriend, Sally, angry again. Sally has reached her limit though.
She might say:
I don’t give a fuck! We are finished!
Or someone is late for work. But they don’t care…
The boss says: You’re late. Again.
Maybe the person doesn’t like their job, so they reply:
I don’t give a toss!
All of these phrases have the same meaning.
That the person speaking no longer cares for the other person or situation.
But remember: All of these phrases use very extreme language.
Use with care!
Give It A...
This is another way you can use GIVE in collocations.
Give It A Try/Go
Imagine your friend is talking about going horse riding. She has never done this before and she is a little nervous.
You want to encourage her, so you say:
Don’t worry, you’ll be fine! Give it a try!
Or someone wants to learn Japanese, but can’t make up their mind.
You could say:
Give it a go! You might like it!
Give It A Try/Go is used to encourage someone to do something that they feel nervous about.
Give It A Rest
This is another phrase that means to stop talking or to stop being annoying.
Imagine your friend keeps trying to talk to you. But you are trying to read.
His constant interruptions become too much.
You might say:
Hey, give it a rest, can’t you?
Or someone is playing music on their phone very loudly on the subway.
Finally, another passenger can’t stand it any longer.
They could say:
Can you give it a rest? We don’t want to listen to your music!
Give Off
This phrase is used when talking about light, heat, or a smell from something.
It can also be used to talk about a vibe or feeling from a person.
And it can be used positively to talk about the feeling from an object.
Here are some examples for light, heat and smell.
The fire is not giving off any heat. Should we put some more coal on it?
These roses give off a really beautiful smell.
This torch is not very bright. It’s not giving off much light.
Are you sure that meat is okay? It’s giving off a very strange smell.
And sometimes you might meet someone who has a strange character.
Maybe you don’t feel very comfortable being in their company.
You can say:
That guy gives off a very strange vibe.
But imagine you are walking with someone and you look up at the full moon above you.
You might say:
The moon gives off a very peaceful feeling tonight.
Give Rise To
Used this way, this collocation with GIVE means to start something or cause something to happen.
This is a pretty formal expression, often used in news reporting.
People seldom say it in conversation. But you might hear it.
You might be listening to the weather report. And the weather presenter says:
All this rain will give rise to some flooding in the area. So please be careful.
Or maybe a new policy in the city has caused a lot of discussion between people.
The news reporter might say:
The introduction of the new policy has given rise to a lot of debate among the residents.
Giving Me
A very simple collocation using GIVE.
This phrase is used when you are talking about someone or something causing us some discomfort.
So, you are listening to music very loudly in your room.
Then your mother comes in and shouts out:
Turn that music down! You’re giving me a headache!
She means the music is too loud. Maybe she doesn’t really have a headache…
Not yet, anyway!
Now imagine a man working all day, but he is sitting in a very uncomfortable chair.
He might say:
I really have to get a new office chair. This chair is giving me an incredible backache.
Even More Collocations Using GIVE
You’re doing really well…
This is the last round.
Eight more to go.
Let’s go!
Given The Choice
This is used in a hypothetical situation.
It means: If I had to choose, I would choose…
So, two people are discussing working from home or working in the office.
One of them could say:
Given the choice, I would rather work from home. I get a lot more done that way.
Given No Choice
And this phrase means that there is no choice at all.
You must continue doing something.
Maybe a man is on the phone with his wife. He is driving, and it is raining heavily.
I can’t stop anywhere. I’m given no choice. I just have to keep driving.
Give Up The Ghost/Fight
And this collocation means to surrender and not continue.
I was trying my best to clean the house before the weekend, but I’m exhausted. I’m giving up the ghost.
I’ve had this phone for years, but it finally gave up the ghost last week.
(This means the phone is no longer working as it is too old)
The old man had been in hospital for several weeks, but he finally gave up the fight last night. We have to inform the family.
The football team refused to back down and did not give up the fight.
Give Someone A Warning/Heads Up
This means to tell someone in advance to warn them about something.
For example, a man is working with another man called John. John is often late for work.
So the first man could say:
I just want to give you a warning. The boss knows that you have been late twice this week. Be careful!
Or maybe you are on your way to school. Your friend calls you and says:
I just want to give you a heads-up. There’s a maths test this afternoon. Are you ready?
Give Someone A Hard Time
This means to make a situation more difficult for someone.
Imagine you at your friend’s birthday party.
But you forgot to buy him a present. He might make fun of you in front of everyone for not buying him something.
Then later he might say to you:
Don’t worry about buying a present! I was just giving you a hard time!
In this context, it means he was making fun of you for not buying him a present.
Or you are in a shop. And you see a customer yelling and shouting at the shop staff.
You could interrupt and say:
Don’t give her a hard time! She’s trying her best to serve you!
But maybe you are at school and not doing so well in English class.
The teacher might come up to you and say:
I don’t mean to give you a hard time, but we have a big English test coming up soon. So I think you need to do some extra studying.
Give It Some Thought
You can use this expression when you want to give someone more time to think about something.
Maybe you asked your friend if he wants to go hiking with you at the weekend.
He seems unsure and you don’t wish to push him, so you could say:
Give it some thought. Let me know tomorrow.
Or maybe in a company, the boss has offered one of the staff a pay rise. But they have to change locations.
The boss might say:
I don’t need your answer now. Just give it some thought and let me know later.
Give Someone My Best
When you want to express good wishes to someone or some others, you can use this phrase.
You can say this when you are saying goodbye to someone.
So, you are talking to a friend, and about to say goodbye, but then you want to express your good wishes to his family.
You can say:
Give your family my best.
Or maybe you are invited to your grandmother’s home, but you can’t make it.
You can say to another family member:
Give grandma my best.
Give grandma my best is like an abbreviation for:
Give grandma my love or give grandma my best wishes.
Give It Your Best Shot
And this very simply means to try your best. To do something at your highest level.
You are about to do a maths test — but you are really nervous.
Your father wants to encourage you, so he says:
Don’t worry about it! Just go in there and give it your best shot!
Or a football team is about to play a very important match against one of their rivals.
The coach wants to encourage all the players to try their best.
He could say:
Come on! I believe in you! Go out there and give it your best shot!
Conclusion
So there it is…
It’s a very long list, I know. So it would be difficult to learn all of these phrases in one session.
The best way to practice is to keep coming back and reading out loud the examples I have written for you.
Best of luck and keep studying hard!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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