the
tuscan word centre
minitasks
(c) John Sinclair 2002
These are tasks which are briefly stated, but they may take some time to complete. Also, depending on the evidence that you are able to consult, you may sometimes feel that your results are unclear or problematic. Corpus linguistics is still in its early years, and the replicability of results is only now being examined; however, if a search fails it is usually because there is another, stronger pattern affecting the data, one which was not at all obvious when you started, so you revise your hypothesis and follow up the new angle.
No key is supplied for these tasks because the parameters of your investigation are not under my control. However, if you cannot find a satisfying result to any of your investigations, then you can e-mail me on mailto:jms@twc.it and I will try to help.
John Sinclair