Back to informal language

The following is a sample of some words that are at least three times as frequent (per million words) in the spoken part of COCA (95 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 COCA Spoken that is not found in the soap opera corpus, which deals more with informal interaction between people.

Click on any of these words to see them in the COCA or the soap opera corpus. If you click on the entry inthe frequency listing (the frame above this), you will see theword in context. Just click the BACK button in your browser tocome back to this page.
 

 Number of tokens (click to see)Per million words
  COCA SOAP COCA SOAP
VERBS
export 730 7 7.6 0.1
impeach 780 8 8.2 0.1
govern 1533 19 16.0 0.2
underscore 520 7 5.4 0.1
ratify 388 6 4.1 0.1
abolish 499 8 5.2 0.1
tax 1784 31 18.7 0.3
denounce 799 14 8.4 0.1
range 904 16 9.5 0.2
enact 791 14 8.3 0.1
forecast 428 8 4.5 0.1
contrast 309 6 3.2 0.1
outlaw 418 9 4.4 0.1
unify 440 10 4.6 0.1
average 351 8 3.7 0.1
exempt 262 6 2.7 0.1
estimate 2220 52 23.2 0.5
veto 1544 38 16.2 0.4
vaccinate 322 8 3.4 0.1
modernize 235 6 2.5 0.1
re-elect 887 23 9.3 0.2
narrate 263 7 2.8 0.1
regulate 1529 42 16.0 0.4
mandate 392 11 4.1 0.1
surge 504 15 5.3 0.2
subsidize 601 18 6.3 0.2
depict 587 18 6.1 0.2
dominate 1696 53 17.7 0.5
erode 372 12 3.9 0.1
disperse 275 9 2.9 0.1
emphasize 1797 60 18.8 0.6
censor 956 32 10.0 0.3
deploy 1457 49 15.2 0.5
portray 1844 64 19.3 0.6
combat 937 34 9.8 0.3
ADJECTIVES
unidentified 44783 64 468.6 0.6
economic 16303 75 170.6 0.8
racial 3150 17 33.0 0.2
ethnic 2273 16 23.8 0.2
presidential 12092 86 126.5 0.9
moderate 2173 18 22.7 0.2
terrorist 4366 38 45.7 0.4
liberal 5159 45 54.0 0.5
affirmative 1927 17 20.2 0.2
nuclear 11912 118 124.6 1.2
African-american 2713 32 28.4 0.3
involved 10991 142 115.0 1.4
Jewish 3566 49 37.3 0.5
constitutional 3420 48 35.8 0.5
political 35457 529 371.0 5.3
controversial 3540 54 37.0 0.5
conservative 6876 113 71.9 1.1
widespread 1216 20 12.7 0.2
commercial 21622 403 226.2 4.0
unprecedented 1351 26 14.1 0.3
military 26354 509 275.8 5.1
tribal 775 15 8.1 0.2
atomic 762 15 8.0 0.2
civilian 2581 51 27.0 0.5
increasing 1318 28 13.8 0.3
reserve 839 18 8.8 0.2
homosexual 681 15 7.1 0.2
comprehensive 1409 32 14.7 0.3
Hispanic 1582 36 16.6 0.4
fundamental 2813 65 29.4 0.7
diverse 902 21 9.4 0.2
fiscal 1597 38 16.7 0.4
veteran 833 21 8.7 0.2
cultural 2238 57 23.4 0.6
environmental 3082 79 32.2 0.8
NOUNS
administration 25384 152 265.6 1.5
nation 29722 215 311.0 2.2
troop 16752 227 175.3 2.3
government 60358 916 631.6 9.2
region 6840 104 71.6 1.0
economy 21755 340 227.6 3.4
consumer 7130 117 74.6 1.2
missile 5879 98 61.5 1.0
leader 24226 410 253.5 4.1
critic 6642 118 69.5 1.2
tax 34434 647 360.3 6.5
poll 14750 285 154.3 2.9
voter 12607 267 131.9 2.7
author 8627 186 90.3 1.9
majority 10317 224 108.0 2.2
terrorist 6147 135 64.3 1.4
official 18996 427 198.8 4.3
leadership 8517 205 89.1 2.1
representative 4848 132 50.7 1.3
capital 8205 224 85.9 2.2
individual 7670 221 80.3 2.2
debate 16513 482 172.8 4.8
housing 3127 97 32.7 1.0
reporting 3064 101 32.1 1.0
broadcast 3816 129 39.9 1.3
criticism 4009 137 41.9 1.4
ambassador 2745 94 28.7 0.9
income 6360 218 66.5 2.2
coverage 7013 241 73.4 2.4
juror 5347 184 55.9 1.8
religion 4581 158 47.9 1.6
unemployment 3761 130 39.4 1.3
supporter 4884 169 51.1 1.7
policy 24923 878 260.8 8.8
scientist 6601 234 69.1 2.3