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【Abstract】Synonym has always been a for English learners. How to grasp the correct meaning and usage of synonym is a continuous concern of English learning. A corpus-based study is conducted on the comparative usages of Synonym START/BEGIN， aiming to offer a new way to study synonyms.
【Key words】Corpus-based； Synonym
1. Introduction
The abundant synonyms in English help English speakers express thoughts and feelings accurately， however， synonym has been considered as a tough issue in learning English， especially for L2 learners. Traditionally， second language learners discriminate synonym by the definitions in dictionaries which merely offer entries and examples， and teachers’ explanations which are mainly based on experiences. The appearance of corpus linguistics provides a new perspective to study synonym. Through a number of statistical data analysis， L2 learners can realizes the specific differences of synonyms in concrete contexts.
Based on corpus linguistics， the paper plans to analyze a pair of synonym START＼BEGIN through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Through statistical retrieval of FLOB， the author aims to reveal the discriminations of START＼BEGIN in order to help L2 learners understand the different uses of START＼BEGIN and also offer a new perspective to study synonyms.
2. Literature review
In the eyes of ordinary people， it has often been taken for granted that START＼BEGIN can be used interchangeably. However， linguists at home and abroad had made plenty of researches based on corpora and the results showed that the usages of START＼BEGIN still had differences in some aspects. The representative researches had done by Douglas Biber and Christian Mair.
In Corpus Linguistics， Douglas Biber （2000） had compared the usages of START＼BEGIN and found that BEGIN was more inclined to exist with to do while START was more often used with the other three structures. In addition， Christian Mair （2003） had made a comparison of START＼BEGIN in his paper from the perspective of grammar and social linguistics. Domestic linguists also had done amount of researches about START＼BEGIN， such as Lu （2007） etc.
The previous linguists most compare START＼BEGIN in two domains， and the internal differences among the usages of STRAT and BEGIN is rarely mentioned. Thus this paper aims to reveal the differences of START＼BEGIN and the internal differences among the usages of START and BEGIN.
3. Data and Methodology When START is used as Vi， it often describes the initiation of action while BEGIN as Vi always describes the initiation of a process.
E.g. Work on the complex， which will include...， will start in September...
And now for the performance to begin.
In addition， BEGIN is rarely used in BEGIN noun structure， while START sometimes combines with noun.
E.g They were the first company to start production in North America...
The arena had started life as a vast tubing warehouse...
5. Conclusion
Through statistical analysis， significant difference is found between the usages of START＼BEGIN. The results indicate that BEGIN is more often used in BEGIN to do structure and used as Vi， while START is more inclined to be used as Vi and used in START doing structure.
The lexical study and vocabulary teaching based on corpus has great advantages in that corpus linguistic research base on quantitative analysis of large amount of real language data. Instead of depending on experience and intuition， study based on corpus can reveal the differences of synonyms intuitively， accurately and comprehensively.
References：
[1]Biber.D.Corpus linguistics[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2000.
[2]Christain，M.Gerundial complements after begin and start： grammatical and sociolinguistics factors，and how they work against each other[M].New York：Walt de Gruyter Mouton，2003.
[3]盧晓娟，高盈盈.基于语料库的begin和start用法对比研究[J].华中师范大学学报（人文社会科学版），2011，3，110-113.
作者简介：刘伟（1989-）， 女， 山东潍坊人， 青岛科技大学外语系助教， 硕士， 主要从事为话语分析、英语教学方向的研究。
【Key words】Corpus-based； Synonym
1. Introduction
The abundant synonyms in English help English speakers express thoughts and feelings accurately， however， synonym has been considered as a tough issue in learning English， especially for L2 learners. Traditionally， second language learners discriminate synonym by the definitions in dictionaries which merely offer entries and examples， and teachers’ explanations which are mainly based on experiences. The appearance of corpus linguistics provides a new perspective to study synonym. Through a number of statistical data analysis， L2 learners can realizes the specific differences of synonyms in concrete contexts.
Based on corpus linguistics， the paper plans to analyze a pair of synonym START＼BEGIN through quantitative and qualitative analysis. Through statistical retrieval of FLOB， the author aims to reveal the discriminations of START＼BEGIN in order to help L2 learners understand the different uses of START＼BEGIN and also offer a new perspective to study synonyms.
2. Literature review
In the eyes of ordinary people， it has often been taken for granted that START＼BEGIN can be used interchangeably. However， linguists at home and abroad had made plenty of researches based on corpora and the results showed that the usages of START＼BEGIN still had differences in some aspects. The representative researches had done by Douglas Biber and Christian Mair.
In Corpus Linguistics， Douglas Biber （2000） had compared the usages of START＼BEGIN and found that BEGIN was more inclined to exist with to do while START was more often used with the other three structures. In addition， Christian Mair （2003） had made a comparison of START＼BEGIN in his paper from the perspective of grammar and social linguistics. Domestic linguists also had done amount of researches about START＼BEGIN， such as Lu （2007） etc.
The previous linguists most compare START＼BEGIN in two domains， and the internal differences among the usages of STRAT and BEGIN is rarely mentioned. Thus this paper aims to reveal the differences of START＼BEGIN and the internal differences among the usages of START and BEGIN.
3. Data and Methodology When START is used as Vi， it often describes the initiation of action while BEGIN as Vi always describes the initiation of a process.
E.g. Work on the complex， which will include...， will start in September...
And now for the performance to begin.
In addition， BEGIN is rarely used in BEGIN noun structure， while START sometimes combines with noun.
E.g They were the first company to start production in North America...
The arena had started life as a vast tubing warehouse...
5. Conclusion
Through statistical analysis， significant difference is found between the usages of START＼BEGIN. The results indicate that BEGIN is more often used in BEGIN to do structure and used as Vi， while START is more inclined to be used as Vi and used in START doing structure.
The lexical study and vocabulary teaching based on corpus has great advantages in that corpus linguistic research base on quantitative analysis of large amount of real language data. Instead of depending on experience and intuition， study based on corpus can reveal the differences of synonyms intuitively， accurately and comprehensively.
References：
[1]Biber.D.Corpus linguistics[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2000.
[2]Christain，M.Gerundial complements after begin and start： grammatical and sociolinguistics factors，and how they work against each other[M].New York：Walt de Gruyter Mouton，2003.
[3]盧晓娟，高盈盈.基于语料库的begin和start用法对比研究[J].华中师范大学学报（人文社会科学版），2011，3，110-113.
作者简介：刘伟（1989-）， 女， 山东潍坊人， 青岛科技大学外语系助教， 硕士， 主要从事为话语分析、英语教学方向的研究。