Frequently Asked Questions
A keyword search simply tells you if a word is present. A concordance provides a systematic, side-by-side view of every instance, allowing you to analyze the word’s usage in a detailed way. It’s a tool for analysis, not just for finding a word.
To learn a new word, search for it in a text you are studying. This allows you to see how native speakers or authors use the word naturally in different grammatical structures and contexts.
Yes. A key feature of any concordance tool is to provide a frequency count, which tells you the total number of times your search term appears in the text.
A word cloud visually represents word frequency, with more frequent words appearing larger. A concordance provides a detailed, textual list of every occurrence, showing the full context of each one.
Some concordance tools have an option for lemmatization, which groups together different forms of a word (e.g., go, goes, went, gone) and allows you to search for all of them at once.
Yes, it’s a common use in literary analysis. By running a concordance on an author’s work, you can find their favorite words, common phrases, and patterns of sentence structure, which helps to define their unique writing style.
