1. Core Concepts Lecture 1
Lexical Frequency

2. Frequency With a partner or in a small group, discuss:
What is the most frequently used word in English?
Support your answer. Why do you think that word is the most frequent?
The

3. Frequency How frequent do you think it is?
What percentage of written texts is accounted for by ‘the’? This means, in a 100-word section, how many times would you expect to see ‘the’?
Is speaking different from writing in this respect?

4. The answer:
‘The’ accounts for at least 5% of all words used in English.
That means that out of every 20 words, you can expect to see ‘the’ at least once (or 5 times every 100 words).

5. Frequency
Now, can you guess the top 10 most frequently used words in English?
the of
and a to in is
you
that it

6. We have seen that ‘the’ accounts for at least 5% of English
What percentage do you think the top-ten words account for?

7. BoE 448,496,824 Frequency Percent 1 the 24,780,121 5.5 2 of 11,559,219
2.6 3
      and
10,608,346
2.4 4
      a
9,925,232
2.2 5
      to
11,218,716
2.5 6
      in
8,143,020
1.8 7
      is
4,206,880
0.9 8
      you
2,248,154
0.5 9
     that
4,558,144
1.0 10
  it
3,994,942
91,242,774
20.3
BoE = Bank of English (held by Collins Publishing and The University of Birmingham)

8. The first 100 make up about ________ of all written material,
“The first 25 make up about ________ of all printed material in English.
The first 100 make up about ________ of all written material,
and the first 300 make up __________ of all written material in English.
one-third
one-half
about 65%

9. Lexical Words and Function Words
Function words (often called grammatical words)
determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, prepositions
Lexical words (often called content or meaning words)
nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

10. Lexical Words and Function Words
We usually say that function words do not actually mean anything.
They have functions instead of meanings
We use them to help create meaning in a sentence

11. Function/Grammatical Words
How many function words are in this sentence?
The
cat
sat on
the
mat.

12. Lexical Words and Function Words
In that short sentence, 50% of the words are functional.
That means that 50% of the words are lexical.
The
cat
sat on
the
mat.

13. Lexical Words and Function Words
Look again at the top 10 most frequent words in English (20% or so of English). What do you notice about this list?
the of
and a to in is
you
that it
Article
Preposition
Conjunction
Preposition/infinitive particle
Copula Verb
Pronoun
Adjective/pronoun
pronoun

14. In the top ten, there are no:
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
The top ten are all function words!
Let’s look at the top 25:

15. Lexical Words vs. Function Words
the on
These are all function words, too! of
are
and as
Look at the top 100 again and try to find the first occurrence of: a
with to
his in
they
A lexical verb is I
A noun
you at
that be it
this he
have
was
from
for

16. The First Hundred
the
this
which
into
its of
have
she
time
now
and
from do
has
find a or
how
look
long to
one
their
two
down in
had if
more
day is by
will
write
did
you
word up go
get
that
but
other
see
come it
not
about
number
made he
what
out no
may
was
all
many
way
part
for
were
then
could on we
them
people
are
when
these my as
your so
than
with
can
some
first
his
said
her
water
they
there
would
been I
use
make
call at an
like
who be
each
him
oil

17. The first unambiguously lexical verb.be an
make
been of
this
each
like
call
and
have
which
him
who a
from
she
into
oil to or do
time
its in
one
how
has
now is
had
their
look
find
you by if
two
long
that
word
will
more
down it
but up
write
day he
not
other go
did
was
what
about
see
get
for
all
out
number
come on
were
many no
made
are we
then
way
may as
when
them
could
part
with
your
these
people
his
can so my
they
said
some
than I
there
her
first at
use
would
water
In addition to ‘to possess’, ‘have/had’ can also be an auxiliary verb. Which usage do you think accounts for this position in the list?
The first lexical noun
The first unambiguously lexical verb.

18. The First Verb An unambiguously lexical verb does not occur until Said
This is interesting because:
It indicates (potentially) that reported speech is somehow ‘important’ in English.
It is in the simple past tense. What does this indicate about English verb usage, in general?

19. The First Noun
In this list, the first lexical noun is word (30th). In most lists, the first noun is time (68th in this list):
Does this tell us anything about the English language or English speaking cultures?

20. So What? Why is frequency data important? What does it tell us?
How can we use frequency data as students?
How can teachers use frequency data?
How can textbook writers use frequency data?