The following is a sample of some words that are at least threetimes as frequent (per million words) in the spoken part of the BNC (10 million words) as in the soap opera corpus (100 million words). As this list indicates, there is still a lot of fairly formal or technical language in BNC Spoken that is not found in the soap opera corpus, which deals more with informal interaction between people. Click on any of thesewords to see them in the BNC or the soap opera corpus. If you click on the entry in the frequency listing (the frame above this), you will see theword in context. Just click the BACK button in your browser to come back to this page. |
Number of tokens | Per million words | |||
BNC | SOAP | BNC | SOAP | |
VERBS | ||||
differentiate | 219 | 17 | 22.0 | 0.2 |
photocopy | 62 | 6 | 6.2 | 0.1 |
export | 72 | 7 | 7.2 | 0.1 |
abolish | 51 | 8 | 5.1 | 0.1 |
allocate | 196 | 32 | 19.7 | 0.3 |
undertake | 178 | 35 | 17.9 | 0.4 |
underline | 75 | 15 | 7.5 | 0.2 |
range | 69 | 16 | 6.9 | 0.2 |
reply | 148 | 35 | 14.9 | 0.4 |
vary | 155 | 38 | 15.6 | 0.4 |
multiply | 296 | 86 | 29.7 | 0.9 |
tax | 98 | 31 | 9.8 | 0.3 |
estimate | 160 | 52 | 16.1 | 0.5 |
arise | 362 | 120 | 36.3 | 1.2 |
second | 375 | 128 | 37.7 | 1.3 |
overtake | 93 | 33 | 9.3 | 0.3 |
summarize | 66 | 24 | 6.6 | 0.2 |
commence | 59 | 22 | 5.9 | 0.2 |
highlight | 168 | 63 | 16.9 | 0.6 |
govern | 50 | 19 | 5.0 | 0.2 |
sack | 128 | 49 | 12.9 | 0.5 |
phone | 1204 | 487 | 120.9 | 4.9 |
derive | 52 | 22 | 5.2 | 0.2 |
illustrate | 95 | 41 | 9.5 | 0.4 |
class | 57 | 26 | 5.7 | 0.3 |
increase | 922 | 427 | 92.6 | 4.3 |
select | 238 | 119 | 23.9 | 1.2 |
distinguish | 69 | 35 | 6.9 | 0.4 |
produce | 1359 | 723 | 136.4 | 7.2 |
dominate | 97 | 53 | 9.7 | 0.5 |
employ | 447 | 245 | 44.9 | 2.5 |
implement | 184 | 101 | 18.5 | 1.0 |
reduce | 749 | 439 | 75.2 | 4.4 |
outline | 109 | 65 | 10.9 | 0.7 |
emphasize | 95 | 60 | 9.5 | 0.6 |
ADJECTIVES | ||||
rural | 296 | 19 | 29.7 | 0.2 |
regional | 520 | 52 | 52.2 | 0.5 |
composite | 158 | 17 | 15.9 | 0.2 |
economic | 549 | 75 | 55.1 | 0.8 |
existing | 526 | 81 | 52.8 | 0.8 |
environmental | 503 | 79 | 50.5 | 0.8 |
increasing | 167 | 28 | 16.8 | 0.3 |
involved | 830 | 142 | 83.3 | 1.4 |
liberal | 258 | 45 | 25.9 | 0.5 |
individual | 581 | 111 | 58.3 | 1.1 |
continuous | 170 | 34 | 17.1 | 0.3 |
voluntary | 350 | 76 | 35.1 | 0.8 |
strategic | 340 | 75 | 34.1 | 0.8 |
elderly | 276 | 62 | 27.7 | 0.6 |
reproductive | 150 | 35 | 15.1 | 0.4 |
residential | 188 | 46 | 18.9 | 0.5 |
payable | 65 | 16 | 6.5 | 0.2 |
industrial | 392 | 97 | 39.4 | 1.0 |
moderate | 72 | 18 | 7.2 | 0.2 |
proposed | 244 | 68 | 24.5 | 0.7 |
adjacent | 64 | 18 | 6.4 | 0.2 |
statutory | 186 | 53 | 18.7 | 0.5 |
widespread | 69 | 20 | 6.9 | 0.2 |
ethnic | 55 | 16 | 5.5 | 0.2 |
disabled | 198 | 60 | 19.9 | 0.6 |
operational | 69 | 21 | 6.9 | 0.2 |
agreed | 52 | 16 | 5.2 | 0.2 |
comprehensive | 102 | 32 | 10.2 | 0.3 |
general | 1669 | 530 | 167.6 | 5.3 |
following | 299 | 95 | 30.0 | 1.0 |
urban | 269 | 92 | 27.0 | 0.9 |
external | 114 | 40 | 11.4 | 0.4 |
managing | 77 | 30 | 7.7 | 0.3 |
structural | 104 | 43 | 10.4 | 0.4 |
handicapped | 54 | 17 | 5.4 | 0.2 |
NOUNS | ||||
region | 939 | 104 | 94.3 | 1.0 |
housing | 805 | 97 | 80.8 | 1.0 |
paragraph | 653 | 104 | 65.6 | 1.0 |
provision | 663 | 107 | 66.6 | 1.1 |
wage | 740 | 147 | 74.3 | 1.5 |
committee | 1936 | 429 | 194.4 | 4.3 |
income | 883 | 218 | 88.7 | 2.2 |
structure | 919 | 253 | 92.3 | 2.5 |
government | 3220 | 916 | 323.3 | 9.2 |
policy | 2906 | 878 | 291.8 | 8.8 |
requirement | 521 | 159 | 52.3 | 1.6 |
plaintiff | 319 | 103 | 32.0 | 1.0 |
membership | 373 | 121 | 37.4 | 1.2 |
capital | 615 | 224 | 61.7 | 2.2 |
unemployment | 352 | 130 | 35.3 | 1.3 |
estimate | 285 | 106 | 28.6 | 1.1 |
fraction | 275 | 103 | 27.6 | 1.0 |
consultation | 366 | 142 | 36.7 | 1.4 |
trade | 1358 | 537 | 136.3 | 5.4 |
employment | 675 | 267 | 67.8 | 2.7 |
total | 366 | 149 | 36.7 | 1.5 |
individual | 533 | 221 | 53.5 | 2.2 |
objective | 480 | 200 | 48.2 | 2.0 |
majority | 527 | 224 | 52.9 | 2.2 |
function | 725 | 314 | 72.8 | 3.1 |
average | 261 | 115 | 26.2 | 1.2 |
revenue | 274 | 126 | 27.5 | 1.3 |
growth | 375 | 173 | 37.7 | 1.7 |
management | 1048 | 494 | 105.2 | 4.9 |
section | 1094 | 522 | 109.8 | 5.2 |
development | 1600 | 776 | 160.6 | 7.8 |
area | 5153 | 2672 | 517.4 | 26.7 |
movement | 575 | 312 | 57.7 | 3.1 |
guideline | 185 | 102 | 18.6 | 1.0 |
context | 377 | 208 | 37.9 | 2.1 |
carbon | 258 | 146 | 25.9 | 1.5 |