Petr Žídek, 145 398
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
Give twenty examples of your own consultation of a corpus when writing one of the papers for
this course, or for other English courses e.g. history, cultural studies translation. State what
you are looking for and how you were able to find the solution in the corpus. And if you
couldn't, do not hesitate to say so - this is important. Corpora tools are far from perfect!
My work is based on writing a review of Dan Brown’s novel „The DaVinci Code“
1.
cognac
I want to know the plural form of the word cognac. I think it might be cognacs.
 What does the corpus say?
, of course . Good range of whiskies and cognacs .
it doesn’t give any other plural form
DECISION: The right plural form of cognac is cognacs.
Is this like other uncountables? How many waters/coffees do you want?
2.
chateau
I want to know the plural form of the word chateau. I think it might be chateaus or
chateaux.
 What does the corpus say?
- to Port-d'Envaux , you come to two more chateaux : 18th-century Panloy , flaking
romantically
- value . Midani , who also owned two French chateaux , a Cannes hilltop villa and a
townhouse
- there is no „chateaus“ in the corpus Good
DECISION: The right plural form of chateau is chateaux
3.
dupe
What is the past tense of the verb dupe? Is it regular (duped) or irregular?
 What does the corpus say?
- Hundreds of companies have been duped this way , ' said a detective with the
- is easy to empathize with foster parents duped into incubating the cuckoo 's eggs .
Human
- it doesn’t give any other possibility
DECISION: The right past tense of a verb dupe is duped. Good
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
4.
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
testify
I want to know if the right phrase is „…testify the bloodline…“ or „…testify to the
bloodline…“
 What does the corpus say?
DECISION: The right phrase is „… testify to the bloodline…“ Good.
BTW, how did you get that screen dump without the borders? Did you crop a picture?
5.
reveal for / reveal to
I want to know if in the sentence „reveal the secret…“ is „…reveal the secret for the world“
or „…reveal the secret to the world“ used.
 What does the corpus say?
-
reveal … for gives 69 hits (with which search criteria?)
reveal … to gives 244 hits
DECISION: I think that „…reveal the secrets to the world“ is the correct answer to my
question. It is, though it might be for the semantics of the prepositions, not the frequency!
6.
flee
I want to know the past tense of a verb flee. I think it might have an irregular form.
 What does the corpus say?
-
But with the Dalai Lama , who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising
himself a former Khmer Rouge commander who fled to Vietnam , gives his list of
eight Khmer
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
DECISION: It has an irregular form – fled. OK
7.
pose like / pose as
I want to know which adverb I can use in sentence „...is posed ____ Leonardo DaVinci’s
famous drawing…“, whether it will be like or as.
 What does the corpus say?
-
pose … like gives 24 hits
pose … as gives 264 hits
DECISION: I think that „…is posed as Leonardo DaVinci’s famous drawing…“ is correct.
Good
8.
apostle / apostole
I want to know if the right spelling is apostle or apostole. I think it is the first one.
 What does the corpus say?
-
apostle: 448 hits
apostole: 0 hits
DECISION: 100% apostle. Clear!
9.
learn of / learn about
I want to know if I can use learn of or learn about in the meaning of come to one’s
knowledge.
 What does the corpus say?
-
O mighty Caesar ! I am distraught to learn of the demise of your mother and shut my
ears
learn of gives 90 hits I got 302. Are you using lemma?
The more you learn about it , the more you understand how to use
learn about gives 433 hits
DECISION: I think that both possibilities are OK, but I would rather choose learn about.
10.
distort
I want to know the past tense of the verb distort. I think it might be regular.
 What does the corpus say?
-
were quite aware that their own view was distorted because one of the portholes
contained
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
-
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
there is no other form
DECISION: The past tense of the verb distort is distorted. OK
11.
interpersed by / interpersed with
I want to know if the right adverb that follows interspersed is by or with.
 What does the corpus say?
-
into long , steady-flowing , deep pools , interspersed by rough , shallow , shingle
banks . All the
interspersed by has 11 hits
However , other stones and sediments interspersed with these contain far greater
amounts of radioactivity
Interspersed with has 188 hits
DECISION: I think that right preposition after interspersed is with. OK
12.
conspiracy
I want to know the plural of the word conspiracy. I think it might be conspiracies. What else
might it have been?
 What does the corpus say?
-
open methods and refusal to countenance conspiracies made for a more harmonious
atmosphere than
Officers should be allowed ` to take part in conspiracies to import drugs so long as
they withdrew
DECISION: Conspiracies is the right plural form of conspiracy. OK
13.
while fleeing from / while fleeing
I want to know if I can use „while fleeing the police“ or „while fleeing from the police“
 What does the corpus say?
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
DECISION: Fleeing from the … is more common than fleeing the …, so I think that the
first form is correct. See “flee” here:
http://www.fi.muni.cz/~thomas/corpora/searches/
14.
refuge
I want to know the plural form of the word refuge (do you mean the 2 or 3 syllable word?). I
think it might be refuges, refugees or refugies.
 What does the corpus say?
-
trees knee-deep in moss , there might be refuges for a hundred listed men , if the worst
unexplored Canadian trains are among the last refuges from the characterless hell of
modern travel
DECISION: 100% regular form – refuges.
15.
drawn with his blood / drawn in his blood
Which one of this phrases is correct? „Drawn on his stomach with his blood“ or „drawn on
his stomach in his blood“?
 What does the corpus say?
-
drawn + right context with gives 250 hits
drawn + right context in gives 741 hits
DECISION: I think that the correct form is „drawn on his stomach in his blood.
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
16.
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
spawn
What is the past tense of the verb spawn? Does it have regular form spawned or irregular
form?
 What does the corpus say?
-
since been televised in 52 countries and has spawned a multi-million pound empire .
Mr Driscoll
irony that more or less began with ABC and spawned a straight , bleached-out
generation of
DECISION: 100% spawned. OK
17. + 18.
clue
Can I use the word clue as a verb? And if so, what is its past tense? Is it regular (clued), or
not?
 What does the corpus say?
-
Pretty little thing , but Philip must clue her in a bit about how to behave .
first few letters , until somebody must have clued him in on the correct spelling . Not
my
DECISION: Yes, clue exists as a verb. And it is regular verb, the past tense is clued. But
did you notice the possibility of it being a phrasal verb?
19.
bury
What is the past tense of the verb bury? Is it burried or buried?
 What does the corpus say?
-
n't you think you 'd better see the body buried before you do anything else ?
I can think about my loyal dog buried in the snow
DECISION: The past tense of the verb bury is buried, not burried. OK
20.
attempt
Can I use attempt as a noun, or is it only verb?
 What does the corpus say?
-
Any such attempt has to look closely at their chastened
Attempt as a noun has 13.300 hits
Attempt as a verb has 8.051 hits
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Petr Žídek, 145 398
Assignment Group A
DISCOVERING ENGLISH
DECISION: Attempt can be definitely used as a noun, and it is even more common than as
a verb.
Thanks Petr for your work. You have demonstrated a good familiarity with the program and
have presented your questions and answers clearly and logically. Quite a few of your Qs
however are rather simple and can be easily answered by a dictionary. It would have been a
stronger assignment, however, if you had searched for collocations and colligations, and
phrases and domains rather than focussing on word forms.
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