Exploring Valency Patterns Of English Verb Synonyms:a Corpus-driven Approach

The present study applies a corpus-driven descriptive system of valency patterns of verb to the analysis of synonyms.It aims to explore the feasibility of studying synonyms in terms of valency pattern.The study randomly selects the concordance lines of the two pairs of chosen synonyms in BNC,analyzes the valency patterns,classifies and calculates frequency.The same research approach is repeated in CLEC.The result shows that the synonyms share most of the valency patterns,and the same valency pattern tends to express same meaning of two words.The difference lies in that the two have different frequency distribution of valency patterns,and that different valency patterns tend to express different meanings.The research also find that English native speakers and Chinese English as second language learners have difference in using valency patterns.The most distinctive difference is shown on the frequency distributions.The main reason is the different semantic preference of each word.The results of this research can be directly applied to foreign language teaching.