Common Phrases and their Use
within Genres
The use of a stock phrase in place of single word is a stylistic question, not a grammatical one. In certain genres of speech the syntax and diction of a sentence may correlate to a specific function. Verbose and redundant speech can serve in debates to both hold the floor and emphasize a point. However, in journalism broadcasts or publications, and other mediums used to inform, English should be as clear and concise as possible, since its function is to convey information.
The problem with the use of various stock phrases is that they may compromise the clarity and concision of an idea by adding to the complexity of the sentence. The usefulness of a stock phrase depends on the function of the statement; moreover, the function of the statement depends on the context in which it is presented.
In order to exam the different uses and functions of stock phrases, a corpus of spoken and written English was consulted. Since this corpus was the primary source of data, the findings and observations of the research are bounded by the limits of the corpus.
The primary limitation of the corpus is that it does not contain US spoken corpora or Australian spoken corpora. Although the corpus contains UK spoken corpora, the stock phrases that appear in the UK spoken corpora cannot be qualitatively compared to spoken stock phrases of Australia or the US. In order to compare the findings in a useful manner, the corpus was restricted to UK and US books (fiction and non-fiction), UK and US ephemera (leaflets, adverts, etc), the BBC World Service radio broadcast, and the US National Public Radio broadcast.
The following table consists of common phrases, three of which were observed within the corpus.
Table 1:
Stock Phrases |
Possible replacements |
|
due to the fact that |
because, since, why |
|
regardless of the fact |
although, even though |
|
notwithstanding the fact |
although, even though |
|
in the event that |
if |
|
under circumstances in which |
if |
|
with regard to |
about, regarding |
|
it is incumbent upon |
must, should |
|
has the ability to |
can |
|
at the same time as |
when, as, while, during,with |
Many stock phrases used in sentences complicate the sentences, while adding little or no meaning to the overall sentence. The use and function of these stock phrases vary with genre and subject matter. Although these phrases can be used to “hold the floor”, or vary syntax and diction within a paragraph, their use can also result in loss of meaning and unclear sentences.
Hypothesis: The ratio of stock phrases that can be replaced with a word to improve the meaning of a sentence is higher in the genre of news radio, than in books and ephemera.
Since the use and function of a stock phrase is determined by the context of the sentence, a considerable amount of post editing was required. A query of the specific phrase (at+the+same+time+as) was entered into the selected corpora. After the corpus compiled the list of occurrences, each individual occurrence was evaluated in its expanded context to determine the function and use of the phrase.
The initial objective of this project was to search the corpus for the use and function of three common phrases, “with regard to”, “has the ability to”, and “at the same time as,” evaluating each occurrence in its expanded context. The data was to be attributed to each of the three genres, radio (NPR/BBC), ephemeral (US/UK), and books (US/UK). Each genre consists of two corpora, one from the United States and the other from the United Kingdom. The data from each of the corpora were compared within each of the genres. Due to the size and time constrains of this project, only one stock phrase could be evaluated; although, the initial queries of the three phrases yielded interesting results.
This project was limited to the study of the use and function of the prepositional phrase, “at the same time as,” since this phrase seemed to have the greatest variation of possible word replacements.
Preliminary findings of initial queries:
· The use of stock phrases that adds to the complexity of a sentence varies with subject matter.
· In NPR and BBC broadcasts, the frequency of stock phrases was high when referring to governmental or bureaucratic issues.
· In usbooks and ukbooks the frequency of phrases, such as with regard to, are high when referring to technical information, such as finance.
usbooks (expanded context)
That's a $ 43,000 payoff from an original investment of just$ 10,000 and it's all been achieved from a very modest 6 rate of return. Two facts are worth repeating here with regard to compound interest: First, even modest rates of return can lead to big profits. (replace stock phrase with about)
· The use and function of stock phrases can be affected by the passive voice.
npr (expanded context)
<p> Edwards: And it's the president who always has the ability to control the agenda, isn't it? Roberts: Absolutely, and that, of course, is the great advantage of incumbency. Now there are certain things he can't control. Hurricanes he can't control, and (Leave alone because the passive voice works here.)
· The use of stock phrases seemed to correlate with complex information.
|
with regard to |
|
|
|
Corpus |
Total # of Occurrences |
Average Number per Millon Words |
|
ukbooks |
41 |
7.7/million |
|
usbooks |
90 |
16.0/million |
|
bbc |
8 |
3.1/million |
|
npr |
26 |
8.3/million |
|
ukephem |
16
|
5.1/millon |
|
usephem |
1 |
0.8/million |
|
has the ability to |
|
|
|
Corpus |
Total # of Occurrences |
Average Number per Millon Words |
|
ukbooks |
13 |
2.4/million |
|
usbooks |
13 |
2.3/million |
|
bbc |
9 |
3.4/million |
|
npr |
20 |
6.4/million |
|
ukephem |
12 |
3.8/millon |
|
usephem |
4 |
3.3/million |
|
at the same time as |
|
|
|
Corpus |
Total # of Occurrences |
Average Number per Millon Words |
|
ukbooks |
48 |
9.0/million |
|
usbooks |
18 |
3.2/million |
|
bbc |
25 |
9.6/million |
|
npr |
5 |
1.6/million |
|
ukephem |
11 |
3.5/millon |
|
usephem |
3 |
2.4/million |
According to the
corpus, the phrase, “at the same time as” is used more frequently in BBC World
Service radio broadcast than US national Public Radio broadcast. The BBC occurrence of the phrase “at the
same time as” constitutes 83% of the combined BBC/NPR occurrences. In both BBC and NPR corpora, the
prepositional phrase, “at the same time as” frequently appeared in sentences
dealing with governmental and bureaucratic procedures.
Example of BBC occurrence of
“at the same time as”:
BBC (expanded context)
“It says President Gorbachev has no hope of holding the Soviet Union together at the same time as introducing the makings of a market economy.”
The above excerpt is a declarative sentence; as such, its primary function is to make assertions about events and states of affairs. Exchanging the word “while” for the prepositional phrase, “at the same time as” makes the sentence more concise. Although this assertion may be a matter of stylistic taste, it seems that the overall meaning of the statement would be improved if the sentence read:
“It says President Gorbachev has no hope of holding the Soviet Union together while introducing the makings of a market economy.”
The
original sentence has three prepositional phrases, “of holding the Soviet Union
together, “at the same time as”, and “of a market economy.” The use of the word “during” would simplify
the sentence by deleting the second prepositional phrase, and putting further
distance between the first and last prepositional phrase.
Example of NPR occurrence of
“at the same time as”:
NPR (expanded context):
“Random attacks on civilians on trains began last year at the same time as clashes between Inkatha and the African National Congress. “
In this example the prepositional phrase, “at the same time as” could be replaced with the word “during”, without losing any substantial meaning. The use of the word “during” in exchange for the prepositional phrase “at the same time as” would probably convey the information quicker, since the reading/hearing requires less cognitive word recognition. Since this sentence is taken from a spoken news broadcast, the use of the stock phrase, “at the same time as” over the word “during” may be used to optimize the use of the broadcast’s airtime.
There is an interesting contrast between the syntax
of the two BBC and NPR expanded contexts.
In the case of the BBC statement, the use of the stock phrases adds to
the complexity sentence by increasing the number of prepositional phrases in
the sentence. Observations of the combined 30 occurrences of the phrase, “at the same time” suggest that the use
of the phrase is more popular in the UK radio genre than in the US radio genre. Consequently, the use of the phrase “at the
same time” within the BBC corpora had a higher frequency where it did not add
to the overall meaning of the sentence.
The corpora across all genres follow the same trend as the BBC and NPR, UK corpora have a higher frequency of the phrase “at the same time as”. However, the manner in which the phrase is used differs from its use in BBC and NPR. In BBC and NPR corpora “at the same time as” seems to function to allow the speaker more time to speak. Of the 30 occurrences of the phrase with BBC and NPR, there were 22 instances (70%) in which the phrase could be exchanged for a word. Of the 48 instances in which the phrase was used in the Ukbooks corpora, there were 22 instances (46%) in which the phrase could be replaced by a word, usually “during”, “while”, and “with”.
Ukbooks (expanded context):
“They learned about each other, absorbed the character, the past, the background of each other, at the same time as their bodies increasingly delighted in each other.”
The ukbooks example represents the structure of the sentences in which the prepositional phrase can be exchanged for a word. In cases were a substitution is feasible, the words “while” and “during” are the most common substitutions that can be made.
Of the 18 occurrences of “at the same time as” in the usbooks corpora, only four could be replaced by a single word, 22%. In the four examples where the exchange is possible, a word replacement wouldn’t add to the overall meaning of the sentence, nor would the replacement make the sentence any easier to understand.
Usbooks (expanded context):
“One or both parents of a child with AIDS often are confronted with their own diagnosis at the same time as they learn about their infant's.”
In the usbooks example, “at the same time as” could be replaced with “while” or “as”, but this word exchange would not capture the entire meaning that “at the same time as” expresses. This example is symbolic of the four occurrences, within the usbooks corpora where the word replacement can be done.
The
use of the prepositional phrase “at the same time as” occurred less frequent in
the genre of books, than in news radio; however, ephemera genre had the least
amount of occurrences of the phrase. Although the frequency of the phrase was
to a lesser extent the other two genres, the ephemera genre followed the trend;
the ukephemera corpora had a higher occurrence of the “at the same time as”
than the usephemera corpora.
“Labour's first National Political Education Conference was held in Reading on June 10 at the same time as the National Policy Forum.”
The above ukephem
example is indicative of the 11 occurrences of the phrase. Ten of the 11
occurrences of the phrase could be replaced with a word; however, the word
replacement would not add to the meaning or clarity of the sentence in any of
the cases. In the ukephemera example the phrases can be replaced by the
“during”, but the sentence is clear it appears—changing the word for the phrase
does improve anything. The usehpemera
followed the same trend as the ukephemera, with fewer occurrences. There were
three occurrences of the phrase within the usephemera, and 2 of the 3 could be
exchange without much of an improvement. The example below is indicative of the
usephemera corpora.
Usephem (expanded context):
“So you can order your rods at the same time as you order your curtains & hellip; we offer rods for every style curtain in our catalog, and we think they're the best quality and value available!”
Using the phrase “at the same time as” as a limited example, the corpus suggest that use certain stock phrases varies with genre and subject matter. In the radio genre BBC/NPR there where 30 occurrences of the phrase and 22 of the 30 could be replaced by a word to simplify the sentence, and in many cases making the overall meaning more clear. Most of the examples within the BBC and NPR corpora that contained the stock phrase dealt with bureaucratic, political, and governmental issues. Perhaps the reason for the radio genre having such a high amount of occurrences that could be replaced with a word for improved clarity is because the primary function of the stock phrase is to hold the floor. Since most of the subject matter dealt with bureaucratic and political issues the information is probably being transcribed from press conferences and press release, where the speaker holds the floor.
The prevalence of the phrase “at the same time as” was the highest in the book genre. Although there were more occurrences of the phrase within the UK And US corpora, fewer exchanges could be made in this category. In about half of the context that the phrase appeared in no substitute cold be made without changing the entire structure of the sentence.
The ephemeral category had the fewest occurrences of the phrase. Moreover, the replacing the phrase with a word when possible yielded no improvements. The UK corpora had a higher amount of occurrence across all three genres.
Appendix
bbc
the Soviet Union together at the same time
as introducing the makings of a
with
the Vietnamese next week, at the same time as the latest negotiations on a
sovereignty returned at the same
time as unification, now expected
planned to announce the cuts at the same time
as his overall statement on
thing was that Doc Martens at the same
time as they were taking it for its
interesting thing was that at the same
time as they were taking Doc Marten
popular referendum to be held at the same
time as the presidential elections.
land would be made available at the same
time as restrictions on land
npr
on
trains began last year at the same time as clashes between Inkatha and
as they called at the time. At the same
time as well, the third youngest
and then it happened to be at the same
time as Veteran's Day when he talked
all,
these people were elected at the same time as Bill Clinton with the same
saying he would do that as--at the same
time as doing the kind of spending
ukbooks
answered,
on a card that I got at the same time as the one we sent to Henry, I
<f> who was operated on at the
same time as me and recovering with me.
free labour were kept alive, at the same
time as capacity was being built up
these
feelings into themselves at the same time as they have physically
in the muscles as well. At the same
time as affecting the muscles of the
touch the `help" points at the same time as the muscle is
being tested.
the inner ankle. Hold it at the same
time as L-8 which is on the very end
the ankle). Hold this point at the same
time as T-3, which is in a similar
the
side of the foot). Hold it at the same time as L-9, which is at the base of
the side of the foot. Hold it at the same
time as H-8, which is on the palm of
base of the big toe. Hold it at the same
time as L-9, which is at the base of
toe on the outside. Hold at the same
time as L-11, which is on the thumb
usbooks
declared
its own independence at the same time as Tibet, was no longer getting
improving living standards. At the same
time as we are changing the retail
the administrative system; so at the same
time as Kantorovich's and Novozhilov'
to
discover that they flowered at the same time as the native pink azaleas. In
impact. The tulips bloomed at the same
time as a wealth of herbaceous
more
interesting and inviting. At the same time, as Dave found himself with a
talking into a tape recorder at the same
time as he masturbates to orgasm. (
to take place at the same
time as the official ceremony. They
and feelings of helplessness. At the same
time as I try to convey respect for
with their own fears of death at the same
time as they may be intimately
ukephem
This
premium should be paid at the same time as the Enrolment Fee. If you
pound;
25. This should be paid at the same time as the Enrolment Fee. If you
offered, which can be booked at the same
time as your flight. Super Shuttle
more. <p> <p> May not be used at
the same time as any other offer. <p> No
of law and lawyers in society at the same
time as studying the way in which
you
must inform the University at the same time as you submit your UCCA
<p> <p> 1.5 Safety Check:
<p> At the same time as the annual service visit, a
This Premium should be paid at the same
time as the Enrolment Fee. If you
conveniently issue your card at the same
time as your photograph is taken.
Collection was launched at the same
time as Classic FM, and indeed they
was held in Reading on June 10 at the same time as the National Policy Forum.
usephem
Loop
ticket must be purchased at the same time as 3L or 6L <h> Tour G-1
</h>
<p>
So you can order your rods at the same time as you order your curtains&