MORPHOLOGY: CORPORA

[ Using the BYU Corpus of American English ]

1. Which of the following three prefixes for nouns has the highest frequency in ACADEMIC, as opposed to SPOKEN: mega, mono, or poly (use mega*.[j*] , etc).  Which one has ACADEMIC most like SPOKEN? Any guesses why?
2. What is the frequency in the BYU American Corpus and on the Web (Google) for had shone/shined? Any difference between the context in which the two appear?
3. How common are fishes/deers/oxes in Google, as opposed to fish/deer/oxen (for the plural) (e.g. some deer)?  How about the American Corpus?
4. Think of two comparative adjectives that end in -er (e.g. sweeter) and two that can occur with more (e.g. more realistic). Find the frequency for these words or phrases in the BYU American Corpus, as well as their opposite, if it exists (e.g. more sweet, realisticer (??)). Then search for these on the Web. For the adjectives that only have one of the two forms (e.g. realistic, but not realisticer), can you find the "non-existent" form on the Web?
5. Find one adjective that only ends in -ic in the BYU American Corpus, one that only ends in -ical, and one that ends in both (e.g. economic/economical). For that two words that only have one ending in the BYU American Corpus, can you find any examples with the other ending on the Web?