Collocations with GO

Collocations with GO

Hello English learners!  Have you ever been in doubt whether to say “go on a trip” or “go for a trip”? Well, collocations with “go” can be a bit tricky. Let’s clear things out.

We are going to look at four groups of collocations with GO: go on, go for, go + -ing, and go to

GO ON

We normally use go on with travel words such as trip, cruise, tour, journey, holiday, etc. Let’s look at the example sentences.

• Michael is going on a business trip to Barcelona next week. 
• They went on a city break to Prague. 
• Carla has always wanted to go on a cruise across the Mediterranean but her husband doesn’t stand sailing.
• Barry has taken a year off to go on a journey of self-discovery.
• Unfortunately, rain has spoiled our plans to go on a picnic.
• Although we always go on holiday in July, this year we are going in August.
• While Sandra was singing in a band, they went on tour to Brazil.
• Can you imagine? We are going on a safari to Uganda! 
• Right after the wedding, they went on a honeymoon to the Lake District.

We also say:

• There were no buses available so we had to go on foot.
• How often do you go online?
• Sarah went on a date with Malcolm last night.

Collocations with GO

GO FOR

Use the collocation go for with nouns.

• After lunch, Jack suggested going for a walk. 
• When we were in Rome, we went for a meal in a lovely restaurant.
• Philip suggested that we go for a swim.
• After hundred miles of driving, we took a break and went for a coffee at a nice cafe by the road.
• Let’s go for a run. It’s a beautiful day!
• Do you think we could go for a drink after work?
• Simon will be late for work because he’s gone for a dental check.
• Instead of watching TV, we could go for a jog along the beach.
• I’d love to go for a drive to the old town.
• After breaking his leg, Paul had to go for an x-ray.
• I’m on a diet so I’ll go for a salad and some boiled vegetables.
• Did you know that camels can go for months without water?
• If your dream is to become an architect, then go for it!

Collocations with GO

GO + -ING

We usually use the construction go + -ing to talk about free-time activities. 

• John gets up at 5 every morning to go running.
• We always go camping for our holiday but this year we’re staying in a hotel.
• My parents usually go food shopping on Saturday morning.
• I’d love to go hiking in Spain next summer.
• I love this song! Let’s go dancing!
• John goes fishing at weekends for relaxation.
• Mary usually goes cycling along the river bank when the weather is nice.
• I think it’s dangerous to go mountain climbing alone.
• The Smiths usually go skiing in January.
• When we were in Slovenia, we went kayaking down the Sava river.
• We went ice skating in the ice rink downtown.
• If the waves are high enough, we can go surfing in the morning.
• You should never go swimming on a full stomach.

Collocations with GO

GO TO

We normally use go to for places.

• Why do you always go to bed so early?
• When I was little, we used to go to church every Sunday morning.
• Our children go to a nearby elementary school.
• If the pain doesn’t stop after you’ve taken a painkiller, you should go to the doctor.
• Shall we go to a concert on Saturday?
• Greg hates to drive so he usually goes to work by train.
• I think we should go to the cinema first and have dinner afterwards.
• Although we usually go to the sea on holiday, this year we’re going to the mountain.
• Some scientists will be going to Mars soon.
• Sorry, I can’t come to your party, I have to go to a meeting.

But remember, we don’t use TO with places in these cases:

• After school, all children went home. (not: went to home).
• We have to go downtown to pick up our friends (not: go to downtown)
• I’m going to pick up my passport because we‘re going abroad. (not: going to abroad)

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