Table of Contents
[ Collection: Introduction to CQP ]
Querying with Repetition Operators – Solutions
Exercise 1: Prefixation
[hw="post-.+" & pos="AJ."]
(3895 matches in the BNC, 118 matches in the BNC-BABY)
Exercise 2: Prefix- and Suffixation
[hw="in.+ible"]
(250 matches in the BNC-BABY)
Exercise 3: Matching different word forms
Note that these are not the only possible solutions.
1.
[word="snowed|snowing" %c]
(11 matches in the BNC-BABY)
[word="snow(ed|ing)" %c]
(11 matches in the BNC-BABY)
2.
[word="s[nl]ow" %c]
(343 matches in the BNC-BABY)
[word="snow|slow" %c]
(343 matches in the BNC-BABY)
Exercise 4: Collocation
For longer queries with optional empty slots in between, you can run the risk of matching punctuation in the empty slot. To avoid this, within s
is appended at the end of the query to specify that the match must occur within a sentence.
Query for change:
[hw="change"][]{,2}[class="SUBST"] within s
(1170 matches in the BNC-BABY)
First ten entries of the frequency list for change:
54 mind 22 time 16 way 15 policy 15 subject 13 attitude 13 direction 13 hand 13 nappy 12 agent 12 condition
Query for alter: [hw="alter"][]{,2}[class="SUBST"] within s
(78 matches in the BNC-BABY)
First ten entries of the frequency list for alter:
4 behaviour 3 context 2 child 2 environment 2 view 1 arrival 1 bath 1 bunny 1 cabinet 1 chain 1 chemistry 1 christening 1 clock
More practice?
Continue here: 6c. Working with Concordances