Abstract

This corpus-based study investigated the similarities and differences between three synonymous verbs, “expand,” “widen,” and “broaden,” following the criteria of distribution across genres and collocations. The data were drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The study showed that “expand,” “widen,” and “broaden” cannot be used interchangeably in all contexts due to their different degree of formality and different collocation patterns. “Expand” and “broaden” most frequently occurred in formal contexts as they had the highest tendency to appear in academic contexts, whereas “widen” most frequently occurred in fictional texts, reflecting its usage in an informal context. Moreover, it was found that these three synonyms share the same semantic preferences, namely “areas,” “experiences/knowledge”, and “business-oriented” matters. However, they were still found to be different in noun collocates, signaling different lexical patterns and usages in naturally occurring contexts, as there were only two noun collocates shared by the three synonymous verbs, namely “scope” and “horizons.” More importantly, the results of the current study suggest that the corpus-based analysis of synonyms can yield more unexpected and insightful information than consulting dictionaries or solely relying on native speaker intuition. Therefore, the implications of this study can be applied in English language teaching to assist students who encounter difficulties in using synonyms, and consequently reduce any misunderstandings that can lead to communication breakdown and loss in translation.