Clause Pattern DB
A corpus-based tool
Elisabet Comelles (elicomelles@ub.edu)
Natàlia J. Laso (njlaso@ub.edu)
Isabel Verdaguer
Eva Giménez
Grup de Recerca en Lexicologia i Lingüística de Corpus (GReLiC)
Layout
 Introduction. Our project
 Aims of the Clause Pattern DB
 Methodology
 Clause Pattern DB
 Conclusions
 Future venues
Introduction
 Few empirical studies on the use of corpus
in an L2 teaching context (Laso & Giménez
2007, 2008)
 Use of Corpora in EFL context  learners
focus on:
 Naturally-occurring utterances
 Highly frequent combination of words
(Tsui 2004)
Our project
 Compilation of specific sub-corpora (7,675.181 words)
from mystery novels in order to:
 Show large quantities of real language in use
 Draw learners’ attention more easily
 Use of a corpus-based approach in our classes (English Studies
& English Philology)
 Our studies focus on Clause Patterns in context.
Development of a Database
Aims of the Clause Pattern Database
 Systematize and organize the information
provided by the corpus
 Interrelate the contents of different subjects
 Design teaching/learning materials based on
corpus
 Enhance collaborative work between discussion
groups
Methodology
 Selection of prototypical verbs, illustrative of the 5
canonical patterns (i.e. SV, SVC, SVO, SVOC,
SVOO) [Huddleston & Pullum 2002].
 Further searches with:
 syntactically & semantically related verbs (e.g.
buy/sell)
 other verbs semantically-related but syntactically
different (e.g. give/donate)
 WordSmith Tools 5.0
Clause Pattern DB
 Layout:
 The sentence extracted from corpus
 The pattern of the sentence
 The lexeme of the main verb
 The verb valence
Clause Pattern DB
Clause Pattern DB
Clause Pattern DB (demo)
Conclusions
 The utility of the Clause Pattern DB is twofold:
1. it allows to organize & systematize
corpus data
2. it provides users with user-friendly
query tools
Conclusions
 Query tools:
To draw users’ attention on the interrelation of
syntax & semantics
semantically-related
verbs tend to be associated with certain
grammatical patterns
Conclusions
 Searching for lexemes / patterns / valences
give
donate
I was given this watch by my father
(SV[pas.]OObl[by])
She gave the lecture despite her illness
(SVO)
You never should have donated defective
sperm in the first place (SVO)
You’ve given Harry plenty of information
(SVOO)
Pat gave your phone number to Martin
(SVOObl)
The old professor donated all his books to
the library (SVOObl)
Bodies are donated to the body farm
(SV[pas]Obl[to])
Future venues
Production of classroom materials based on
the Clause Pattern DB
To what extent does the application of corpus
for the designing of classroom activities is
helpful to SLA / FLA?
Further empirical
studies are needed (Conrad 2005)
Future venues
Addition of tree structures connected to the
sentences of the database.
Information about the frequency of
occurrence of the different patterns of a
given lexeme.
Bibliography
 Ädel, A. & Reppen, R. (Eds.). (2008). Corpora and Discourse.The challenges

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of different settings. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Aijmer, K. (Ed.). (2009). Corpora and Language Teaching. Amsterdam/
Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Conrad, S. (2005). Corpus Linguistics and L2 Teaching. In E. Hinkel
(Ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp.
393-409). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G.K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the
English Language. Cambridge: CUP.
Hunston, S. & Francis, G. (2000). Pattern Grammar.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Hunston, S. (2002). Corpora in Applied Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.
Bibliography
 Laso, N. J. & Giménez, E. (2007). Bridging the Gap between Corpus
Research and Language Teaching. In C. Periñán (Ed.), Revisiting Language
Learning Resources.(pp. 49-64). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
 Laso, N. J. & Giménez, E. (2008). Exploring the Impact of Concordancers
in the Teaching of English Lexicology and Morphology. In L. Pérez, I.
Pizarro & E. González (Eds.), Estudios de Metodología de la Lengua Inglesa (IV)
(pp. 281-290). Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, Secretariado de
Publicaciones e Intercambio Editorial.
 Lüdeling, A & Kytö, M. (Eds.). (2008). Corpus Linguistics. An International
Handbook. (Vol. 1). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
 Tsui, A. B. M. (2004). What Teachers Have Always Wanted to Know – and
How Corpora Can Help. In J. Sinclair (Ed.), How to Use Corpora in Language
Teaching (pp. 39-61). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Acknowledgments
 AGAUR Programme (2008MQD00020)
 Programa d’Innovació Docent of the University
of Barcelona (2009PID-UB/06)
 Technical support provided by temuevo.com
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!