Curiouser & Curiouser:
An Exploration of Morphological versus Periphrastic
Adjectival Constructions
Alexandra R. Kulick
76-451, English Usage
Professor Hopper
May 3, 2000
Final Project
When someone asks us a question as to
whether we prefer broccoli to brussel sprouts, why do we say, “broccoli is better
than brussel sprouts” and not gooder or more good? Why is it correct to say that George is more
curious and not curiousER than the other
monkeys? Many aspects of the English
language seem to us to be almost arbitrary or unexplainable phenomena; however,
everyday speakers of the English language cannot be expected to question these
aspects of our language, as they simply do not have the time or perhaps
interest in pursuing them. That is
precisely what we, students of linguistics, are here to address. In this particular study, my interest lies
in the close examination of an array of comparative adjectives and their
particular constructions. Which
adjectives take a morphological construction and which ones tend more toward
the periphrastic? What kinds of
contexts and genres can one construction be found in over another? Is this distribution of forms as arbitrary
as we believe?
In order for us to adequately
approach this study, it was necessary to consult the CobuildDirect corpus,
where eleven different media are represented, from British transcribed
conversational English to British books, newspapers, News Public Radio,
American books and newspapers, pamphlets, etc.
In using such a diverse corpus, I hope to amass enough data to make this
study a worthwhile one. Not only does
corpus work provide a wide array of statistical information but it also
contributes to our overall understanding of how words are contextualized, with
actual proof of everyday English usages.
Prior to consulting the corpus, it
was necessary to fully understand what the terms morphological and periphrastic
mean. In Paul Hopper’s book, A Short
Course in Grammar, he explains morphological to be “an adjective that takes
a suffix –er . . . It is formed by
changing the shape of the word” (Hopper, 165).
His definition of periphrastic is “an adjective preceded by ‘more’ . . .
formed by using more than one word . . . A construction that is spread out over
more than one word” (Hopper, 165). Now
that we understand what these terms mean, we can begin to test our knowledge of
the inner workings of our English language.
I first decided to test a vague
hypothesis suggesting that monosyllabic words tended more toward a
morphological construction. For
example, if I typed in the first query: <hotter> and in the second:
<more+hot> I would find the frequency of the former to be significantly
higher. Not only would it appear more
times in the entire corpus but it also would be more likely to appear in any
spoken or written medium. In order to
fully develop this hypothesis, it was necessary to test many different
monosyllabic adjectives and to then compare each query with its supposedly less
frequent alternative. To organize my
data even further, I separated mono-syllabic adjectives into two groups: the
“obstruent group,” which includes words such as red, clear, crude, hot, fat, etc. These words come to an abrupt
stop at the end of them, as opposed to words with softer endings. The second group is the “–y suffix group”
which includes such words as lazy, happy,
handy, shiny, etc. Although words with a –y suffix on the end
are not monosyllabic per se, they were grouped as such because the base of the
words (without the suffix) contains one syllable. This discrepancy was made to set them apart from the polysyllabic
words as a completely separate group.
My first query was <easier>,
followed by its alternative <more+easy>.
See the Appendix on pages 9 – 16 for a sample of the query results.
(Tables
on following page)
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
|
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
|
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||||
ukephem |
309 |
|
98.9/million |
|
usephem |
1 |
|
0.8/million |
|
|
usephem |
89 |
|
72.7/million |
|
bbc |
2 |
|
0.8/million |
|
|
ukspok |
630 |
|
67.9/million |
|
ukbooks |
4 |
|
0.7/million |
|
|
ukmags |
331 |
|
67.5/million |
|
ukspok |
6 |
|
0.6/million |
|
|
ukbooks |
327 |
|
61.1/million |
|
usbooks |
2 |
|
0.4/million |
|
|
usbooks |
327 |
|
58.1/million |
|
npr |
1 |
|
0.3/million |
|
|
times |
293 |
|
50.8/million |
|
today |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
|
npr |
150 |
|
47.9/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
|
sunnow |
260 |
|
44.6/million |
|
times |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
|
oznews |
217 |
|
40.7/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
|
today |
199 |
|
37.9/million |
|
ukmags |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
|
Query: 3210 occurrences of
<easier> |
|
|
sunnow |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Query: 19 occurrences of
<more+easy> |
|
As you can see in the above tables, easier appears 3210 times in the entire
corpus while more+easy occurs 19
times, six of which were not comparative (leaving us with a mere 13
examples). These numbers alone are
impressive enough to suggest that my hypothesis is not far off. I continued to explore the –y suffix group
to further strengthen my predictions.
Query |
# Occurrences in all Corpora |
||
easier |
3210 |
|
|
more+easy |
13 |
|
|
happier |
557 |
|
|
more+happy |
14 |
|
|
funnier |
44 |
|
|
more+funny |
2 |
|
|
merrier |
25 |
|
|
more+merry |
0 |
|
|
shinier |
4 |
|
|
more+shiny |
0 |
|
|
healthier |
295 |
|
|
more+healthy |
37 |
|
|
sillier |
17 |
|
|
more+silly |
2 |
|
|
heavier |
349 |
|
|
more+heavy |
3 |
|
|
rockier |
7 |
|
|
more+rocky |
0 |
|
|
As
we see in the table on page 3, with the small exception of words that did not
appear often in the corpora, e.g., shinier,
rockier, the morphological
construction came up significantly more than the periphrastic did. It is important to note that some
periphrastic adjectives required substantial weeding of the data, as more+JJ
(adjective) did not always show adjectives used comparatively. Instead, more
could be substituted with such phrases as “an additional” or “an increase in .
. . .” Therefore, raw numbers are not
always indicative of the actual frequency of a particular word form or
combination in the corpus.
Once
I gathered all of my –y suffix adjective data, I wanted to look more closely at
the contexts in which these word forms were used, to understand why
morphological constructions are more frequent.
Studying our first query (with most occurrences), <easier>, I
noticed an alarming amount of intensifiers preceding the node word. For example, <a+lot+easier> occurred
132 times in the corpora and <much+easier> occurred 366, which is 11.4%
of the total occurrences of easier. To the left of the node word, the
preposition than immediately followed
easier 133 times and an alarming 1065 instances of verbs in the
infinitive form came up, e.g., easier to follow, easier to understand,
etc. That is 33% of the total
occurrences in all corpora. Lastly, the
phrase, “make . . . easy” is quite common; when I typed in the query:
<make@+1,5easier> the corpora yielded 872 sentences or 27%, e.g., makes
my life easier, made things easier, etc.
As you can see in the tables on page 5, I wanted to see the statistical
measures of significance, using the t-score.
When looking at such a large amount of raw data, t-scores (and M.I
scores) allow us to observe to what extent the node word (in this case easier)
conditions its lexical environment by selecting particular words with which it
will co-occur. In the table, the first
column is the collocate, the second is the total independent frequency of the
collocate, the third is the frequency with which the node and collocate appear
together, and finally the fourth column is the t-score.
it 583732 453 19.750503 |
much 48372 366
18.989770 |
be 293540 273 15.529489 |
s 596267 214 12.349999 |
is 499929 195 11.962757 |
lot 26750 145 11.917401 |
an 168366 102 9.167507 |
life 37943
78 8.591576 |
any 59172 73 8.156821 |
was 430062 84 6.541825 |
bit 18098 42 6.324618 |
little 32454 41 6.119765 |
been 134152 50 6.01041 |
far 19873 38 5.984182 |
made 45730 40 5.920322 |
even 47997 33 5.277454 |
things 32931
25 4.631790 |
are 240429 44 4.60686 |
become 15778 21
4.39008 |
becomes 3400 15
3.823905 |
getting 14765 14 3.521045 |
probably 14866 14
3.519536 |
job 15532 14 3.509585 |
often 15898 13 3.359043 |
always 26395 13 3.196280 |
to 1375856 1065 30.277341 |
for 482791 443 19.765181 |
than 75051 133
11.168738 |
and 1369241 114 3.507588 |
if 141581 68 7.286344 |
it 583732 44 1.713443 |
said 153840 41 5.059932 |
in 958631 39 -2.336834 |
by 230325 38 4.075550 |
with 364279 38 2.860694 |
but 284617 35 3.226480 |
when 131174 32
4.360470 |
because 69858 31
4.866315 |
the 2872094 30 -23.838379 |
at 292324 28 2.203012 |
on 393554 28 1.133487 |
Span
0:1 node: <easier> |
Span
1:0 node: <easier>
Notice above how often much
occurs before easier and the prepositions to, for, and than
occur after it, giving an indication of comparison (especially than).
Now that we have a better
understanding of the context in which this particular morphological adjective
is used, some might be tempted to devise a cardinal rule of sorts to apply to
all monosyllabic adjectives ending in –y.
Unfortunately, that is not the case, for every word is used in different
contexts, and different genres, etc.
Therefore, it is important to take this information and to understand
from it that the distribution of forms in our language are not always as arbitrary
as we thought. Some distributions are
semantic, while others are syntactic or contextually based.
The
next part of my investigation was of obstruent monosyllabic adjectives. While this group of adjectives would appear
as obvious as the –y suffix words, there are three particular “outliers” or
exceptions that immediately come to mind.
They are good, bad, and far. Why are these the only words that have
superlatives: better, best, worse, worst, and farther/further,
farthest/furthest? While this might be
a worthwhile endeavor, this study will not attempt to answer that
question. Therefore, we will not
address them in this study.
In
congruence with my initial claims, all monosyllabic (obstruent) adjectives
generated morphological constructions, as shown in the table below.
Query |
Number of Occurrences |
||
|
in all Corpora |
|
|
dumber |
45 |
|
|
more+dumb |
0 |
|
|
smarter |
114 |
|
|
more+smart |
0 |
|
|
fatter |
64 |
|
|
more+fat |
0 |
|
|
sharper |
143 |
|
|
more+sharp |
2 |
|
|
cleaner |
589 |
|
|
more+clean |
1 |
|
|
taller |
243 |
|
|
more+tall |
0 |
|
|
shorter |
731 |
|
|
more+short |
2 |
|
|
rounder |
212 |
|
|
more+round |
1 |
|
|
hotter |
132 |
|
|
more+hot |
0 |
|
|
colder |
165 |
|
|
more+cold |
1 |
|
|
clearer |
379 |
|
|
more+clear |
34 |
|
|
cruder |
15 |
|
|
more+crude |
2 |
|
|
At this point in the study, we can
safely confirm my hypothesis that:
Ø
-y
suffix adjectives take the morphological construction
Ø
monosyllabic
obstruent adjectives take the morphological construction
The next step is to investigate
polysyllabic adjectives, other than words with the suffixes –ful or –ing, as
they are clearly periphrastic. Shortly after I began this part of my study,
I found that the majority, practically all, of the polysyllabic adjectives took
periphrastic constructions. The only
word that seemed to have defied this principle is narrow. The only logical explanation for this
anomaly could be attributed to its “soft” ending, as opposed to the harder
obstruent endings. In order to
substantiate this claim, I searched for other polysyllabic adjectives with soft
endings and the only ones: yellower and hollower did not occur in
the corpora at all. Therefore, we are
left with the inference that monosyllabic words with obstruent endings take
morphological constructions and polysyllabic words with softer endings, such as
–ow, -ay, etc. take periphrastic constructions.
Results
To
recapitulate what has been established in previous sections, we now have a clearer
(or more clear) understanding of morphological and periphrastic
constructions with respect to comparative adjectives. Why they occur more frequently with one type of word over another
can be attributed to its entire context: words both preceding and following
it. Whether the next word begins with a
vowel or a consonant, or the node word ends in –er and the next word
begins with an r are all factors that play into the “preferred” or most
common usage. Therefore, it makes sense
that polysyllabic words take periphrastic constructions, just as it is to
simply add and –er onto the end of the word wet (plus a
discretionary t). Aside from the
few unusual exceptions, these “rules of thumb” or “basic trends” observed in
this study ring true for all alike adjectives.
In other words, we could safely say that ALL polysyllabic adjectives are
periphrastic and all monosyllabic adjectives with a –y suffix are
morphological. In so doing, we
understand that our language is not as arbitrary as we once believed.
Appendix:
Query: 3210 occurrences of <easier>
|
Nicholson would like to make things easier
for the law. But I feel it
said the oil slick was becoming easier to remove. It's in a globular
her
a lot better which will make it easier
when we are both in the Blazers."
it would make product support
easier. Also easing the
introduction
of the Internet would be made
easier to unravel by the Microsoft
and would make computer upgrades easier for
home users once systems built
The Government will find it easier to fill the position of manager
deficit. But tax cuts are far
easier to produce than expenditure cuts,
in the Olympics year to make it easier for families to attend the Games
in the
the Sydney Games will make it easier for our young people to be part of
Czech novelist. It was much
easier to make movies on the western
traffic, it adapts itself to offer easier driving. Through computer
Institute says making the patches easier to obtain and incorporating
them
said Keren. The seals are lot easier, a lot quicker to
learn than people
engine.
The vehicle is easier to drive than a golf cart," says
Paul Moller and his flying car easier to drive than a golf cart"
The
much, running just seems so much
easier." The Cairns men's indoor
a week to Hubbards. It wasn't
easier than high school. It was pretty
million trees said the situation was easier
in the supply from Fairbairn Dam but
photograph though this might be easier said than done when you've been
in scientific journals become no easier, according to the Peterborough
overseas The new area will make it easier for enthusiasts and
tourists to
enough time to talk to everyone it's easier
at the start of a tour because the
had been installed in some cells for easier
observation of inmates. In
in Brisbane that it had become easier to get universities in the past
two
Egyptian hieroglyphics would be easier.
Under-eights love it, though.
also live in a situation where it is easier
to be able to have sex. I mean
is just as beneficial and a lot easier to organize when I'm travelling I
I'm playing on, which makes my job easier. Robert Walls is still trying
and there will be an easier process for employees
to “opt out"
tell you that sleep comes a little easier these days," Mr Kunkel
told the
the point of view of making life easier for myself: `Please, God, let
No. 4
to
transfer from the Panthers a lot easier.
The guys have been great and
on
the headphones. The Bloom is easier to
spot, a surname lifted of course
So
if you can make his research easier, drop him a line care of me.
you'd better go because the bat's easier to get along with than
me," Ms
were virtually assured of finding it easier to park and that
irresponsible
the
microwave oven for 5minutes for easier preparation. If using gas or
excellent-quality product.
It's easier than making them at home and a
rag style of journalism can find easier targets and be given greater
cheaper, the project will never be easier, than it is right now Michael
J.
rag style of journalism can find easier targets and be given greater
expected. I think maybe
it's an easier transition for a back than a
Query: 19 occurrences of <more+easy>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
usephem |
1 |
|
0.8/million |
|
bbc |
2 |
|
0.8/million |
|
ukbooks |
4 |
|
0.7/million |
|
ukspok |
6 |
|
0.6/million |
|
usbooks |
2 |
|
0.4/million |
|
npr |
1 |
|
0.3/million |
|
today |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
times |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
ukmags |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
sunnow |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
even more grateful because more easy to
sell than
it's very much I think it's much more easy to slag a woman off than a
guy.
and that are are more easy to to measure
it's it's it's much a much more easy job of production
certainly is going to become far more easy
for you to look forward at where you'
year into next year it becomes more easy more natural to look forwards
at
higher notes are a little bit more easy to play, because of impedence
and
outside has become a little more easy after the Soviet military withdrawal
and of life instinct was rather more easy
than speaking of sexuality and
consumer durables have been made more easy
by the growth of consumer credit
way of conquering them is much more easy than of civilizing them by fair
To the next abstinence; the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp
Query: 91 occurrences of <narrower>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
ukbooks |
21 |
|
3.9/million |
|
usbooks |
18 |
|
3.2/miollion |
|
ukmags |
9 |
|
1.8/million |
|
times |
10 |
|
1.7/million |
|
ukephem |
5 |
|
1.6/million |
|
ukspok |
14 |
|
1.5/million |
|
usephem |
1 |
|
0.8/million |
|
oznews |
4 |
|
0.7/million |
|
sunnow |
4 |
|
0.7/million |
|
npr |
2 |
|
0.6/million |
|
bbc |
1 |
|
0.4/million |
|
today |
2 |
|
0.4/million |
|
transom. The hull also appears narrower than it did in November.
The
certain instances, make wide feet narrower. Brisbane's &
point where the road was getting narrower and I was blocked," he
said.
when the vessel could not clear a narrower bridge on the southern edge
of the
one type of environment are often narrower in their thinking and outlook
than
to
consider a wider rather than a narrower range of products. Where
your blood vessels and making them narrower. Being under stress
can add to the
the heart. The blood vessels become
narrower and eventually get blocked. This
your blood vessels and making them narrower. Being under stress
can add to the
hub on all three levels is another,
narrower spoke containing stairs, bathrooms
to focus attention on a much narrower common curriculum framework. AN
a
shorter focal length lens or a narrower aperture. This is a grrreat
inches. The longer the lens, the narrower the angle of view so the more
Suzi) a needle seven times narrower than a human hair injects the most
designs, her lowest spreaders are narrower so that she can use
overlapping
out of the trousers which have a narrower leg. It is almost a sportswear
spot every time. With the river narrower here I will fish just the one
designed to tackle this problem. Narrower than standard models, it can
be
Of
course they will also have er a narrower effect on the
the higher the Wilder modulus the narrower the distribution of fracture
much more Well much narrower range was it? A narrower
much narrower range was it? A narrower
range. Yes.
we've made the handle bars narrower. How did you do that?
Yeah.
and women have narrower shoulders than men anyway so
out which was you know erm much narrower than most originally thought.
It's
erm
rather than to narrower scientific interests or given
Right. Which then is much
narrower and they tend to
between the things but perhaps in a
narrower context than
the er Atlantic is so much narrower than
the Pacific. Right.
your tubes and everything are a bit
narrower. I've got is chaemic
which means that mine tend to be narrower anyway but then I've got that
I'm
Mm the roads are actually
narrower Yeah You can't park as
a shade that is up t one inch narrower than your inside window
two hundred and twenty-nine, a much
narrower margin, though, than the last time
Palestinians want did not seem any narrower than it was last month
when Baker
that his new government is much narrower than he had originally hoped.
the courtyard was another lower and
narrower archway, leading into an inner
would wave to one another at the narrower points. All over the Soviet
their dirty hands. The alley grew narrower and then became a series of
stone
owing to the much narrower production and income
bases. In
on the distinction between the narrower Leninist thesis and the general
was even more fatalistic than the narrower original version: nations
were
response to this is to focus on the
narrower definition of paradigm – the
is that it subsumes all narrower
definitions without excluding
man". Our self-imposed task was narrower but more fundamental: a
question
A poet hymned an earlier, narrower moment of crisis in the life of
dwarf. Prune if required to form a narrower outline, or for
bonsai. Cones
Robusta", outstanding accent plant,
narrower than Fastigiata", dark green
for the British climate. Slower and
narrower than golden-leaved Fastigiata"
across his abdomen, waist so much narrower than his shoulders -
territory
going through a tunnel that grows narrower and more distorted as it
rapidly
An alternative would be to have narrower beds, say 3 feet wide, which
would
It wasn't much smoother than the narrower road had been. Whenever they
hit a
the heights to meet them, growing narrower the farther up they went. At
last
where the alley was dissected by a narrower tributary. He knew all
about the
in Tsarang had perhaps been narrower than he admits, and he had clearly
of climate research remains the narrower one that begins with the
weather
presence and force others into a narrower and narrower niche. Such
changes
force others into a narrower and narrower niche. Such changes from a
human
We are using the original, narrower sense here.) For the codependent,
Canyon.” The tributary seemed
narrower now than it had when he and
The streets grew steeper and narrower. Most
of them appeared to be named
or they can be star-shaped with narrower, outspread segments. So-called
familiar, but different too - narrower? Had the bushes grown in along
the
Query: 4/7 usable occurrences of <more+narrow>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
ukephem |
1 |
|
0.3/million |
|
npr |
1 |
|
0.3/million |
|
ukmags |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukbooks |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
usbooks |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
times |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukspok |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
bbc |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
today |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
sunnow |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
the
board is leaning towards a more narrow focus on consumer products at the
to achieve success pursuing the more narrow
routes with which we are more
longer the lens, you use, the more narrow the angle of view, so
careful
the other hand--on the somewhat more
narrow issue of aid to Russia, it seems as
Query: 379 occurrences of <clearer>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
usbooks |
62 |
|
11.0/million |
|
ukbooks |
58 |
|
10.8/million |
|
bbc |
27 |
|
10.3/million |
|
ukephem |
27 |
|
8.6/million |
|
npr |
24 |
|
7.7/million |
|
times |
38 |
|
6.6/million |
|
usephem |
8 |
|
6.5/million |
|
ukspok |
49 |
|
5.3/million |
|
oznews |
27 |
|
5.1/million |
|
ukmags |
22 |
|
4.5/million |
|
today |
22 |
|
4.2/million |
|
sunnow |
15 |
|
2.6/million |
|
or so the situation should be a lot clearer
and next-of-kin should have been
effects of the quake become clearer.
The 1054-point bucketing was
with pictures to make it clearer.
The fat content of this
Street railway goods yards became clearer this week with an announcement
by
The regulations could be made clearer, but their purpose is to ensure
veterans, came to Gallipoli to get a
clearer picture of the stories passed down
exhibition will give this group a clearer picture Those who participated
to
Australia and, until things are clearer, it is a major factor of
be determined, Cross' agenda is much
clearer. She will run in the London
And
there appeared to be a much clearer definition between homosexuals and
the difference in skin colour became
clearer. Te Velde said the time
tougher response would send an even clearer message" to the
French Government.
These changes would give customers clearer
signals about the least costly
shape of professional rugby became clearer. Campese is keen to play
s accounts are now becoming much clearer and they show that the sharp
episode to give television heads a clearer picture of what the sitcom
was all
From there, we will have a clearer picture
of what, if anything, the
post-war urban planners had a far clearer vision of the way Australia's
many points in Phoenix's life, a clearer, more nuanced portrait of the
s
financial policies are becoming clearer.
Last week in Melbourne, Mr
point, hopefully, there will be a clearer indication of where interest
rates
re designed to provide better and clearer
career paths in the coal-mining
Super League franchises will become clearer this month with the
outcome of one
from various sources to develop a clearer picture. The difficulty with
As more details leak out, it becomes
clearer that Mrs Clinton, rather than her
As your thinking becomes clearer and as
recces (see p.20) take
the
basis of charging interest much clearer, errors in computing interest
sticky and opaque, then it becomes clearer, wetter and slippery so that
sperm
knowledge you have gained to form a clearer picture of the energy
needs of the
First
of all, the format is clearer and less cluttered on larger pre-
The new statement will be much clearer and less cluttered - more user-
and
things will look different too, clearer, less cluttered, more
Profit Forecast will give you a much
clearer view of how your business will
88 and the SNP only 29. It is now clearer than ever that the Liberal
the most complex problems become clearer or even resolve themselves.
you with greater peace of mind and a
clearer understanding of the financial
bruising, to leave a smoother,
clearer complexion. Ideal for treating
providing information leaflets and clearer nutritional labeling. We
you'll have faster connection, clearer lines, and access to these and
from many customers to make it clearer and easier to understand. In the
so more space for storing food, and
clearer-to-read labels. Modern `
make the structure of the Party much
clearer than we do at the moment. To that
you'll have faster connection, clearer lines, and access to these and
T.V. and radio sharper and clearer. All you wear is a tiny
`capsule"
little invention could bring clearer hearing to your life. PHILIPS
Query: 34 occurrences of <more+clear>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
npr |
4 |
|
1.3/million |
|
bbc |
3 |
|
1.1/million |
|
ukspok |
10 |
|
1.1/million |
|
ukmags |
5 |
|
1.0/million |
|
ukbooks |
5 |
|
0.9/million |
|
usephem |
1 |
|
0.8/million |
|
times |
2 |
|
0.3/million |
|
sunnow |
2 |
|
0.3/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
usbooks |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
today |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
more obvious. Nowhere is it more clear than in the current peace talks
that homosexuality is no more clear cut than heterosexuality, with UK
been more measured and the walk more clear, the general impression
was of
I knew my live was becoming more clear to me and I'd actually found
top honours. Alexander's win was more clear
cut. After leading from the gun,
I'm not sure. It seems much more clear in the I see how you mean.
second question is more precise more clear in that respect.
`Images such as"
closer together er and becoming more clear about what it wants as
a
time Yeah. be more clear. Yeah. I mean one th I think
Yeah.
And that's more clear cut I mean now that there is less
Mhm. has been is more clear that that's
been lower than was
As I go along it'll become a bit more clear
Yes. Right what I'm
Right. Perhaps I should be a bit more clear
on that
cleaner more free more confident more clear
in your own mind than you've been
and you would have a much more clear a much more confident view as to
leg, the situation becomes more clear. Gerat advises that, if you feel
Nowhere has this been made more clear than at the Russian Party
in fact it couldn't make it more clear -- that the government is deeply
for
minority scholarships a lot more clear.
Dr. Abip Shakir: A
believes her authority is far more clear-cut when she is dealing with
the
a real effect, we would have more clear evidence of it. Harris: On one
Query: 15 occurrences of <cruder>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
ukbooks |
4 |
|
0.7/million |
|
usbooks |
3 |
|
0.5/million |
|
times |
3 |
|
0.5/million |
|
ukspok |
3 |
|
0.3/million |
|
ukmags |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
bbc |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
npr |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
today |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
sunnow |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
angry selectors refer to in somewhat cruder
terms. Their side for the
with English. Ours is a bit cruder, a bit brasher said the Australian
look quite a bit Mm. cruder once you do this.
features we're able to get in those cruder
models actually have
I
still think it's going to be much cruder bas more basic things that are
s
under her robes. There is a rather cruder mirror-image of this picture
in the
start, I recognized; one which felt cruder and older than these
gods and lions
the sun and crescent moon and, in cruder line-drawing, a vulgar deity
later and earlier, made larger, cruder points, quick and easy to chip
out
of groups tends to be both cruder and more costly. Either an unsorted
1920s signified a shift to pointed, cruder images and away from
the logically
Dynasty in funny wigs, although much
cruder, submerging the fascinating story
for
others need protection, and the cruder forms of self-assertion need to be
has hitherto been linked to much cruder techniques. If men living
Query: 2 occurrences of <more+crude>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
ukmags |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
today |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
oznews |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
ukspok |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
bbc |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
npr |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
ukbooks |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usbooks |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
times |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
sunnow |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
couture is getting more and more crude is because people are not
are, however, not appreciably more crude than many First Division sides.
And
Query: 557 occurrences of <happier>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
sunnow |
116 |
|
19.9/million |
|
today |
85 |
|
16.2/million |
|
ukbooks |
62 |
|
11.6/million |
|
ukmags |
53 |
|
10.8/million |
|
times |
58 |
|
10.1/million |
|
usbooks |
48 |
|
8.5/million |
|
ukspok |
68 |
|
7.3/million |
|
oznews |
32 |
|
6.0/million |
|
ukephem |
14 |
|
4.5/million |
|
bbc |
11 |
|
4.2/million |
|
usephem |
4 |
|
3.3/million |
|
npr |
36 |
|
1.9/million |
|
for, in the long run you may well be
happier, with a lower mortgage hanging
that will make me and the board happier than for him to make a lot of
past few months I've never been happier, felt more fulfilled or had as
and many, including me, could not be
happier with a return to the elegance of
union contracts) players are happier than they were a month ago,but if
McRae has made no secret that he is happier to be in Brisbane than
playing for
the community, where they would be happier and more likely to develop
their
with the chicken and vegetables. Happier
now, The Woman began discussing
and network management couldn't be happier their man has suddenly become
a
her as strong but gracious, never happier than when surrounded by
Christmas
than I did when I was 45. I'm happier. Forty-five is hard. You'
rugby World last weekend couldn't be
happier that he is about to be on the end
willing to offer an opinion.
IN happier days Kit Culkin and Patricia
taken to make home a healthier and happier place for all those who live
yesterday he was feeling a `little happier" about numbers but he
had run
of this season. I feel a lot happier," Scott said. I was at the
disqualification row but hers had a happier ending. She recorded the
at the top. We were so much
happier before we were rich. Now all I
current committee could not be happier.
RON BARASSI the Sydney Swans
north Queensland, Wendy had a much happier story to relate. I do feel at
that men are generally healthier and
happier when involved in relationships.
Randwick yesterday. It is
a far happier Scriven now than on a visit to the
Query: 13 occurrences of <more+happy>
Corpus |
Total Number |
Average Number |
||
|
of Occurrences |
per Million Words |
||
npr |
2 |
|
0.6/million |
|
times |
3 |
|
0.5/million |
|
ukspok |
4 |
|
0.4/million |
|
ukmags |
2 |
|
0.4/million |
|
bbc |
1 |
|
0.4/million |
|
oznews |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
sunnow |
1 |
|
0.2/million |
|
ukephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usephem |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
ukbooks |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
usbooks |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
today |
0 |
|
0.0/million |
|
but if she decides not to I'd be more happy
about that," Margaret says. But
about, it doesn't make you any more happy, You can drive a car, or go and
taken part in. `I suppose I am more happy than disappointed,' explained
a
men do feel more happy within
the sort of political role
Oh
yes. Yes. I I'm more happy about him
It'
at Old Trafford. They'll be even more happy
now with their side two nil up.
Quite happy yeah. I'd be more happy than I am now I know. I know.
on the opposite wing are no more happy. Although many accept Mr Major's
there's other things that I'm more happy about--giving a really big
trophy
They will know--happy--just no more happy Simon: They will laugh at you
better. `I'm feeling healthier, more happy with myself and just in
general,"
it
seemed Harrogate would be no more happy a hunting ground. In the elegant
women hard to fathom and was more happy in the company of men. He was
length of time. He said: `I'm more happy just being in the house doing