Searching American National Corpus with the Help of AntConc

Step: 1

• Check if you have Java Runtime Environment on your computer

http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp?detect=jre&try=1

• If not, Install Java Runtime Environment (7.5)http://www.java.com/en/download/

chrome.jsp?locale=en

Step 2: Download OANC (Open American National Corpus)

• 326 MB 4.8 GB, 14,623,927 words, Tagged• Download the Open ANC in GrAF format:• http://www.anc.org/OANC/OANC_GrAF.zip• The download will take some time depending

on your internet speed.• After download is complete, right-click on the

zip file and unzip it to a location that you would remember.

Step 3

• Download the ANCTool zip file from• http://www.anc.org/tools/index.html#anc-

tool• After the download is completed right-click on

the file and unzip it to a location that you would remember.

Step 4

• Create a corpus from OANC using ANC Tool in a way that AntConc can search through it.

• Double Click on the folder “AncTool-2.0.0”• Double Click on the file “AncTool-2.0.0.jar”• The program will start.

Step 4

• Browse the folder for the sub-corpus you would like to convert through “Input directory” window.

• Create the folder for your new sub-corpus that can be processed by AntConc through “Output directory” window.

• Select GrAF as your input format.• Click on “MonoConc” tab• Put a check in the box next to “Hepple Part of

Speech Tags”

Step 5

• See the files you just created and understand the organization of tagged corpus

• Check for mistakes!• Know the tags for the annotations. (You can do this by reading the guides on

OANC’s website)

Step 6

• Open AntConc• Adjust the settings in AntConc according to

the patterns in your corpus files

Step 6

• Global Settings Tag Settings• Put a dot in the radio button, “Hide Tags” • Tag Start = _ • Tag End = ↔#

Step 7

• Load your corpus• And considering the tags search through the

corpus!

Scenario 1• What kinds of “verb + that clause” patterns occur in

spoken American English?Example: “I knew that her father said ‘Do not touch.’”

• First: Pick a sub-corpus• Second: Remember the tags in the sub-corpus processed by

ANCTool• Third: Remember the searching conventions of AntConc• And start your search!• Analyze: sort, check the patterns, and record what you

found.

Scenario 2

• You want to know what kind of verbs are common before

• “possesive NP + ing-clause” patterns• Example: “I recall her talking about how she

cared for him”

Scenario 3

• You want to know how travel guides use existential there with modals.

Example: “There might have been 8 to 10 of us.”

Scenario 4

• You want to know what kind of transitive phrasal verbs are there in government documents. Look for patterns that have the pronoun between verb and particle.

• Example: “He did not point it out.”

Scenario 5

• You come up with a question.