Language Patterns

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Pattern

Type a 'W' in the Language Pattern box to represent a specific word. Type a 'x' in the Language Patttern box to represent any word. For example: Given the phrases 'I went to the store', and 'I walked to the store' the pattern 'WxWWW would display: 'I <blank> to the store'

Meaning is not a result of randomly placed words. Some words are not commonly placed near each other. How many times have you heard the phrase: 'I flushed the sink'? Locations of words relative to each other form patterns that help convey thoughts. Language patterns is a word tool that helps uncover common word relationships that convey meaning.

Out of all possible combinations of word orders in meaningful ideas, relatively few are used. Even more interesting, some are used many times more often then others.

Surprisingly, the most common language patterns are similar even among different authors with very different writing patterns.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain

Rank	Pattern
1	the <blank> of
2	the <blank> and

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Rank	Pattern
1	the <blank> of
2	the <blank> and

1830 Edition of the Book of Mormon

Rank	Pattern
1	the <blank> of
2	the <blank> and

The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics by Laozi (Translation into the English Language)

Rank	Pattern
1	the <blank> of
2	the <blank> and

Any word can be substituted for '<blank>'.

Here are some examples:

the <face> of <the earth>
the <heat> of <the day>
the <city> of <New York>

the <sun> and <the moon>
the <prince> and <the pauper>
the <meaning> and <purpose>

Looking at bigrams is also revealing. Here are the top two word combinations of the same set of books:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain

Rank	Pattern
1	of the
2	in the

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Rank	Pattern
1	lady macbeth
2	in the

1830 Edition of the Book of Mormon

Rank	Pattern
1	of the
2	to pass

The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics by Laozi (Translation into the English Language)

Rank	Pattern
1	of the
2	the tao

We can see that 'of the' and 'in the' are both very common bigrams used in English. Although two consecutive words might not carry much meaning by themselves, looking at their frequency can give us a quick understanding of what a text is about.

The following is a summary of each book given by a high frequency bigram:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain
the boys

Macbeth by William Shakespeare
lady macbeth

1830 Edition of the Book of Mormon
the lord

The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics by Laozi (Translation into the English Language)
the tao

This is just the tip of the iceberg!