A Corpus-based Approach To The Interaction Of English Verb Patterns With It And Registers

Essentially speaking, systemic functional linguistics (SFL) belongs to the theories of linguistics, whereas corpus linguistics (CL) belongs to the practices of linguistics, so the distinction between the two approaches to language is obvious. However, in recent years, SFL has paid more and more attention to the quantitative research method in analyzing linguistic features, while CL has focused more and more on the linguistic theories hidden behind the huge number of language evidence found in corpora. Thus, the synergic relationship between SFL and CL has raised the interest of an increasing number of linguists from various research backgrounds to explore and discover.Based on the common concern of SFL and CL, which is the influence of register on probabilities, and combined with register analysis framework, this research takes English verb patterns with it, one series of patterns in pattern grammar, the typical achievement in corpus-driven studies, as the focus of exploration. By extracting the frequency of occurrence of the four main pattern groups within English verb patterns with it across the five different registers of the vast online corpus--The Corpus Of Contemporary American English (COCA), this research calculates the probabilities of the four main pattern groups in the five registers, and analyzes the interaction of lexis, patterns and registers within the COCA.The results have shown that, the influence of register on the probabilities of the four main pattern groups within English verb patterns with it is to a large extent in accordance with previous studies, and such influence should be analyzed through the relationship of the situational characteristics of registers and the linguistic features of verb patterns. Furthermore, register plays an important role in the choice of lexis, and lexico-grammatical constructions from both variationist and text-linguistic perspectives.This research has introduced register differences into pattern grammar and offered specific statistical evidence for analysis, which has provided a practical base for pattern grammar to extend and develop its application values, as well as added a further dimension to systemic inquiry of the influence of register on probabilities.