Abstract

This paper discusses about the infinitive colligations used by Chinese ESL college students, by using the machine cut method, we can calculate the frequency of each type of the presence of the TO infinitive in different places of a sentence, and followed by the discussion of the possible causes of this kind of distributions. This paper employs the regular expressions to match the possible word tags in a tagged corpus. Then we use the software to calculate the frequency of each type of the listed infinitive colligations, and in order to compare and find their features, this paper goes on doing some statistic works. As a result, we find that there exist some differences between the English major students and the non-English ones. 

Key words: Infinitive, distribution, frequency, ESL，machine-cut，Corpus

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1-Introduction-5

2-Research principle-5

3-SWECCL 2.0 Corpus-6

4-The research design-6

The tagged words of the SWECCL-6

The regular expression-7

5-Calculating results-9

The general scopes of the two corpuses-9

The comparison of the IAS-11

The comparison of VI-12

The comparison of NI-12

The comparison of AI-13

The comparison of INGI-13

The comparison of EDI-14

The comparison of ADI-15

Total frequency comparison-15

6-Discussion-17

The effect L1 on the students’ performance of L2-17

Tests-based teaching and learning mode of ESL for Chinese students-19

The effect reference books or learning materials have on ESL learners-20

Prefabricated chunks-21

7-Teaching implication-21

Micro L2 writing strategies-21

Overcoming semantic fossilization-22

Formulaic Language-23

8-Conclusion-23

9-Limitations-24

The bare infinitives are not included-24

Systematic errors-24