the grammar of words: ‘ accident’

THE GRAMMAR OF WORDS: ‘ACCIDENT’

HYPOTHESES 1. FORM 1.1. It is a complex word, formed with a base and a derivational suffix. 1.2. It shows number and case contrast 2. FUNCTION 2.1 It always works as Head of an NP. The NP in which it functions as H can

function as S and Od. 3. DISTRIBUTION 3.1 It can take all type of determiners 3.2 It can be premodified by AdjPs 3.3 It can be coordinated with nouns such as disease or death 3.4. It goes with impersonal subjects 4. MEANING 4.1 It means “An unexpected, undesirable event”.

THE GRAMMAR OF WORDS: ‘ACCIDENT’

CORPUS

1. paying premiums to insurance companies ? Accidents, however, usually take us by surprise.2. apart from spoiling the leg it may easily cause an accident and may stall the machine. 3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an accident. |Gloria had laughed when 4. out by a lucky blow. It was almost an accident. I have now earned my place by the fire. 5. ' I have never had an accident before, and I was never on the wrong side of the road. 6. unrobbed, sheltered from disease and accident by doctors, God and the municipalit 7. Minimise the danger that a nuclear war might begin by accident or misunderstanding or from 8. modelling yesterday for the first time since the car accident that put her in hospital four weeks 9. sites with a view to reducing the risk of electrical accident, e.g.: P58 in the construction10. in 1960 one-eighth of all electrical accidents, including one-third of the fatalities, occurred on 11. continue, they are more likely to suffer a fatal accident in the home. 12. been broken. The only major accident of the week-end occurred a few yards outside 13. thank you for saving him from a nasty accident, ' she said shyly, her eyes full of gratitude. 14. the coincidence of numbers is no accident. ^ the administration's requirement that the V15. at the police station. they 've had no accidents reported. ^ *' would you like a cup of tea16. for the textual changes which is neither chance nor accident, two terms which often cover 17. both the total number of accidents ( 222 ) and the number of deaths ( 20 ) were greater 18. the royal society for the prevention of accidents, in order to determine methods of 19. have acclaimed Chislehurst-Sidcup as an area free of accidents during the weekends. 20. factories place great emphasis on accident prevention, and it is equally important that safety 21. had some sudden illness or accident produced a psychological change in him, 22. care. now provisional accident figures for the year suggest that wifely strictures were b23. when he met with his first railway accident at Staplehurst, as were Ellen and her mother. 24. Promote and encourage the use of methods for reducing accidents and dangerous occurrences 25. give a momentary reflection on the calamity of road accidents. The barking dog made me 26. who is in hospital recovering from a ski-ing accident. She was driven from Oxford to 27. with overhead lines remains serious; such accidents have occurred in factories since 1954, 28. division, and the fact that the accident rate in this coalfield is lower than the national average 29. the only conclusion she can come to regarding this accident is that when it happened she 30. on a procedure for the avoidance of unfortunate accident in the heat of battle. Less than no 31. there has been a most unfortunate accident, regrettable piece of carelessness on the part of 32. out with his team captain. Within a week I had accidentally crashed into the captain on the

ACCIDENT

Main Entry: ac·ci·dent Pronunciation: \ˈak-sə-dənt, -ˌdent; ˈaks-dənt\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin accident-,

accidens nonessential quality, chance, from present participle of accidere to happen, from ad- + cadere to fall — more at chance

Date: 14th century 1 a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance b : lack of

intention or necessity : chance <met by accident rather than by design>2 a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious <a cerebrovascular accident> c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation3 : a nonessential property or quality of an entity or circumstance <the accident of nationality>

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com

FORM

1.1. It is a complex word, formed with a base and a derivational suffix.

ACCID-ENT?

FORM

Source: http://www.etymonline.com

PRESIDENTSTUDENTRESIDENTOPPONENT

ADJECTIVES IN -ENT

NOUNS IN -ENT

PRESIDE + -ENTSTUDY + ENTRESIDE + -ENT

?? OPPONE + -ENT (OPPOSE)

Main Entry: 1ac·ci·den·tal Pronunciation: \ˌak-sə-ˈden-təl\ Function: adjective Date: 14th century 1 : arising from extrinsic causes : incidental, nonessential

2 a : occurring unexpectedly or by chance b : happening without intent or through carelessness and often with unfortunate results

— ac·ci·den·tal·ly \-ˈdent-lē, -ˈden-təl-ē\ also ac·ci·dent·ly \-ˈdent-lē\ adverb

— ac·ci·den·tal·ness \-ˈden-təl-nəs\ noun synonyms accidental, fortuitous, casual, contingent mean not amenable

to planning or prediction. accidental stresses chance <any resemblance to actual persons is entirely accidental>. fortuitous so strongly suggests chance that it often connotes entire absence of cause <a series of fortuitous events>. casual stresses lack of real or apparent premeditation or intent <a casual encounter with a stranger>. contingent suggests possibility of happening but stresses uncertainty and dependence on other future events for existence or occurrence <the contingent effects of the proposed law>.

1 , is. Is that, is that a sort of er is that an accidental er do you do you get what comes in through It's the worst time

2 agenda, it's application four A. Erm, it was an omission, an accidental omission. it got hooked on the back of that one with a large paper

3 about : so shall you hear of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts, of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,

4 shot dead on an SAS live-fire training exercise. The Cardiff coroner's verdict was accidental death. But he urged the army to impose "more rigid controls" on

5 wrote in his 1981 biography: "I assumed that his death was due to an accidental drug overdose." But after talking to David Stanley, the youngest of Presley

6 from ref Roger Dilkes, who provoked a storm of protest when he decided an accidental deflection constituted an illegal back-pass. KEEP CLEAR: Ref Roger Dilkes ignores an angry

7 ignores an angry Dave Beasant …. after giving a free-kick against Chelsea for an accidental back-pass … BLYN: JOHN EDWARDS Arsenal blast back! RICHARD TANNER SMILING George Graham

8 Swedish winger will have an X-ray on a suspected broken cheekbone today after taking an accidental blow in the face and is now in doubt for his country's international with

9 to determine the likelihood that two adjacent words are truly a collocation, rather than an accidental association. The process starts from a list of words for which collocation information is

10 handling does not. Firstly, the file organization is more robust, as the accidental overwriting of a record only affects that record itself and not other members of a

11 poor acoustic input but also of ambiguous word boundaries. Not only are there many accidental matches to parts of the intended utterance (e.g. ermine in terminal), these

12 the refocusing of attention from a region where there may happen to be high quality accidental word matches to events whose word match quality may not be as great, but

13 in the passage cited above that there are only a few regions where high quality accidental word matches take place. But as we saw in Chapters 5 and 6 there

14 the length of the entire utterance. Sophisticated higher-level procedures must prune these perfect, accidental word matches before they combine exponentially into a huge space of alternative partial interpretations.

15 gain worthwhile. Deliberate, controlled positive feedback also has some application in connection with amplifiers but accidental , uncontrolled positive feedback is often troublesome in amplifiers leading to instability. The main

16 electrical behaviour is described very appropriately as oscillation. Amplifier circuits that oscillate parasitically through accidental positive feedback are said to be unstable and, unless their design can be modified

17 is abundantly clear. 10.7 Amplifier instability and Bode diagrams Turning to the question of accidental positive feedback in amplifiers, it is important to appreciate the difficulties encountered in trying

18 mechanisms which aim directly at these goals rather than relying upon their being achieved as the accidental by-products of mechanisms whose primary function is to achieve quite different goals such as commercial profitability

19 been ruthlessly stamped out. It was lucky for the Bolshevik government, though not accidental , that two of its most suspected categories in local society were powerless in the

20 radical a leader Mrs Thatcher has been for the Conservative party. She was an accidental leader and in some ways did "hijack" the party. Conservative leaders have

1.2. It shows number and case contrast

2. it may easily cause an accident and may stall the machine. 3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an accident.

12. The only major accident of the week-end occurred a few

yards outside

1. Accidents, however, usually take us by surprise.15. at the police station. they 've had no accidents reported. 25. give a momentary reflection on the calamity of road

accidents.


2. it may easily cause an accident and may stall the machine. → it may easily cause accidents

3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an accident. → …the cause of an accidents.

12. The only major accident of the week-end → The only major accidents …

1. Accidents, however, usually take us by surprise. → An accident, however, usually takes us by surprise

15. they 've had no accidents reported. → they 've had an accident reported.

25. give a momentary reflection on the calamity of road accidents. →

… the calamity of a road accident


4. out by a lucky blow. It was almost an accident. → ?? They were almost accidents

7. a nuclear war might begin by accident → * a nuclear war might begin by accidents 14. the coincidence of numbers is no accident. →

* the coincidence of numbers is no accidents. 16. …which is neither chance nor accident →

* which is neither chance nor accidents


3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an

accident. 17. both the total number of accidents ( 222 ) and the

number of deaths ( 20 ) were greater 18. the royal society for the prevention of accidents,

20. factories place great emphasis on accident prevention, 22. care. now provisional accident figures for the year 28. division, and the fact that the accident rate in this coalfield

is lower than the national average


3. the cause of an accident.

??the accident cause / *the accident’s cause

17. the total number of accidents ?the accident(s) number / *the accident’s

number

18. the prevention of accidents accident prevention / * (the) accident’s

prevention


20. accident prevention the prevention of accidents / *accident’s

prevention

22. accident figures ?the figures of accidents / *accident’s figures

28. the accident rate the rate of accidents / *accident’s rate

CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT 46

TIME OF THE ACCIDENT 44

RESULT OF AN ACCIDENT 36

SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT 25

SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT 15

RESULT OF THE ACCIDENT 13

EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT 11

RISK OF AN ACCIDENT 10

DATE OF THE ACCIDENT 10

ANNIVERSARY OF THE ACCIDENT

7

DAY OF THE ACCIDENT 6

CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACCIDENT

5

CAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT 5

MEETING OF THE ACCIDENT 5

RESULT OF ANY ACCIDENT 4

BIT OF AN ACCIDENT 4

ACCOUNT OF THE ACCIDENT 4

CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT 4

DETAILS OF AN ACCIDENT 3

CASE OF AN ACCIDENT 3

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION 64

ACCIDENT PREVENTION 50

ACCIDENT INQUIRY 48

ACCIDENT ESTIMATES 42

ACCIDENT INSURANCE 32

ACCIDENT VICTIMS 32

ACCIDENT REPORT 30

ACCIDENT FIRE 30

ACCIDENT RATE 28

ACCIDENT OFFICE 25

ACCIDENT DATA 25

ACCIDENT PLAN 23

ACCIDENT STATISTICS 23

ACCIDENT ESTIMATE 21

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATORS 19

ACCIDENT REPORTS 18

ACCIDENT VICTIM 17

ACCIDENT SITE 16

ACCIDENT RECORD 16

ACCIDENT REPAIR 13

no past case has decided whether damages must be awarded for emotional injury away from the accident 's scene.


2.1 It always works as Head of an NP. The NP in which it functions as H can function as S and Od.

4. out by a lucky blow. It was almost an accident. I have now earned my place by the fire.

8. modelling yesterday for the first time since the car accident that put her in hospital four weeks

12. been broken. The only major accident of the week-end occurred a few yards outside

20. factories place great emphasis on accident prevention, and it is equally important that safety

22. care. now provisional accident figures for the year suggest that wifely strictures were b

28. division, and the fact that the accident rate in this coalfield is lower than the national average

2. FUNCTION

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION 64

ACCIDENT PREVENTION 50

ACCIDENT INQUIRY 48

ACCIDENT ESTIMATES 42

ACCIDENT INSURANCE 32

ACCIDENT VICTIMS 32

ACCIDENT REPORT 30

ACCIDENT FIRE 30

ACCIDENT RATE 28

ACCIDENT OFFICE 25

ACCIDENT DATA 25

ACCIDENT PLAN 23

ACCIDENT STATISTICS 23

ACCIDENT ESTIMATE 21

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATORS 19

ACCIDENT REPORTS 18

ACCIDENT VICTIM 17

ACCIDENT SITE 16

ACCIDENT RECORD 16

ACCIDENT REPAIR 13

ACCIDENTS ACT 21

ACCIDENTS INVESTIGATION 10

ACCIDENTS INQUIRY 3

ACCIDENTS CONSENT 2

ACCIDENTS YEAR 1

ACCIDENTS TRAMS 1

ACCIDENTS SPEED 1

ACCIDENTS REPORTS 1

ACCIDENTS PROGRAMME 1

ACCIDENTS POLICE 1

ACCIDENTS PEOPLE 1

ACCIDENTS NEWS 1

ACCIDENTS LEGISLATION 1

ACCIDENTS DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE

1

ACCIDENTS DATA 1

ACCIDENTS CUTS 1

2. FUNCTION


1. Accidents, however, usually take us by surprise.12. been broken. The only major accident of the

week-end occurred a few yards outside 27. with overhead lines remains serious; such

accidents have occurred in factories since 1954,

2. it may easily cause an accident 5. ' I have never had an accident before,11. continue, they are more likely to suffer a fatal

accident in the home.

2. FUNCTION


CS:4. It was almost an accident.14. the coincidence of numbers is no accident.

Comp. of Prep:3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an accident.7. Minimise the danger that a nuclear war might begin by

accident or misunderstanding13. thank you for saving him from a nasty accident, ' she said

shyly, her eyes full of gratitude.

3. DISTRIBUTION:3.1 It can take all type of determiners

A(n): Central Determiner: Indefinite Article

2. it may easily cause an accident 3. the cause of an accident. 4. It was almost an accident. I have now earned my

place by the fire. 5. ' I have never had an accident before. 11., 13., 26., 31.

The: Central Determiner: Definite Article

8. since the car accident 12. The only major accident of the week-end

This: Central determiner, Demonstrative indicating nearness29. the only conclusion she can come to regarding this accident

His: Central Determiner, Possessive23. when he met with his first railway accident at Staplehurst

No : Central Determiner, Quantifier14. the coincidence of numbers is no accident.15. at the police station. they 've had no accidents reported.

All + plural: Pre-central determiner, Quantifier10. in 1960 one-eighth of all electrical accidents,

Such + plural: Central Determiner27. such accidents have occurred in factories since 1954,



Ø + singular:6. sheltered from disease and accident by doctors 7. by accident or misunderstanding or from9.the risk of electrical accident16. neither chance nor accident 30. the avoidance of unfortunate accident in the heat of

battle.

Ø + plural:1. Accidents, however, usually take us by surprise.18. the royal society for the prevention of accidents19. an area free of accidents during the weekends.24. methods for reducing accidents25. the calamity of road accidents.


Correlation meaning / determiners / number contrast and countability:

Accident as “fatal event”:Typically: countable:

Determiners: a(n), this, that + Singular: 2, 3, 5, 11, 13., 26, 29,31.

such, these, those, Ø + plural: 1, 10, 18, 19, 24, 25.

Ocassionaly: uncountable:Determiners: Ø + singular: 6, 30

Accident as “chance”:Typically: uncountable

Determiners: Ø + singular: 7, 16Ocassionaly: countable:

Determiners: a(n) + Singular: 4

3. DISTRIBUTION:3.2 It can be premodified by AdjPs

AdjPs ‘electrical accident’ (9, 10); ‘fatal accident’ (11); ‘major accident’ (12); ‘nasty accident’ (13); ‘unfortunate accident’ (30, 31).

NPs ‘car accident’ (8); ‘railway accident’ (23); ‘road accidents’ (25); ‘ski-ing accidents’ (26).

ROAD 193

CAR 130

AIRCRAFT 54

TRAFFIC 39

MOTOR 24

AIR 15

POLICE 14

RIDING 13

RAILWAY 11

BANK 10

BOATING 10

HOSPITAL 7

HUNTING 7

MOTORCYCLE 6

AUTOMOBILE 6

REACTOR 6

TRAINING 6

TRAIN 5

TIME 5

SKIING 5

FATAL 103

PERSONAL 84

SERIOUS 63

NUCLEAR 42

TRAGIC 32

FREAK 28

MAJOR 26

TERRIBLE 26

NASTY 18

INDUSTRIAL 18

HISTORICAL 17

BAD 16

UNFORTUNATE 16

LITTLE 15

HORRIFIC 12

HAPPY 11

ACTUAL 11

PURE 11

HIT-AND-RUN 10

MEAN 10

3. DISTRIBUTION3.3 It can be coordinated with nouns such as disease

or death

‘Sheltered from disease and accident’ (e.g. 6).

‘By accident or misunderstanding’ (e.g. 7).‘Neither chance nor accident’ (e.g. 16).‘The total number of accidents and the

number of deaths’ (e.g.17).‘Sudden illness or accident’ (e.g. 21).‘Accidents and dangerous occurrences’

(e.g. 24).

3. DISTRIBUTION: 3.4. It goes with non-personal subjects

2. apart from spoiling the leg it may easily cause an accident and may stall the3. was worth to allow his cattle to be the cause of an accident. 5. ' I have never had an accident before, and I was never on the wrong side

of 11. continue, they are more likely to suffer a fatal accident in the home. 13. thank you for saving him from a nasty accident, ' 15. at the police station. they 've had no accidents reported. 23. when he met with his first railway accident at Staplehurst, 26. who is in hospital recovering from a ski-ing accident. 4. out by a lucky blow. It was almost an accident.14. the coincidence of numbers is no accident. 16. for the textual changes which is neither chance nor accident,

31. there has been a most unfortunate accident, regrettable piece of carelessness

the grammar of words: ‘ accident’

Documents