Two or more words that co-occur in a language more often than would be expected by chance.

• A. Collocation
• B. Idiom
• C. Phrase
• D. Lexical bundle

Answer: (A)

This item tests collocation—the idea that certain word pairs or small groups tend to occur together more often than chance would predict. This statistical pairing is what makes phrases like “strong tea” feel natural in English, while “powerful tea” sounds odd, even though both involve common words. Collocations capture how language is actually used, guiding learners toward natural-sounding combinations.

An idiom, by contrast, carries a figurative meaning that isn’t predictable from the individual words, so its meaning isn’t defined by how often the words co-occur. A phrase is any sequence of words without implying a particular frequency pattern. A lexical bundle is a longer, frequently recurring sequence—often three or more words—highlighting repeated usage, but the core criterion described here—co-occurrence more frequent than chance—points to collocation.