English Descriptive grammar II

1st year, English Studies

Esther Álvarez de la Fuente

COCA CORPUS BASICS

BASIC FUNCTIONS

LIST: Show a list of word(s) or combination of words (ranked according to their frequency)
Spring break (653 times)

CHART: Show a chart comparing frequencies of a word in different genre or time

cool (not frequent in an academic writing)
vs.
suffrage (frequent in academic writing, but rare in speech)

COLLOCATES: Show which words occur near other words

gap collocates more frequently with gender (N), large (A), fill (V) or between (P)

COMPARE: Compare 2 words according to their frequencies

hot debate vs. heated debate

KWIC: Show the search word(s), in contexts

limit → There is no limit to learning

SEARCH STRINGS
WORD: a search word or phrase

COLLOCATES: a word (not a phrase) that occurs within up to 10 words before / after the search word(s)
You can choose the collocation range by clicking the little boxes next to the COLLOCATE box.

POS LIST: List of “Parts Of Speech”, used when the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) is known.
Place the cursor next to the word box, click the drop-down arrow and select a POS.
[Adapted from Kim, J. 2011. COCA Teacher’s Guide. Retrieved from http://studylib.net/doc/7552116/ [January 25, 2018]]

MAIN STRINGS

SYMBOLS:

* = Wildcard (any number of letters)

? = Wildcard (only one letter)

Any type of word:

strike = strike as a noun and as a verb, with this specific form

STRIKE = strike as a noun and as a verb, with its different forms
strike_v = strike only as a verb, with this specific form
STRIKE_v = strike only as a verb, with its different forms (strike, struck, stricking, strikes)
strike_n = strike only as a noun, with this specific form
STRIKE_n = strike only as a noun, with its different forms (strike, strikes)
*_v?d = Any verb in a past participle form
*_*nn2* = Any noun in the plural form
Parts of Speech (POS) [See POS list]

n (noun): _n
p (pronoun): _p
d (determiner): _d
at (article): _at
v (verb): _v
j (adjective): _j
r (adverb): _r
i (preposition): _i
c (conjuction): _c

VERBS:

_v = any verb
_v?g* = -ing forms of verbs
_v?d* = -ed forms of verbs
_v?n* = -en forms of verbs _vh* _v?n* = have + Past Participle

_vv0* = verb base

_v?i* = verb infinitive
_vvi* = verb inf/lex
_vm* = verb modal

Specific cases:

BREAK the _n* = break / broke the law / story

GET her to _v* = get / got her to stay / sleep

NOUNS:

_n* = any noun

_*nn1* = Noun + singular _*nn2* = Noun + plural
_nn0 = Noun + common _np* = Noun + proper

Punctuation:

_, _; = Punctuation is treated as any word but separated by a space.

_, nevertheless _p* _v* = , nevertheless he said…

Synonyms:

=strong = Synonyms of strong

=gorgeous _n* = beautiful woman, attractive wife
=beat_v* = Synonyms of beat as a verb