Collins WordbanksOnline is an online Internet service for accessing language data based on the Collins corpora of modern, written and spoken text. Now you can tap into the unique resources of the Collins Word Web including the Bank of English® (on which the highly successful range of Collins dictionaries is based), La banque de français moderne and El Banco de Español.

With Collins WordbanksOnline you can

• access natural, authentic examples of vocabulary and grammar
• work interactively with concordances in the classroom
• quickly prepare handouts, worksheets and self-study materials based on real data
• carry out in-depth linguistic analyses for your research thesis or dissertation
• check the corpus for idioms, compounds, grammar problems, synonyms, spelling, British and American variants, and frequency statistics

What is a corpus?

A corpus is a collection of samples of language held on a computer for analysis of words, meanings, grammar and usage. Our corpora are used in the creation of all Collins dictionaries and this ensures that the language in our dictionaries is real language, as it is used and spoken every day.

What is in a corpus?

At Collins, we are constantly updating our corpora, collecting data from newspapers, magazines, websites, journals, books, TV, radio, conversations - all language styles are there.

With the help of corpora, Collins can

• check evidence for new senses of existing words and terms
• research phraseology and the way it is actually written and spoken, enabling lexicographers to select typical illustrative examples for our users
• gain an overview of the word in its linguistic environment, to ensure that definitions and translations can be tested in all contexts and no possibilities overlooked

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