Protocol
Check a phrase in real usage
A plausible sentence is not a usage record.
When it fits
- A phrase is grammatically possible, but you doubt its naturalness.
When to avoid it
- A small or genre-biased corpus can mislead. No results do not prove an expression impossible.
Why it matters
Search a suitable corpus and inspect the expression in context. A concordance can reveal nearby words, grammar and genre. Read several independent examples; one scraped page is a weak basis for a language rule.
Steps
- Search the expression and a plausible alternative.
- Inspect surrounding sentences and the source genre.
- Write your intended message, then check that the examples support that meaning.
An example
Before writing strongly recommend against, you examine how speakers connect the expression to nouns and -ing forms.
Check your result
Can you explain why the construction fits this message, using more than a frequency total?
Keep this limit in mind
- A small or genre-biased corpus can mislead. No results do not prove an expression impossible.
Connected ideas
Useful withChange the request when the situation changes
Evidence and sources
Supports
A concordance displays occurrences of a searched expression in surrounding corpus text.
Occurrences establish examples of use, not correctness in every register.
Concordance: a tool to search a corpus · Keyword-in-context explanation.