9733 | 0.96
regardless r
.of, .their, .whether, .how, .race, .age, .where, .level, .status, .gender, .happen, .size, political, .type
10040 | 0.93 A
load v
noun truck, base, item., gun, bag, food, back, weapon, data, gear, film, pack, machine, .ambulance, stuff misc .into, .onto, fully., heavily, ready
up car, .truck, .stock, .wagon, .plate, .debt, cart, bus, gun, grocery 9901 | 0.95
singer n
adj popular, famous, female, favorite, professional, legendary, talented, choral noun country., lead., opera., jazz., blues., gospel., .songwriter, folk. verb .sing, .perform, feature., record, train., accompany, .entertain, .croon, honor, imitate 10300 | 0.91
distribute v
noun .information, food, company, money, product, material, fund, weight, .news, service, film, copy, power, .picture, data misc evenly, .among, widely., ·throughout, .across, million
9996 | 0.94 A
ton n
adj metric, estimated, solid, dry, nuclear, hazardous, radioactive, toxic, additional, chemical noun .waste, .money, .food, .carbon, .material, ·dioxide, .oil, .coal, .steel, .brick verb weigh., produce, carry., generate, dump., emit, haul, import., contain., bury. 10302 | 0.91
24. Comparing words
One of the challenges for a language learner is to acquire a sense of the nuances between two related words—where one would be used, but not the other. With the Corpus of Contemporary American English, this is quite easy. Users simply enter the two words, and then the corpus shows which collocates (nearby words) occur with one word but not the other, and vice versa. For example, the following table shows just a fragment of the output for small versus little. We will not explain all of the numbers here, though that explanation is available online. For our purposes, we see that small occurs with business and amount, for example, while little occurs with league and secret.
Word 1 (W1): small (35.5%) Word 2 (W2): little (64.5%)
1 amounts
828
7
0.99
2.80
1 while
2115
10
1.00
1.54
2 fraction
517
5
0.99
2.79
2 bit
15677
94
0.99
1.54
3 percentage
902
10
0.99
2.79
3 league
1045
7
0.99
1.54
4 firms
422
5
0.99
2.79
4 brother
1062
10
0.99
1.54
5 businesses
2199
32
0.99
2.78
5 sister
908
11
0.99
1.53
6 telescopes
119
2
0.98
2.77
6 sympathy
142
2
0.99
1.53
7 fee
175
3
0.98
2.77
7 secret
367
6
0.98
1.52
With the web interface, users can compare any set of words, to see semantic (meaning) differences, as well as cultural differences in the use of two related words. The following table gives just a small sampling of some of these searches.
[A]
[B]
Collocate POS
Collocates with [A]
Collocates with [B]
1 [boy]
[girl]
[j*]
growing, rude
sexy, working
2 Democrats
Republicans
[j*]
open-minded, fun
mean-spirited, greedy
3 Clinton
Bush
[v*]
confessed, groped, inhale
assure, deploying, stumbles
4 utter.[j*]
sheer
[nn*]
silence, despair
beauty, joy
5 ground.[n*]
floor.[n*]
[j*]
common, solid
concrete, dirty
6 [rob].[v*]
[steal].[v*]
[nn*]
bank, store
cars, money
instance n
adj other, particular, rare, specific, certain, single, numerous, isolated, individual, mild noun violence, ·innuendo, drug, number., .abuse, behavior, type, sex, couple., document verb cite, .occur, involve, recall., identify., reveal, record, suggest, require, witness. 10285 | 0.91 A
affiliation n
adj religious, political, ethnic, cultural, tribal, institutional, denominational noun author., party., ·editor, .writer, group, feedback, e-mail, church, university, peer verb .contribute, .teach, switch., correlate., retain., misstate. 10765 | 0.87 M
hunting n
adj public, happy, traditional, favorite, illegal, excellent, recreational noun fishing, deer, .season, ·dog, .ground, area, .rifle, .knife verb go., allow, offer, enjoy., ban., prohibit, bargain.
11196 | 0.83 M
pale j
noun face, eye, skin, hair, light, color, man, hand, sky, wall, lip, moon misc her, blue, look, yellow, green, pink, white, beyond
10681 | 0.87 F
paint n
adj white, lead-based, fresh, acrylic, black, red, thick, blue, yellow, green noun oil., .job, coat., brush, lead., layer., color, wall, can, spray. verb use, apply, peel, mix, cover, .dry, remove, match, contain
11730 | 0.79 M
poet n
adj romantic, famous, greatest, female, favorite, fellow, prize-winning, lyric, Chinese noun .laureate, writer, woman, novelist, artist, critic, poem, author, playwright, .essayist verb write, read, name, describe, publish, .sing, quote, inspire, praise, feature 10275 | 0.90 A
gradually r
·into, .become, .add, .increase, until, .over, begin, change, move, .sugar, .lose, .beat, build, grow
9884 | 0.94
partnership n
adj limited, private, public-private, domestic, strategic, public, global, professional, successful, equal noun program, community, business, school, education, development, .peace, .agreement, industry verb form., develop, create, build, establish, forge., enter., require, promote, seek 10157 | 0.92 A
capability n
adj military, nuclear, human, offensive, technological, technical, chemical, full, limited, biological noun weapon, missile, intelligence., defense., technology, communication, performance, production., data, development verb develop., provide, build, increase, enhance., improve., include, add, acquire, demonstrate. 10301 | 0.90 A
Canadian j
noun government, company, border, law, province, policy, minister, society, team, official, industry, culture
12104 | 0.77 A
tech n
adj high, low, urban, digital, electrical, forensic noun .stock, .support, .company, .university, .center, ·coach verb beat, graduate., attend., invest, specialize, ·soar, .rebound, massacre.