Editing Openai/695e35ca-c9c0-8003-8b44-8517505d1bda (section)

==== ✅ Rules of thumb for deciding collocations in formal writing ====

A pair counts as a collocation in formal written registers if:
* it shows semantic specialization (classifies a subtype)
* cannot be freely replaced by synonyms
* occurs in technical or institutional texts
* lacks emotional coloring
* expresses what kind of X, not how the writer feels about X

Compare:

| Pair                   | Register            | Collocation status |
| ---------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------ |
| drug-related accident  | formal/technical    | strong collocation |
| nuclear-plant accident | formal/technical    | strong collocation |
| unreported accident    | formal/legal/admin  | strong collocation |
| underwater accident    | technical context   | medium             |
| typical accident       | academic analysis   | medium             |
| big accident           | informal speech     | no                 |
| terrible accident      | emotional narrative | no                 |
| spectacular accident   | journalistic        | no                 |

===== If you’d like, I can also: =====
* compute MI/t-score collocation strength if you give counts
* map these to register labels (spoken, fiction, news, academic)
* suggest better academic alternatives (e.g., major vs big, severe vs terrible)
* extract formal collocations from your file automatically

Just tell me which direction you want to go.