Big Possibility Strong Word Combinations Knowing Adjectives Change

As well as knowing what a word means, you need to know how to use it and this includes knowing which words it usually goes with. For example, possibility is often used with strong but not with big. The phrases 'a big possibility' and 'a strong possibility' have the same meaning and both will be understood. However, 'a big possibility' is unnatural and is generally regarded as an error. The rule that is broken by putting big and possibility together is one of word combination or 'collocation'.

Big and strong belong to a group of adjectives that are commonly used with abstract nouns (e.g. change, risk, possibility, effect, difficulty). It is important to know which adjectives go with which nouns. The table below shows which combinations are acceptable.