A Corpus-based Study On Clause Patterns Of Marine Engineering English

By application of the related theories of English clause patterns provided by Quirk et al.and Biber et al.,this thesis aims to research out the clause pattern features of MEE(Marine Engineering English).The methods involve random sampling,manual labeling and statistics proving.By comparing MEE Corpus with Brown corpus,this thesis,from four research respects including seven major clause types,matrix and embedded clauses,finite and non-finite clauses and optional adverbials,compares and analyzes the distinctive clause pattern features between Marine Engineering English Corpus and Brown corpus.The main research content includes:the distribution features of seven clause types and the distinguishing features of optional adverbials in Marine Engineering English;the distribution differences of matrix and embedded clauses as well as the differences of finite and nonfinite clauses among seven major clause types;and the comparative differences of the above four research aspects in Marine Engineering English from that in Brown corpus.The results show that:(1)The most frequently occurred clause types in MEE is S-V-Od,followed by S-V-A,then S-V-C and S-V.The rest three types,S-V-Oi-Od,S-V-O-Co and S-V-O-A are rarely occurred in MEE.Compared with Brown,S-V-A and S-V-O-A types occur more frequently in MEE,however,S-V-Od and S-V-C occur less frequently in MEE.(2)In MEE corpus,matrix and embedded clauses occur most frequently in S-V-Od and S-V-Cs,followed by S-V-A and S-V.Compared with Brown,the frequency of matrix and embedded clause in S-V-A in MEE is higher than that in Brown.Overall,the total number of matrix and embedded clauses in MEE is much more than that in Brown.(3)In MEE corpus,finite and nonfinite clauses occur most frequently in S-V-Od,followed by frequently in S-V-Cs,and less frequently in S-V-A,S-V and S-V-O-A.Compared with Brown,the total number of finite and nonfinite clauses in MEE is much larger than that in Brown corpus,especially in S-V-Cs,S-V-A,and S-V-O-A,and the frequencies are much higher than those in Brown.(4)In MEE corpus,adverbials occur more often in S-V,S-V-Od,S-V-Cs,S-V-A,S-V-O-A type.Compared with Brown corpus,the frequencies of adverbials and related elements in MEE are much higher than those in Brown,and the maximum number of adverbials in MEE is larger than that in Brown.The analyzing results of Marine Engineering English clause pattern features shed light to teaching Maritime English,give suggestions to the compilation of relevant Maritime English textbooks,and promote the development of Maritime English instruction.