Patcharee Rush. The comparative corpus-based study of syntactic variations of multi-word units of the word example and instance in academic writings by native English writers. Master's Degree(English Language Teaching). Thammasat University. Thammasat University Library. : Thammasat University, 2021.
The comparative corpus-based study of syntactic variations of multi-word units of the word example and instance in academic writings by native English writers
Abstract:
Relying on limited lexical choices among English non-native writers may lead to the tendency of overusing certain common expressions. The current study explored variability in choices of words, specifically in giving examples in academic writings, as an important function that allows writers to make their message clearer to the readers. The nouns example and instance used by native speakers in academic writing were compared in order to gain an insight into similarities or differences of the frequency of co-occurrences with different significant verb collocates based on corpus data. The findings suggest that, first, the use of direct second person imperatives were found to be prevalent. Second, the verbs be and see were found to be the top four most frequent verb collocates of both example and instance in either the left or right positions. Third, the verb provide was also commonly used both with the nouns example and instance to say that certain things, people or incidents act as examples. Last, both example and instance were more commonly used as verb complements in sentences. The findings can be used in classrooms as corpus-informed materials that represent alternative linguistic patterns for an exemplifying function
Thammasat University. Thammasat University Library