Collocations with “heavy”

What is a collocation?

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound «right» to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound «wrong».

Some collocations with “heavy”

CERTAIN TYPES OF WEATHER
You can talk about:
a heavy snowfall / heavy snow
a heavy frost
heavy rain
a heavy storm
heavy (storm) clouds
(But probably not, for example, a heavy typhoon).

WORK SCHEDULES
You can talk about:

a heavy schedule
a heavy workload
heavy day at the office
EATING, SLEEPING, DRINKING, SMOKING
You can be a…

heavy eater
heavy sleeper
heavy drinker
heavy smoker
You can also eat a heavy lunch and certain types of cakes and sweets can be very heavy. (Christmas pudding, for example is very heavy – eat a lot and you’ll probably feel sick).

TOO MUCH OF SOMETHING
We can talk about:

heavy make-up
heavy traffic
DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
You can talk about:

heavy reading material
a heavy discussion
(But probably not a heavy explanation).
You can also say that a person speaks English with a heavy foreign accent (also a strong foreign accent).

RELATING TO LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY
We often use this with large amounts money that we are unhappy about paying:

If you park your car in the wrong place, you may have to pay a heavy fine.
An investor can suffer heavy losses on the stock exchange.
(But probably not, for example, heavy phone bill. We would be more likely to say huge phone bill or hefty phone bill.)

Why you should learn collocations?

—  Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.

—  You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.

—  It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words.

Learn as more collocations as you can, and be sure you use them right 😉