Go to the Collins Bank of English website (http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx) and follow these steps:
Step 1
- Enter the search word "well."
- Check only the box entitled "British books, ephemera, radio, newspapers, magazines (36m words)."
- Click the "show concs" button. This asks the computer to search 36 million words of British books, ephemera, radio, newspapers, and magazines to find a sample of concordance lines for "well." (Technical note: This search will take about a second and will then open a separate window. You may have to temporarily unblock your "pop-up blocker" setting just under the tool bar at the top of the page to view the concordance lines on screen.)
- Print out this list (use landscape setting for page layout).
Step 2
- Go back to the homepage of the Collins Bank of English website and enter the search word "well" again. This time check only the box that says "American books, ephemera and radio (10m words)."
- Click the "show concs" button again. This asks the computer to search the 10 million words of American books, ephemera, and radio to find a sample of concordance lines for "well."
- Print out this list (use landscape setting for page layout).
Step 3
- Go back to the homepage of the the Collins Bank of English website and again, enter the search word "well." This time only check the box that says "British transcribed speech (10m words)."
- Click the "show concs" button again. This asks the computer to search the 10 million words of British transcribed speech to find a sample of concordance lines for "well."
- Print out this list (use landscape setting for page layout).
Step 4
- Congratulations! You have made three concordance lists for "well" from three different corpora:
- British, mostly written sources
- American, mostly written sources
- British spoken sources
- Now compare your lists by answering the following questions:
- Which printouts (1, 2, or 3) are most alike?
- How are they alike?
- Which one differs most and how? Why do you think this is?
Visit the Discussion Area and share your ideas with others taking this ELT Advantage course.
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