Searching American National
Corpus with the Help of AntConc
Step: 1
• Check if you have Java Runtime Environment
on your computer
http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.js
p?detect=jre&try=1
• If not, Install Java Runtime Environment (7.5)
http://www.java.com/en/download/chrome.jsp
?locale=en
Step 2: Download OANC (Open
American National Corpus)
•
•
•
•
326 MB  4.8 GB, 14,623,927 words, Tagged
Download the Open ANC in GrAF format:
http://www.anc.org/OANC/OANC_GrAF.zip
The download will take some time depending
on your internet speed.
• After download is complete, right-click on the
zip file and unzip it to a location that you
would remember.
Step 3
• Download the ANCTool zip file from
• http://www.anc.org/tools/index.html#anctool
• After the download is completed right-click on
the file and unzip it to a location that you
would remember.
Step 4
• Create a corpus from OANC using ANC Tool in
a way that AntConc can search through it.
• Double Click on the folder “AncTool-2.0.0”
• Double Click on the file “AncTool-2.0.0.jar”
• The program will start.
Step 4
• Browse the folder for the sub-corpus you
would like to convert through “Input
directory” window.
• Create the folder for your new sub-corpus that
can be processed by AntConc through “Output
directory” window.
• Select GrAF as your input format.
• Click on “MonoConc” tab
• Put a check in the box next to “Hepple Part of
Speech Tags”
Step 5
• See the files you just created and understand
the organization of tagged corpus
• Check for mistakes!
• Know the tags for the annotations.
(You can do this by reading the guides on
OANC’s website)
Step 6
• Open AntConc
• Adjust the settings in AntConc according to
the patterns in your corpus files
Step 6
•
•
•
•
Global Settings  Tag Settings
Put a dot in the radio button, “Hide Tags”
Tag Start =
_
Tag End =
↔#
Step 7
• Load your corpus
• And considering the tags search through the
corpus!
Scenario 1
• What kinds of “verb + that clause” patterns occur in
spoken American English?
Example: “I knew that her father said ‘Do not touch.’”
• First: Pick a sub-corpus
• Second: Remember the tags in the sub-corpus processed by
ANCTool
• Third: Remember the searching conventions of AntConc
• And start your search!
• Analyze: sort, check the patterns, and record what you
found.
Scenario 2
• You want to know what kind of verbs are
common before
• “possesive NP + ing-clause” patterns
• Example: “I recall her talking about how she
cared for him”
Scenario 3
• You want to know how travel guides use
existential there with modals.
Example:
“There might have been 8 to 10 of us.”
Scenario 4
• You want to know what kind of transitive
phrasal verbs are there in government
documents. Look for patterns that have the
pronoun between verb and particle.
• Example: “He did not point it out.”
Scenario 5
• You come up with a question.