Binomials

Photo by @aclil2climb via eltpics

Binomials are two word expressions (strong collocations) such as "dead or alive", "give and take", "law and order". 

In this activity inspired by a short film activity on
FilmEnglish, students become more aware of binomial pairs in English.

Binomials (also known as Siamese twins) consist
of two words joined by conjunctions and, or and sometimes but,
and are very common in English. The activity below is suitable for
upper-intermediate and advanced students.

Step 1 - Video

A split-screen
short called Symmetry was a jumping-off point for the ensuing language focus. We watched the film and followed stages 1-4 in the lesson plan outlined on Film English.

Step 2 - Post-watching

After watching, draw students attention to the following expressions

cops and robbers

fish and chips

salt and pepper

Ask students if they can think of other, similar expressions in English (you don't have to introduce the word binomial)

Step 3 - Matching

Divide the class into an even number of groups: A and B. If you have 4 groups you will need 2 copies of the handout
below, if you have 6 groups – 3 copies etc (1 handout per 2 groups)

Cut the handout below in the middle (vertically) and distribute the cut-up binomials between the groups. Give the left column to groups A and the right column to groups B. Each group should have 13 pairs. Ask students to match the pairs.

  Binomials Matching 

Step 4 - Feedback

Ask all groups A and B to go to each other's tables and
check their matchings. Clarify difficult items. Definitions and examples can be found in this dictionary: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com

Life and death is part of the longer expression "a matter of life and death".

Language note

26 binomial pairs may seem too much for one
lesson. However, only a handful of these are genuinely new items: your students will probably know some of these binomials and will no doubt know the individual words comprising most of them. Also note, Law and Order and Nip and Tuck are names of popular TV shows students might be familiar with.



My upper-intermediate students didn't know blood and guts, (play) fast and loose, odds and ends (Group A) and cut and dried, null and void, spick and span (Group B). If you think it's still too many items for one lesson, remove six and give each group 10 pairs.

Follow up

More contextualised practice in pairs/groups using the handout below. Note that some expressions in this activity didn't appear in the matching activity.

Students can look up the pairs they don't know using Netspeak (see related post here) or Macmillan dictionary which has an autocomplete function.

  Binomials Activity 

Language focus

Point out that binomial pair are irreversible, i.e. you can't switch the order of words in a pair. Draw students' attention to the sound patterns in binomials. Some of them rhyme (hustle and bustle, wine and dine) while many others are alliterated (bigger and better, part and parcel, prim and proper). According to research (Boers & Lindstromberg 2005), about 1/3 binomial pairs in English have alliterative patterns. 

Extension

You can round off the lesson with the song "She" which contains a lot of binomial pairs and alliteration - click HERE



Homework

For further (decontextualised) practice, use these Quizlet flashcards or this matching game

More on binomials including a quiz on BBC Learning English



I hope your students enjoy the lesson and thank you to Kieran Donaghy (Film English) for inspiring the activity.

References

Lindstromberg, S.
& Boers, F. (2008) The mnemonic effect of noticing alliteration in lexical
chunks. Applied Linguistics 29(2): 200-222.