I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a fine one to talk (= you are criticizing someone for something you do yourself )
▪
You’re a fine one to talk .
a round of talks/negotiations/meetings
▪
A second round of talks got under way this week.
baby talk
Careless talk
▪
Careless talk can be disastrous for a business.
crisis talks (= discussions about a crisis )
▪
The Prime Minister went back to London for crisis talks.
disarmament negotiations/talks
▪
United Nations disarmament negotiations started today.
discuss/talk about a subject
▪
Have you discussed the subject with your husband?
gave...pep talk
▪
Alam gave the Pakistani team a pep talk .
give a talk/speech/lecture
▪
He’s giving a talk on early Roman pottery.
have a look/walk/sleep/talk/think etc
▪
We were just having a look around.
▪
Are you going to have a swim?
held talks with
▪
In April, the President held talks with Chinese leaders.
high-level meetings/talks/negotiations etc
▪
a high-level conference on arms control
idle chatter/talk/gossip etc
know what...are talking about
▪
The staff are dedicated people who clearly know what they are talking about .
loose talk
▪
There’s been a bit of loose talk about it.
making small talk
▪
We stood around making small talk .
peace talks/negotiations
▪
A fourth round of peace talks will begin on Monday.
pep talk
▪
Alam gave the Pakistani team a pep talk .
round-table discussion/meeting/talks
shop talk
small talk
▪
We stood around making small talk .
speak/talk in whispers
▪
They spoke in quick, urgent whispers.
straight talk
▪
I think it’s time for some straight talk now.
talk nonsense
▪
That's not true - he's talking nonsense!
talk on the telephone
▪
He was talking on the telephone when the doorbell rang.
talk radio
talk rubbish
▪
You do talk rubbish sometimes.
talk show
▪
a talk show host
talk time
▪
The battery allows approximately 135 minutes of talk time.
talk to/consult an expert (= ask an expert for information or advice )
▪
If cracks appear in your house, you should consult an expert to find out what is causing the problem.
talk to/speak to a lawyer (= for advice )
▪
Have you spoken to a lawyer?
talked openly
▪
Sarah talked openly about her problems.
talking book
talking gibberish
▪
You’re talking gibberish !
talking head
talking point
talking shop
talk/speak (to sb) on the phone
▪
We talk on the phone every day.
▪
We spoke earlier on the phone, if you remember.
talk/speak to the press
▪
He is reluctant to talk to the press.
talk/speak/write etc freely
▪
In France he could write freely, without fear of arrest.
▪
We went outside so that we could talk freely without being overheard.
trade talks/negotiations
▪
A further round of trade talks begins this week in Geneva.
trash talking
▪
Coaches say they want to take trash talking out of high school football.
tripartite agreement/talks etc
▪
a tripartite agreement between France, Britain, and Germany
urgent talks
▪
The union is seeking urgent talks with management on this matter.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪
X-rays aren't something you can talk about , they're visual things.
▪
How about talking to a computer that will talk back?
▪
They all provide different experiences that children can be encouraged to talk about .
▪
Some people get nervous when you talk about individual flexibility.
▪
We're talking about famous people.
▪
It made everyone feel and do just what the president had just been talking about .
▪
And I don't want to talk about yesterday either.
▪
They want you to talk about how you design a communication program right from ground zero.
to
▪
The person you should talk to about this is your tutor at college and to a counsellor.
▪
And Briony was too daft to talk to, and Uncle Dan wouldn't be here till tomorrow.
▪
Research has shown that having some one to talk to and confide in is an important factor in preventing depression.
▪
Just remember who you are and who you are talking to .
▪
So whom had he been talking to ?
▪
The one you're talking to is all tolerance and forbearance.
▪
She's some one I can talk to .
▪
A psychiatric nurse I talked to in Sheffield works twenty-eight hours and takes home £51 to keep herself and two children.
■ NOUN
peace
▪
There is little sign of peace talks in a country already shattered by two decades of war.
▪
Secretary of State Christopher is to join IsraelSyria peace talks today in Maryland in an intensified bid for progress in the negotiations.
▪
Hence his offer this week of a new cease-fire and new peace talks with the rebels.
▪
Naturally, Hanoi heralded the bombing halt and the peace talks in Paris as great victories.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(it's been) nice meeting/talking to you
argue/talk etc till you're blue in the face
crying/shopping/talking etc jag
▪
I had an incredible crying jag .
fence-mending measures/talks/trips etc
money talks
▪
Money talks, and poor working people are ignored.
now you're talking
pillow talk
▪
It was spying, giving away secrets, pillow talk ... Luke knew how desperate she was.
▪
Maybe later he'd get the information he was after during pillow talk.
sales pitch/talk
▪
Don't give them a sales pitch because there is nothing more irritating.
▪
He is running out of possible patrons, sales talk, flirtatiousness, hair, steam.
▪
None of this is likely to stop a flurry of sales pitches from mutual-fund salespeople.
▪
Personally I think this is another of his sales pitches.
▪
The sales pitch can be so slick that many consumers don't even realize they have bought magazines until the bill arrives.
▪
The sales pitch is a wonderful movie moment.
▪
The analogy of the sales pitch is revealing, for advertisers do not promote their product merely by providing information about it.
▪
There was nothing spectacular about my sales pitch except the language in which it was couched.
speak/talk out of turn
▪
I hope I'm not speaking out of turn , but I don't think this is the best way to proceed.
▪
Also this week: Ben and Mandy talk out of turn while Luke is listening.
▪
Captain Steve Waugh had sharp words with Buchanan, telling him he had spoken out of turn .
▪
He enjoys talking out of turn .
talk a blue streak
▪
He had a wicked tongue when roused and could talk a blue streak.
▪
I was talking a blue streak.
talk dirty
▪
She said Smith paid her to pose naked and talk dirty to him.
talk posh
talk sense
▪
I just want our politicians to talk sense for a change.
▪
Someone who could talk sense would get my vote, but most politicians don't.
▪
A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
▪
He had already tried to talk sense into Jotan, and had got nowhere.
talk shop
▪
Are you two going to talk shop all night?
▪
I don't want to go out to dinner with him and his lawyer friends - all they ever do is talk shop .
▪
And remember that everyone of it is of your own kind, some one with whom you can talk shop .
▪
Andy the Mouse got pretty manic and spent half an hour talking shop with a Mickey.
▪
At the moment the annual summit is little more than an expensive talking shop .
▪
The Commonwealth is simply a talking shop .
▪
This would enable a tough general manager to ensure that medical audit did not become simply a talk shop or token activity.
talk turkey
▪
OK, enough joking around - let's talk turkey .
▪
They said they would be willing to talk turkey at $125 per shipment.
▪
First, let's talk turkey .
talk/buy etc your way into/past etc sth/sb
▪
Each receives some kind of government stipend, and Harry talks his way into a computer job while Kate does laundry.
▪
Forbes' rivals have accused him of buying his way into the race.
▪
Now nationalised and backed by government money, the firm may buy its way into video technology and markets.
▪
The adventurers could fight, but it would be safer to try and talk their way past.
▪
The family - without plane tickets and passports - had to talk their way past airport officials on their homeward journey.
▪
They bought their way into the landed aristocracy.
▪
You should be able to buy your way into any Mystery you choose with that.
talk/speak in riddles
▪
She is described by the Argive elders as speaking in riddles because they fail to understand her predictions.
▪
She talked in comparisons, she spoke in riddles .
▪
She wished people wouldn't talk in riddles .
▪
When Tweedledum and Tweedledee talk to Alice they are almost talking in riddles .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Danny was talking to a girl he'd just met at the bar.
▪
Even after three days of interrogation, Maskell refused to talk .
▪
Gerry wants to talk to his girlfriend before he makes a decision.
▪
He said he'd come back and kill me if I talked.
▪
I left Mario talking with my mother.
▪
I think we need to talk .
▪
If you're having trouble at school, let's sit down and talk about it.
▪
If you have a problem at school, sit down and talk about it with your parents.
▪
If you need more money you should talk with Richard.
▪
In high school, we often got in trouble for talking in class.
▪
Is this one of those birds that can talk ?
▪
It's been nice talking to you.
▪
It's important to talk with your kids about drugs, alcohol, and sex.
▪
Jerrod's only one year old and he's already starting to talk .
▪
Please don't all talk at the same time.
▪
Powell talked to a group of industry leaders in Atlanta on Tuesday.
▪
The suspect was questioned for two hours, but refused to talk .
▪
They talked about their favourite pop stars.
▪
This evening Professor Welch will be talking about Shakespeare's historical plays.
▪
two friends talking on the phone
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He walked along talking to himself.
▪
It's as if I was talking to somebody.
▪
Today they talk of doing so but they have yet to act.
▪
Usually the people who want to talk to you are the people who have contributed to you.
▪
Violence is avoided and talked down whenever possible.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
peace
▪
One hopeful sign for the success of the peace talks is the military deadlock.
▪
And it made us realize how important these peace talks that are happening in Northern Ireland right now are.
▪
The gimmick's failure underlined the difficulties the peace talks are causing for the right.
▪
Sinn Fein is excluded from peace talks that are now at a virtual standstill.
▪
A later communiqué from the guerrillas called for immediate peace talks and for their representation in the Constituent Assembly.
▪
The secretary of state is to fly to Damascus today to press IsraelSyria peace talks .
▪
Despite the peace talks , Farc's commanders have said that they will continue to kidnap civilians to pay for their campaigns.
▪
History will not judge us by whether we get these old enemies to peace talks .
pep
▪
I wondered what they said in there, what pep talks were handed out.
▪
A pep talk was all it took.
▪
Rubin himself appeared on stage for a pep talk , a short and stocky 40ish fellow in business blues.
▪
Since I am not a person whose anxiety diminishes at the prospect of certain failure, I gave myself a pep talk .
▪
In Harrogate I was to meet my editor for a pep talk .
▪
This is not just a smarmy pep talk but an unflinching discussion of real angst and a real adjustment process.
▪
If ever there was a time for a spirited pep talk , this is it.
▪
His pep talk had obviously worked the night before.
show
▪
I also discovered that being a guest on a talk show is pretty nerve-racking.
▪
For a while he even hosted his own talk show .
▪
But Costas doesn't have the on-screen presence to hold his own as a talk show host.
▪
When talk show host Denise Richardson asks if he killed the guard, Nathan answers yes.
▪
A big-deal syndicated talk show like us?
▪
That was followed by a series of appearances on talk shows by doctors who extolled Retin-A as a wrinkle treatment.
trade
▪
To seize it he must not let Mr Kaifu get all the credit if the trade talks succeed.
▪
Royals outfielder Les Norman has been mentioned in trade talks .
▪
Tim Brown sifted through the trade talk , clearly and succinctly.
▪
Jamal Crawford, who was virtually untouchable in trade talks , has shown little but long-range potential.
■ VERB
begin
▪
Tyll, a broadcaster for 20 years, began as a talk host in 1982.
▪
The country is poised to begin talks with officials at the International Monetary Fund next week on a $ 3 billion loan.
give
▪
I tell stories, give talks , run writing workshops - for children and adults all over the country.
▪
My brother was now traveling to several towns in Galicia, where he gave talks and readings from his work.
▪
Perhaps you can offer to give talks , show slides, put on an exhibition, start a local interest group.
▪
I gave a talk at Harvard Divinity School in the fall.
▪
You came to the school and gave a talk .
▪
Giving a Talk During your course you will be asked to give at least one talk .
▪
James Griffith will give a free talk about arts of the community at 12: 15 p. m. Wednesday, December 4.
hold
▪
Clinton will hold separate talks with Yeltsin on Sunday.
▪
School governors will hold talks before the next meeting of the Education Committee when a final decision is expected.
▪
Following the meeting Mann said that Shekhar had agreed to hold direct talks with militant leaders.
▪
He held talks with both Johnson and Taylor, which led to the declaration of a truce on Sept. 22.
▪
He then went on to London, to hold talks with Beaverbrook and other Air Ministry officials.
resume
▪
Towards the end of September, western governments finally resumed their tough talk .
▪
Yesterday's meeting resumed talks broken off after eight hours in Dublin last month.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(it's been) nice meeting/talking to you
argue/talk etc till you're blue in the face
fence-mending measures/talks/trips etc
fighting words/talk
▪
And we need to warn them that the words they are using can very easily become fighting words.
▪
It sounds like good fighting talk but, beyond the active birth arena, I wonder how accurate a picture it represents.
▪
Today in the 1980s many Christians don't like this fighting talk.
▪
Where I come from that's fighting talk.
money talks
▪
Money talks, and poor working people are ignored.
now you're talking
pillow talk
▪
It was spying, giving away secrets, pillow talk ... Luke knew how desperate she was.
▪
Maybe later he'd get the information he was after during pillow talk.
sales pitch/talk
▪
Don't give them a sales pitch because there is nothing more irritating.
▪
He is running out of possible patrons, sales talk, flirtatiousness, hair, steam.
▪
None of this is likely to stop a flurry of sales pitches from mutual-fund salespeople.
▪
Personally I think this is another of his sales pitches.
▪
The sales pitch can be so slick that many consumers don't even realize they have bought magazines until the bill arrives.
▪
The sales pitch is a wonderful movie moment.
▪
The analogy of the sales pitch is revealing, for advertisers do not promote their product merely by providing information about it.
▪
There was nothing spectacular about my sales pitch except the language in which it was couched.
speak/talk out of turn
▪
I hope I'm not speaking out of turn , but I don't think this is the best way to proceed.
▪
Also this week: Ben and Mandy talk out of turn while Luke is listening.
▪
Captain Steve Waugh had sharp words with Buchanan, telling him he had spoken out of turn .
▪
He enjoys talking out of turn .
talk a blue streak
▪
He had a wicked tongue when roused and could talk a blue streak.
▪
I was talking a blue streak.
talk dirty
▪
She said Smith paid her to pose naked and talk dirty to him.
talk posh
talk sense
▪
I just want our politicians to talk sense for a change.
▪
Someone who could talk sense would get my vote, but most politicians don't.
▪
A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
▪
He had already tried to talk sense into Jotan, and had got nowhere.
talk shop
▪
Are you two going to talk shop all night?
▪
I don't want to go out to dinner with him and his lawyer friends - all they ever do is talk shop .
▪
And remember that everyone of it is of your own kind, some one with whom you can talk shop .
▪
Andy the Mouse got pretty manic and spent half an hour talking shop with a Mickey.
▪
At the moment the annual summit is little more than an expensive talking shop .
▪
The Commonwealth is simply a talking shop .
▪
This would enable a tough general manager to ensure that medical audit did not become simply a talk shop or token activity.
talk turkey
▪
OK, enough joking around - let's talk turkey .
▪
They said they would be willing to talk turkey at $125 per shipment.
▪
First, let's talk turkey .
talk/buy etc your way into/past etc sth/sb
▪
Each receives some kind of government stipend, and Harry talks his way into a computer job while Kate does laundry.
▪
Forbes' rivals have accused him of buying his way into the race.
▪
Now nationalised and backed by government money, the firm may buy its way into video technology and markets.
▪
The adventurers could fight, but it would be safer to try and talk their way past.
▪
The family - without plane tickets and passports - had to talk their way past airport officials on their homeward journey.
▪
They bought their way into the landed aristocracy.
▪
You should be able to buy your way into any Mystery you choose with that.
talk/speak in riddles
▪
She is described by the Argive elders as speaking in riddles because they fail to understand her predictions.
▪
She talked in comparisons, she spoke in riddles .
▪
She wished people wouldn't talk in riddles .
▪
When Tweedledum and Tweedledee talk to Alice they are almost talking in riddles .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"They say he's having an affair with a colleague at work." "That's just talk ."
▪
A researcher from our division gave a talk today about recent advances in cancer treatment.
▪
Alice Walker has been invited to give a talk to the literary group this evening.
▪
In those days there was always talk if two people lived together without being married.
▪
There's an interesting series of talks by well-known writers on the radio this week.
▪
You should have heard Dr. Cooper's talk on his trip to India - it was fascinating.