Each word has its own grammar or syntagmatic relations. That's why we find some words are usually collocate with specific words in a sentence.
Sometimes, even dictionary can't help us to understand the syntagmatic relations between words. This can be help with the concordance programs such as:
1) BRITISH NATIONAL CORPUS http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
British National Corpus (BNC) is a collection of samples of real life language, chosen to be as varied as possible in its coverage. It includes speech as well as a wide variety of different kinds of written language.
What does a concordance do that a dictionary can't?
1) It shows authentic examples - the word usage 'as it really is'.
2) Shows common collocations/combinations
3) Can identify subtle associations and connotations
4) Can hightlight culturally-specific meanings
This tool is a good concordance analyser that will be a great help in English writing.
For second language learners, this tool can justify your choice of words and suggest improvements.
One cool thing about this tool is it knows about some common errors made by second language speakers.
If you seek for the tool that have the advantages of dictionary and thesaurus, this might be your choice! Because it combines the advantages and enhances the usefulness of both.
How this help students in learning English?
In writing:
Students can use this concordance analyser to help them in finding the right collocation.
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