1

Using a corpus for classroom activities based on real

language

Contents


Introductory activity 2
Comparing words activity 10
Countability and partitives activity 16
Matching halves activity 27
Prefixes and suffixes activity 35
Guess the keyword from the collocate activity 41
Collocations guessing game activity 51
Phrasal verbs activity 58
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Using a corpus for classroom activities based on real
language

Introductory activity

Teachers notes:
Aim: to demonstrate to students how a natural language corpus is used to create a
dictionary entry.

Level: Intermediate/Upper-intermediate.

Pre-class preparation:
1. Print out screenshots of a polysemous dictionary entry, such as the one for club in the
COBUILD British Advanced.

2. Print out screenshots of the Wordsketch for club as a noun, and club as a verb.

3. Print out screenshots of a sample of 40 concordance lines for club as a noun, and club as
a verb.

Procedure:
1. Tell students that you are going to show them how a dictionary editor would go about
writing an entry for the word club.

2. Write the word club on the board, and ask students to work with a partner to think of as
many uses of the word club as possible. (5 mins)

3. Students feed back. Write the senses and/or examples on the board. (5 mins)

4. Hand out the dictionary entry for club from the COBUILD British Advanced. Students
should compare the senses they thought of with the senses listed in the dictionary entry. (2
mins)

5. Tell students that in order to check that they have covered all of the senses, dictionary
editors use a large database, or bank, of English language texts called a corpus. Write
corpus on the board.

6. Give out concordance lines for club as a noun, and club as a verb. Tell students that this
is a sample of 40 lines taken from a corpus for each.

If you have access to the internet in class, do a concordance search on club (noun). Use
the first two pages that come up for the demonstration, since a Sample brings up only
football club references. For the verb, you can do a sample of 40 to correspond to the
screenshot below.

7. Ask students to look for examples of the different senses of club in the concordance
lines. (5 mins)
3


8. Explain that there is another computer program that gives you a much better idea of all
the senses of club. Hand out the Word Sketch screenshots. Explain how they work.

If you have internet access in class, do a Word Sketch for club (noun).

Mention that the computer program sometimes makes a mistake. For example, in the club
(noun) Word Sketch, the third verb in the object collocates column is slim, but, of course, you
cannot slim a club. The program has seen the -ing form slimming, and understood it as a
verb. If you click on slim, you will see that all references are to a slimming club, which is a
club you go to if you want to lose weight.

9. Looking at the dictionary entry once again, show how the collocates, parts of speech,
examples, and frequency are ascertained using the corpus, as follows:

(i) Club as noun is treated first in the entry, because the noun is far more frequent than the
verb.

(ii) Join is top of object collocates list, so this sense is treated first.

(iii) Many references to sport suggest this is an important sense football club, etc.

(iv) Swing, coming second in object collocates column shows the importance of the golf
club sense.

(v) and/or column shows pub, bar, restaurant, suggesting that the nightclub sense is
important.

(vi) The knife, axe, mallet, references in the and/or column suggest the importance of the
weapon sense.

(vii) Show how examples at senses 1 (youth club), 2 (for a drink), 3 (football club), 4, (club
scene), and 6 (knives and clubs), are derived from corpus evidence.

(viii) The together reference in the adverb column of the verb Word Sketch informs the
editors decision to show the phrasal verb club together.

(Note that clubbing (as in the activity of going to nightclubs) has its own entry, so is not
covered here.)

(5 mins)

4


club (noun) concordance






5

club (verb) concordance







6

club (noun) Word Sketch



7


8

club (verb) Word Sketch

9

Collins Cobuild Advanced English Dictionary: entry for club




10



Using a corpus for classroom activities based on real
language

Comparing words activity

Aim: To help students work out the difference in meaning between a pair of words
(trip and journey) based on context and collocation
Level: Upper-intermediate
Timing: 20 mins

You will need:
A4 sheets with TRIP and JOURNEY written on them
printouts of Sheets A and B (one for every 3 or 4 students)
printouts of the Sketch-Diff (one for every pair of students
printouts of the fill-in-the-blank exercise (one for each student).

Procedure:

Explain that you are going to do an activity on the words trip and journey.

1. (5 mins)

Tape two pieces of paper to opposite walls of the classroom: one with TRIP and
one with JOURNEY. Divide the class into groups of three or four, and give each
group either Sheet A or B (about half the groups should have Sheet A and half
should have Sheet B, but make sure that they are randomly assigned, i.e. all the
Sheet A groups shouldnt be on one side of the room, for example).

Tell students that on their sheet there are sentences that contain either trip or
journey, but that these words are missing. Explain that some groups have the trip
set and some have the journey set. Explain that some sentences are fine with either
trip or journey its the overall set that decides whether they have the trip sheet
or the journey sheet.

Students work together in their groups to work out which set they have.

Ask students to go and stand either at the wall with TRIP or the one with
JOURNEY, depending on what word they think they have. As more groups join
them and they compare answers, they can change walls if they want.

Once all groups have decided and everyone is standing at one of the walls, ask each
group to read out one of the sentences from their sheet, with the missing word filled
in. Check that everyone agrees. [Sheet A = trip; Sheet B = journey] Students can
then sit down.
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2. (5 mins)

Ask what a collocate is. (As an example, you could write traffic on the board, along
with heavy, hard and lovely. Which one collocates with, i.e. goes with, traffic?)

Explain that they are now going to look at collocates of trip and journey.

Ask students to work with a partner, and hand each pair the Sketch-Diff of trip and
journey. Tell them that the colours indicate whether the collocate goes with trip or
journey. Ask students to decide which colour they think goes with which word.

(The darker green a collocate is, the more likely it is to occur with trip. The darker
red a collocate is, the more likely it is to occur with journey. Any yellow collocates
are equally likely to occur with trip as with journey.)

3. (5 mins)

Ask students, in pairs, to discuss what they think the difference is between trip and
journey.

Ask for feedback.

(i) Elicit that there is a difference in meaning:

A journey is a single piece of travel, whereas a trip is more than one piece of
travel - there and back again.

(ii) Also elicit differences in connotation:

A journey is more likely to be long or difficult; a trip is more likely to be enjoyable.

(iii) And, there are other differences in collocation (not related to meaning or
connotation):

You can take a trip, but you dont usually take a journey, for example.

4. (5 mins)

As a follow-up activity, or as homework, students do the gapfill exercise.

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SHEET A
TRIP or JOURNEY?

A bus ........... to Kilmainham jail, Dublin, has been arranged.

Hello. I just rang to erm you know wish you a good ........... and so on.

They asked whether she should allow her daughter to go on a school
........... to a mosque .

My mum acted as if she was on a day ........... to the seaside.

A recent frustrating shopping ........... to London ended with her finding
the gift she was after.

He thought this behaviour was new, but couldn't be certain. Their
camping ........... would be the perfect opportunity to find out just how
far it had gone.

Their 6,000 fans who had made the 800-mile round ........... from
Glasgow created a thrilling atmosphere.

More than 1,000 dancers from all over the world will take a ........... to
Tipperary next weekend for the Connie Ryan International Set Dance
Gathering.

Win a ........... to New York to see Jet and The Vines!

He was arrested in 2001 before he was due to fly to Johannesburg on
a business ............
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SHEET B
TRIP or JOURNEY?

They made a harrowing four-hour coach ........... to Kutaisi.

Two years later they set out on an epic ..........., retracing the ancient Silk
Road on camel and horseback.

This service will save thousands of long-distance lorry ........... on
Britain's roads.

Every Friday night I had to make the 90 minute bus ........... from
Glasgow to Edinburgh.

John drove me to a nearby bus stop for my return ........... to Oxford.

The probe has begun its eight-billion kilometre ........... to Mercury.

There is a direct, regular train from London Paddington to Penzance.
The ........... takes around 5 hours.

Glover was unable to make the long ........... from Plymouth.

Police advised drivers not to make ........... unless absolutely necessary.

You have a long and dangerous ........... to the other side of the world
ahead of you.

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n_modifier 11930 2454 5.0 2.3
shopping 528 0 9.0 0.0
fishing 386 0 8.7 0.0
epic 18 99 5.0 8.6
road 1207 24 8.3 2.8
camping 127 0 8.2 0.0
six-hour 12 19 5.0 7.7
canoe 86 0 7.6 0.0
ego 106 0 7.6 0.0
train 88 267 5.7 7.6
hunting 137 0 7.5 0.0
boat 357 20 7.5 3.6
return 455 378 7.4 7.3
three-hour 42 20 6.7 7.3
ski 73 0 7.2 0.0
round-the-
world
56 0 7.2 0.0
round 596 8 7.2 1.1
field 454 0 7.2 0.0
raft 64 0 7.1 0.0
pre-season 69 0 7.1 0.0
eight-hour 9 12 4.6 7.0


a_modifier 15466 7607 3.1 3.4
overseas 238 12 8.3 4.5
arduous 16 72 5.0 8.0
homeward 0 53 0.0 7.8
perilous 0 59 0.0 7.7
three-day 122 19 7.7 5.7
fascinating 9 100 3.6 7.6
five-day 101 9 7.6 5.0
week-long 96 0 7.5 0.0
long 780 1127 6.9 7.5
spiritual 0 134 0.0 7.4
two-day 100 13 7.4 5.2
gruelling 24 49 5.5 7.4
six-game 83 0 7.4 0.0
four-day 90 12 7.4 5.3
planned 114 0 7.3 0.0
cross-
country
80 14 7.3 5.6
two-week 82 14 7.2 5.5
frequent 121 8 7.2 3.8
short 422 187 7.0 6.0
poignant 0 42 0.0 7.0





object_of 13442 5288 2.8 2.5
cancel 236 0 8.2 0.0
undertake 25 100 5.1 7.7
organise 178 0 7.6 0.0
camp 85 0 7.5 0.0
plan 393 27 7.3 3.6
book 111 0 7.3 0.0
postpone 77 0 7.0 0.0
complete 69 169 5.4 6.9
tire 0 26 0.0 6.7
arrange 93 0 6.7 0.0


make 3035 1331 6.7 5.5
organize 86 0 6.6 0.0
retrace 0 17 0.0 6.6
scout 43 0 6.5 0.0
harrow 7 19 3.9 6.5
-making 0 14 0.0 6.4
raft 34 0 6.3 0.0
schedule 67 0 6.3 0.0
relish 32 0 5.9 0.0
guide 41 0 5.9 0.0
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Exercise

Which word fits best, trip or journey? Fill in the blanks.

1. Every year I go on a camping . with my family.
2. Last weekend we took a bus . to Manchester.
3. The from Glasgow to Lancaster takes about four hours.
4. We had to cancel our to New York.
5. Lets go on a day to the seaside.
6. The . from London to Madrid was really long.
7. I started to pack for my return home.
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Using a corpus for classroom activities based on real
language

Note: The noughts and crosses part of this activity is based on an idea from
Rinvolucri, Mario (1984) Grammar Games, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press

Countability and partitives activity

Teachers notes:

Aims:
(i) to increase awareness of countable and uncountable nouns in English.
(ii) to learn some common partitives

Level: Intermediate/Upper-intermediate.


Pre-class preparation:
1. Prepare cards with the following nouns on them: milk, rice, bread, pizza, paper, advice,
luggage, furniture. You will need more than one of each, if you have more than eight
students.

2. Run concordances for of + the uncountable nouns given in the cards for part 2 (search for
of milk, of paper, of rice, of bread, etc. in the Phrase Query box). Take a random sample of
50 for each.

Procedure:
1. Write the following nine nouns on the board: milk, bread, information, advice, furniture,
report, drink, job, bag.

2. Draw the grid below on the board.

3. Divide students into two teams.

Explain to students that they are going to play a game in two teams. Teams have to make
sentences using one of the words in the box plus one of the nouns. They can change the
form of the noun (by adding a plural -s where appropriate).

Add cheese to the list of nouns, and give the example:

Im going to buy some cheese.

Point to some on the grid, and cheese on the board. (5 mins)

Explain that if the sentence is correct, the box they have chosen gets a cross for one team
or a circle for the other team. The aim is to gain a line of crosses or a line of noughts (=
circles). Show an example of a line of crosses and a line of noughts.
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4. Give the teams some time to prepare some sentences. (5 mins)

5. Play the game, with teams taking turns to suggest a sentence. (5 mins)

Part 2

Procedure:

1. Explain to students that they are going to find out how to talk about a bit of bread, advice,
rice, information, etc.

2. Students work in pairs. They pick two uncountable noun cards at random, and try to think
of words you would use for talking about a bit or piece of that thing. (5 mins)

3. Give students the corresponding concordance sheets. Ask them to identify all the words
(= partitives) that are used for talking about a part of the two things that are on the card. (5
mins)

4. When they have finished, students pass their words on to another group, and take two
more words from a group that has finished. (5 mins)

5. Whole class feedback. (5 mins)


Grid for Part 1


SOME

ONE

ANY

MUCH

A LITTLE

MANY

A FEW

TEN

SOME











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Cards for Part 2


milk rice
bread pizza
paper advice
luggage furniture
19












20











21









22










23










24










25











26










27


Using a corpus for classroom activities based on real
language

Matching halves activity

Teachers notes:

Aim: To examine the uses of some very frequent verbs (make, take, keep, give and
set) in a corpus and find examples of structures with these verbs.
Level: Upper-intermediate
Timing: 20 mins

Preparation of cards: Photocopy the ten blocks of half-sentences below, and cut
them into ten separate blocks. These are the cards. Each pair of students will need a
set of ten of these cards.

You will need:
an A3 sheet with the sentences in step 1
a set of 10 cards per pair
one find a phrase sheet per pair
one exercise sheet per student

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Procedure:

1. (2 mins)

Show an A3 sheet with the following:

I still havent got sense.
It doesnt make over the disappointment.
They took advantage of the situation.
He gave trying.
Have you set the impression that he wasnt listening.
The experience had a date for the wedding?
You need to keep a strange effect on me.

Ask volunteers to come up and match the pairs of sentences together.

2. (8 mins)

Explain that they are going to do a similar activity with some of these words (set,
keep, make, take and give), except this time with real examples from a corpus of
English.

Show the whole class a set of cards, and explain that each card has ten half-
sentences on it. Tell them that they have to put them into pairs so that when you put
two cards together, each sentence makes sense. They should put their hands up as
soon as theyve matched them all.

Give each pair a set of cards. As they are working, go round and check that all the
sets are matched correctly. (The matching sets are: 1 and 4 (set), 7 and 6 (make), 2
and 8 (keep), 5 and 9 (take), 10 and 3 (give).)

3. (5 mins)

Tell students they now have to look through the matched sets to find particular
phrases. Give each pair a Find a phrase sheet and tell them to find the phrase with
the same meaning.

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Take feedback. The answers are:

choose: make a choice
want something very badly: have your heart set on something
How are you? How are you keeping?
support one person rather than another:
take someones side
look after something or someone:
keep an eye on something/someone
look at someone in a particular way:
give someone a
(concerned/worried/angry, etc.) look
make sure everyone knows the truth about something:
set the record straight
collapse: give way
be interested in something: take an interest in something
get somewhere with difficulty: make it somewhere

4. (5 mins)

For homework, students individually do the rewriting exercise.
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1

began to struggle into their clothes. Some set
their savings. These visits had apparently set
especially if we are more successful than we set
the plans. With regard to his efforts to set
aircraft already in service. An enquiry was set
HARRISON Birmingham. 14 May 2004 I'd like to set
WHEN YOU'RE SINGING! Robbie Williams looks set
source tells me that Eminem has his heart set
the Korean peninsula. They have not yet set
claim some sense of identity. They help us set


2

managers tend to be highly professional; they keep
responded to each announcement. 'Snickers bars keep
Miraculously, he hadn't yet seen us. He kept
positions. Scrub their public records. And keep
below the crater. Scientists have also been keeping
how to cook and serve the food, and how to keep
leader was clinically dead, and had to be kept
buffer of air hit me in the face, but I kept
averted his gaze and said, 'So how're you keeping
talk about litter. But how can I help to keep


3

you hope. He can never be (or do!) less
their lives for the Olympic ideal at Sydney
warning that he might not be able to play
the kid a chance, Sarah. He has to learn
advice, and, when necessary, enforce some
up and returned to the Seattle area to
me a concerned look. 'You feeling okay?
way, and I put my back to the wall and
me the impression someone had jumped out
the opportunity to take part, then to lead,


4

off at once with ropes and picks;
many women thinking and the list of
out to be. The run up to achievements
up a cavalry staff school, he commented
up to identify the cause of the crash:
the record straight regarding the David
to top the charts again after sales of
on a London home and that he will take
a timetable. Hundreds of sailors and
ourselves apart from others. They

31

5

eventually called me, and I went out to take
helicopter ahead to use for local hops. It takes
kids. One thing I like is that she doesn't take
instigated. Cunningham said: 'It has taken
shooting at me, I'll shoot back. 'I won't be taking
Doha Round. Many of them recall that it took
subsequent committees. Only one of all our ladies took
that time we had a small, elderly dog who took
feelings or memories come up, I know how to take
job in a nursery's potting shed, and has taken


6

his choice. 'Gentlemen,' he said.
it easy for you to gain weight.
up about 35 percent of east-west
him ideal for the role: an instinct
it clear that he would be
it to the gym every day, but
such a threat. Last night Shadow
a living, given dedication and a
of it?' 'Algae. Some unknown
any difference? Can these people's


7

but when at last he raised his head he had made
is why consuming refined, processed food makes
Given that countertrade is estimated to make
Three aspects of his character combined to make
the outcome, and in a speech in Baghdad made
a common mistake at Christmas. You won't make
hours earlier, Mr Byers told MPs he NEVER made
the pecking order, it is still possible to make
Sinnabor Lavon said to her, 'What do you make
question then arises, are these doctors able to make


8

in touch with the latest policy
getting smaller and smaller
eating quietly even as we
it quiet. In addition to the ground
a close eye on the 925-foot-tall dome
the building clean. More than
alive with machines. Earlier
my balance and got a leg up on to
?' 'I'm OK. Didn't sleep too well,
our waters cleaner? Farmers
32

9

a look. Quite a mess.' 'I can imagine
only 18 minutes by helicopter from Kingston
herself too seriously.' Added Jessica,
time to get this squad together and it
their side - it's a totally committed job
so long for the EU to comply over bananas
the trouble to ring me up with friendly
no notice of the deer and they ignored
care of myself. I know what to do. And
an interest in his appearance. Ted's


10

the Lord of hope, His purpose is to always give
outstanding young Australians have already given
fly private.' On Wednesday, Woods had given
Dieter laughed and Sarah frowned at him. 'Give
easier task. You want to lend guidance, give
After a few years, she and her husband gave
'Rachel. You've hardly touched it.' She gave
out, like spontaneous combustion - my legs gave
someone rolling on the road.' 'This gave
outreach ministry of the church. He was given
33

Find a phrase that means (use the words in brackets as prompts)


1. choose (make)


2. want something very badly (set)


3. How are you? (keep)


4. support one person rather than another (take)


5. look after something or someone (keep)


6. look at someone in a particular way (give)


7. make sure everyone knows the truth about something (set)


8. collapse (give)


9. be interested in something (take)


10. get somewhere with difficulty (make)



34

Exercise

Rewrite the following sentences, using make, take, give, set or keep.

1. How are you?


2. He really wants this job.


3. I have to choose between these two courses.


4. She looked at me in a worried way.


5. With difficulty, I got to the top of the mountain.


6. The table collapsed.


7. He was interested in my work.


8. Can you look after the kids for ten minutes?


9. I know shell blame me. She always supports Paul.


10. I want to make sure everyone knows what really happened.


35


Using the corpus for classroom activities based on
real language

Prefixes and suffixes activity

Teachers notes:

Aim: To revise and practise word-formation with chosen prefixes or suffixes
Level: Intermediate or above, depending on the chosen prefix or suffix; this lesson
more for upper-intermediate
Timing: 25 mins

You will need:
Question cards
One word list for each pair of students. If you have internet access, you may
not need these, but you should have them as back-ups.

Procedure:

1. (3 mins)
On the board, write ly
Say: With your neighbour, write down as many adverbs and adjectives ending in -ly
as you can. You have one minute.
Once they have finished, ask students to call out suggestions: write about 20 on the
board.
Ask the whole class: Which ones do you think people use most often? Take
suggestions from different students.
2. (5 mins)
This stage will depend on whether you have a computer and internet access. If there
is internet access, show students how to make a frequency list of words ending in -
ly. The procedure is as follows:
Go to Wordbanks online.

Go to Word List.

In the box Word list options, select lemma in the drop-down search attribute
menu.

In the pattern box, type:

.*ly

If there is only one computer, you can do this stage yourself, or ask for a volunteer.

36

If there is no internet access, give them a copy of the printout below instead, and
explain that this is a list of the most frequent words ending in -ly in a corpus of
English.

Explain that the numbers show how many times each word occurs. Look at the list
as a class and ask what the most frequent -ly adverb is (only). Does this match their
predictions? Whats the second most frequent? (really) What is the most frequent ly
adjective (only elicit that it can be both an adverb and an adjective, and give/ask
for examples)

Explain that the list gives all words ending in -ly, including nouns, verbs and
adjectives.



3. (10 mins)

Divide the class into groups of three or four.

Say:
Im going to give each group a card with a question about this list of -ly words. You
have two minutes to answer the question, and then pass the card to the next group.
For most questions, there is more than one correct answer. Write your answers on a
piece of paper, not on the card.

Give each group a question card.

After about two minutes, tell them to pass their card along to the next group. (You
can be flexible with the time: make sure theyve had a stab at their question, but
keep it fairly fast-paced.)

Circulate and make sure each group is getting a new question. Make sure that each
group tries at least one of the cards where they have to find an adverb/adjective, and
one where they have to complete the sentences.

Keep doing this until everyone has had a chance to answer at least four questions.

4. (7 mins or more)
Read out a few of the questions and ask for answers from different groups.
Here are some suggested answers:
Find a word that can be either an adjective or an adverb. Write down one sentence
with the word as an adverb, and one sentence with the word as an adjective.
Early: I woke up early/We had an early meeting
Daily: I shower daily/I bought a daily newspaper
Only: Im only joking/Youre the only friend I have

Find three adverbs that come from adjectives: really real; probably probable;
finally final; simply simple; easy easily, etc. How is the adverb formed this
should elicit the basic rules for forming adverbs:
37

In most cases, simply add -ly: real - really
If the adjective ends in -le, remove the -e and then add -y: simple,
simply
If the adjective ends in -y, change to -i and then add -ly: easy, easily



Students might point out/ask about some other minor exceptions:
with some adjectives ending in e, you remove the e and then add ly:
true-truly
with full and dull you just add y
with adjectives ending in ic you usually add ally (basic-basically) but
public is an exception: public-publicly.

Find an adjective that comes from a noun: day daily; friend friendly; love - lovely

Find an adverb that comes from an adjective, but has a completely different
meaning. Write down one sentence with the adjective, and one sentence with the
adverb:
This essay is very hard; I hardly know him.
The floors were bare; I could barely hear.

Complete each sentence with one of the words from the list: Lots of possibilities
here are some:
He completely/totally/.. ignored me.
Im really/truly/. sorry.
He was only/probably/. joking
She spoke very clearly/slowly/.
I ran up the stairs quickly/immediately/.
I usually/normally/actually/. go to work by car.
Eventually/Finally/, I finished my essay.
Hes a teacher, actually/obviously/apparently.

Depending on their answers and how much time you have, you may want to deal
with any problems briefly, then return to them at another lesson.

For example, with the complete the sentences questions, students may give some
examples which are completely wrong, and can be easily corrected (e.g. *Early I
finished my essay the adverb early usually comes at the end of a clause or *She
spoke very friendly friendly is an adjective, not an adverb, etc.) but there might be
more subtle issues.

Depending on time, internet access and the level of your students, you could ask
students to further investigate any adverbs which they used unidiomatically, by
asking them to run concordances, or you could note down any problematic areas
that cant be immediately corrected, and return to them at the next lesson.


38

Adapting the activity for different affixes

This activity could be adapted for other affixes, such as -tion, -sion, -ful, anti-, con-,
com- etc.: simply run a different word list and write different question cards.

However, some searches will bring up lots of irrelevant material for example, a
search for re- would yield a list with lots of words that start with re- but arent
examples of the prefix re- e.g. real, reason, red, reach, etc.. Try out different word
lists and see what works best.

Whichever affix you choose, use the following process for creating word lists:

- Go to WordbanksOnline.
- Go to Word List.
- In the box Word list options, select lemma in the drop-down search attribute
menu.
- In the pattern box, type the affix with .* either before (if its a suffix) or after (if its a
prefix), e.g.

.*tion
.*ful
.*ness
un.*
con.*
anti.*



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Frequency list: words ending in -ly

lemma Freq
------------------------------
only 615478
family 242350
really 239169
early 176293
probably 105695
likely 102169
actually 97682
July 88669
nearly 73422
especially 71995
simply 71683
finally 71110
certainly 68362
recently 67623
fly 66943
particularly 62569
quickly 60045
supply 56834
usually 56455
clearly 49455
apply 47949
immediately 46066
exactly 45218
suddenly 42246
reply 42188
eventually 41113
obviously 39960
completely 35573
easily 35534
daily 33710
apparently 33672
highly 32694
fully 31479
currently 31242
directly 29923
generally 29846
slightly 29465
slowly 29383
hardly 28881
absolutely 28518
Italy 28408
Kelly 28333
increasingly 27373
possibly 27163
seriously 26541
extremely 26519
mostly 25503
unlikely 25158
previously 24641
largely 24593
ally 23686
totally 23470
definitely 22844
relatively 22556
entirely 22460
carefully 21882
Daily 21793
rally 21731
surely 21426
normally 20764
merely 20276
truly 20159
rely 19906
badly 19662
shortly 19653
mainly 19289
closely 19150
friendly 18803
virtually 18779
widely 18708
deeply 18601
fairly 18432
equally 18364
unfortunately 18214
lovely 17889
heavily 17821
barely 17520
properly 16871
strongly 16769
frequently 16185
effectively 16032
perfectly 16007
originally 15893
rarely 15874
initially 15826
partly 15726
ultimately 15723
regularly 15721
necessarily 15164
basically 14736
allegedly 14712
Billy 14380
quietly 14203
Family 13900
rapidly 13819
personally 13777
naturally 13759
hopefully 13429
constantly 13110
deadly 12721
elderly 12465
occasionally 12437
publicly 12407
newly 12248
40

Question cards
Complete each sentence with one
of the words from the list:

She spoke very

Hes a teacher, ..

Find an adverb that comes from an
adjective, but has a completely
different meaning.

Write down one sentence with the
adjective, and one sentence with
the adverb.
Find three adverbs that come from
adjectives.

What are the spelling rules for
changing an adjective to an -ly
adverb?

Find an adjective that comes from
a noun.
Complete each sentence with one
of the words from the list:

He .. ignored me.


I . go to work by car.

Find a word that can be either an
adjective or an adverb.

Write down one sentence with the
word as an adverb, and one
sentence with the word as an
adjective.

Complete each sentence with one
of the words from the list:

Im sorry.


He was . joking.
Complete each sentence with one
of the words from the list:

., I finished my essay.


I ran up the stairs ..

41


Using the corpus for classroom activities based on
real language

Note: This activity is based on an activity from Lackman, Ken (2010)
Classroom Games from Corpora, http://www.kenlackman.com/

Guess the key word from the collocates activity

Teachers notes:

Aim: To revise collocates
Level: Upper-intermediate
Timing: 20 minutes (or 35 mins with extra activity)

You will need:
A card with the money collocates, for you to demonstrate
Flip chart with money answers prepared
Sets of cards, cut up: one set A for every two students, and one set B
for every two students

Procedure:

1. (5 mins)

Write the word day in the middle of the board. Ask students for suggestions
about which words collocate with, or go with, the key word day. Prompt
students by asking what nouns can go before day (e.g. wedding, election,
independence), what nouns can go after day (e.g. a day job, a day trip), what
verbs can go with day (e.g. you spend a day, start the day, take a day, etc.),
what adjectives can go with day (e.g. a hot day, a bad day, etc.). You may
need to give some clues to get them started e.g. what do you call the day
when you get married? etc.
42

Eventually the board should look something like this:

wedding
election
Valentines
summers

spend job
pass trip
take
bad
good
sunny
hot
long

Explain that these are strong collocates of day: words that are most likely to go with
it. Explain that there are lots of other words you can use with day for example, you
can talk about a funny day, or a washing day but you are more likely to use day
with the words on the board.

Tell students that theyre going to play a game about strong collocates.

2. (5 mins)

Explain that youre going to demonstrate the game first. Then they are going to play
it in groups.

Hold a card with the following ten words written on it (so that only you can see whats
written on it) and say:

I am going to read out 10 words. They are all collocates of the same word. The key
word the word we are looking for always comes after the collocate. When you
have guessed the word, write it down, along with the number Ive read.

Start reading collocates, from 101. (Read slowly, and read the numbers as well.)

10. make
9. need
8. raise
7. save
6. owe
5. lend
4. invest
3. borrow
2. earn
1. spend

Students compare answer with neighbours, and report back. Demonstrate the point-
system by showing the following on a pre-prepared flip-chart:
day
43


10. make money
9. need money
8. raise money
7. save money
6. owe money
5. lend money
4. invest money
3. borrow money
2. earn money
1. spend money

Explain that if you had just read out number 7, save, when they guessed, they get 7
points; if you had just read out number 1, spend, they get 1 point, and so on.
Congratulate the student who got the highest number of points.

3. (7 mins)

Explain that they are now going to play the same game in groups.

Split them into groups of four, each with two teams of two.

Give each team a set of cards (so in each group, one team will have set A and one
will have set B).

On each card they have a list of collocates, from 101. They should read these, in
order, and the other team has to say when theyve got the right word. They should
keep score. Circulate and answer any questions about meanings of the collocates.

4. (3 minutes)

As a whole class, ask each team to make up a sentence with one of their collocates
(e.g. I had to pay a fine because I was caught speeding, etc.)

Extra activity:

You will need:
large version of the screenshot of school on projector, to show to the class.
photocopies of the other word sketch screenshots (family and car): one
screenshot per pair.
blank car and family game cards: one card per pair.

Procedure:

1. (5 mins)

Tell students that they are now going to make their own sets of collocates to play the
game. Show the word sketch of school, and explain that this page shows the key
noun and adjective collocates of school in the corpus.

44

Explain that the figures show the number of times these words go with school in the
corpus, and they are ordered by how strong the relationship is. For example, law
modifies school 1301 times but it also modifies lots of other words so it is further
down the list than nursery, which modifies school only 451 times, but doesnt
modify as many other words.
1


Say: We are now going to pick ten collocates of school to make our own game
card. Write on the board:

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Ask for suggestions for the strongest collocate, and put this at number 1. Do the
same for the next strongest, and put this at number 2, and so on until you have all 10
collocates. Encourage students to think about the best way to order the collocates
for the game: for example, high is a strong collocate but you wouldnt necessarily
guess school from high, whereas you might guess it from primary and
secondary.

2. (5 mins)

Tell students they are now going to make cards for other nouns. Put students in
pairs. Give half the pairs a family word sketch and a blank family card, and half the
pairs a car word sketch and a blank car card. Circulate and help while they make
their cards. If there are computers and internet access, students can do this part
online, and investigate the collocates in more detail.

3. (5 mins)

Put students in groups so that each car pair is against a family pair. They play the
game again with their own cards.

1
This explanation can be omitted if students have already done the introductory activity on word sketches.
45

SET A
Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. amount
9. . interest
8. . fine
7. . rent
6. . cost
5. . money
4. . tax
3. . bill
2. . price
1. . attention
(The word is PAY)

Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. .firm
9. . area
8. . group
7.. city
6. . part
5. . company
4. . proportion
3. . quantity
2. . amount
1. . number
(The word is LARGE)

Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. .muscle
9. . surgeon
8. . condition
7.. rate
6. . surgery
5. . bypass
4. . transplant
3. . beat
2. . disease
1. . attack
(The word is HEART)

Say to the other team: These words
often come before the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. happy.
9. painful.
8. cherished.
7. bad.
6. distant.
5. lasting.
4. computer.
3. short-term.
2. vivid.
1. childhood.
(The word is MEMORY)


































46

SET B
Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. hope
9. .price
8. .alarm
7.. fear
6. .child
5. .hand
4. .eyebrow
3. . concerns
2. . money
1. . question
(The word is RAISE)

Say to the other team: These words
often come before the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. old.
9. big.
8. empty.
7. guest.
6. town.
5. country.
4. council.
3. haunted.
2. semi-detached.
1. two-bedroom.
(The word is HOUSE)


Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. .man
9. . paper
8. . flour
7.. tooth
6. . hair
5. . bread
4. . van
3. . coat
2. . wine
1. . shirt
(The word is WHITE)


Say to the other team: These words
often come after the word youre
guessing. Read your words slowly,
from 10 to 1.
10. .machinery
9. .lifting
8. .burden
7.. drinking
6. .metal
5. .snow
4. industry
3. .workload
2. traffic
1. .rain
(The word is HEAVY)
47

SCHOOL







48

CAR



49

FAMILY





50

10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
(The word is FAMILY)


10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
(The word is CAR)
51


Using the corpus for classroom activities based on
real language

Note: This activity is based on an activity from Lackman, Ken (2010) Classroom
Games from Corpora, http://www.kenlackman.com/

Collocations guessing game activity

Teachers notes:

Aim: to practise some common collocations.
Level: Intermediate/Upper-intermediate.

Pre-class preparation:
Run a Word Sketch on the key word. Try the process with Salience, and then Raw
frequency selected, to see which provides the most useful collocates.

Prepare large cards with a single key word on one side, and a list of its top ten
collocates on the other (all the same part of speech). The collocates may need to be
manually filtered in cases where, for example, the Word Sketch interprets an -ed
adjective as a verb (e.g. leak at email).

Procedure:
1. If students have not already done an introduction to collocations like this in a
previous lesson, write on the board:

tough heart
happy actor
famous decision
broken birthday

Ask students to come up to the board and draw lines between the ones that match.

Explain that you can talk about a tough actor or a happy actor, but from the list
above, the strongest match is famous actor. (2 mins)

2. Write the word email on the board. (If you would like to use email in the game,
choose another.) Ask them to write down as many strong adjective and verb
collocates as they can think of. Students compare notes and feed back. (verb
collocates: see below; adjective/noun modifier collocates: unsolicited, unwanted,
embarrassing, unnecessary, anonymous, blank, fake, junk, phishing, hoax).

Tell students that theyre going to play a game about strong collocates, i.e. the words
that are most likely to match. (3 mins)

52

3. Put students into groups. Each group will consist of two teams, i.e., a group of four
will have two teams of two.

4. Give the students the cards and tell them to spread them out, but to keep them
face down so only the key word is visible. Explain to them that what is on the other
side are the ten most common adjective or verb collocates of the visible key word,
e.g. the ten most common adjective collocates of idea. The object of the game is that
they guess as many as they can. They will score two points for each collocate that
they guess directly, and one point for a collocate that they guess with a clue. (2 mins)

5. One team starts and the team members choose a card. One member of that team
takes the card and looks at the collocates on the other side, being careful not to
show it to anyone else.

The guessers call out as many possible top-ten collocates as they can think of.
Once they have dried up, the student holding the card can give one clue for each
remaining collocate, e.g. the clue for good could be When you really like something
you say, Its really ... (10 mins)


Post-class activity:
Students create their own Collocations Guessing Game to try out on their peers in
class using one of the following methods:

(a) If students have access to a corpus, they can run a collocate search on their
own choice of word.

OR:

(b) If students do not have access to a corpus, the teacher could provide
printouts of collocate lists, or screenshots from a Word Sketch.

53


[verb +] house


1. build

2. buy

3. rent

4. own

5. clean

6. destroy

7. leave

8. sell

9. enter

10. decorate
54

[adj +] idea


1. good

2. original

3. bad

4. brilliant

5. bright

6. great

7. excellent

8. interesting

9. crazy

10. wonderful
55

[verb +] meal


1. cook

2. eat

3. prepare

4. skip

5. serve

6. enjoy

7. share

8. order

9. provide

10. finish
56

[verb +] car


1. park

2. drive

3. steal

4. buy

5. rent

6. hire

7. sell

8. own

9. stop

10. crash
57

[verb +] email

1. send

2. receive

3. get

4. forward

5. check

6. write

7. read

8. delete

9. access

10. block
58


Using the corpus for classroom activities based on
real language

Phrasal verbs activity

Teachers notes:
Aim: to help students to discern the senses of a polysemic phrasal verb.

Level: Intermediate/Upper-intermediate/Advanced, depending on phrasal verb used.


Pre-class preparation:
1. Choose a phrasal verb that has several senses. If the class is for higher-level
students, ensure that the phrasal verb can be used both transitively and intransitively
(e.g. take off).

2. Run a concordance (search for the main verb, e.g. take, plus the particle, e.g. off
within three words to the right) and print out a random sample of 100. These may be
cut up into sets of 20 to make them more manageable.


Procedure:
1. Write the phrasal verb take off on the board.

2. Ask students to work in pairs to list as many meanings of the phrasal verb as they
can think of. Students do activity. (5 mins)

3. Students feed back. Write the senses on the board (leaving an area clear where
you will write questions for the next stage). Ensure that the transitive senses are kept
separate from the intransitive ones. (5 mins)

4. Hand out concordances one per group of two. Write the following on the board:

(i) Find examples for the senses we mentioned.
(ii) Can you find examples of any other senses?

5. Students do activity. (5 mins)

6. Whole-class feedback. Add to list of senses. (5 mins)

7. Give out sheets showing the Cobuild dictionary entry for take off. Ask students to
examine the entry and answer the following questions: (5 mins)

(i) Does the dictionary show all the senses you have found?
(ii) Are there any senses given in the dictionary that you didnt think of or
find?

59

8. Move around the class, checking for new material that can be shared.


Further study for advanced-level students:

1. Ask students to examine the first two sets of concordances for take off, and do the
following:

(i) Identify all examples where take off is separated by a noun or a pronoun.
(ii) Make a note of the noun or pronoun that comes between take and off.

(Teacher circulates and checks that students are managing.)

(iii) Identify all examples where take off is not separated.
(iv) What comes after take off in these examples?

2. Explain to students that when there is no noun or pronoun, the phrasal verb is
intransitive. When there is a noun or pronoun, the phrasal verb is transitive.

3. Ask students to look at the dictionary entry again, and to identify which senses
are transitive, and which are intransitive.

Key:
There are three possible patterns:

1. take off, e.g. The plane took off.

2. take X off / take off X, e.g. Take your clothes off / Take off your clothes

3. take X off Y e.g. couldnt take his eyes off her, take the edge off consumer
spending, you took it off some lady, where off is a preposition rather than an
adverb, and the word order is fixed.

This last type is arguably not a phrasal verb, but it occurs quite a few times in the
concordance lines so is worth drawing attention to.


60






61









62










63












Cobuild Advanced Dictionary: entry for take off