Assignment 4: Use the concordance tools to answer the following question.

Question: Is there any rule governing the use of "big" and "large"? If yes, what is it? Use evidences to explain the major difference between the two words.

Here are some example sentences which can help us know the difference between "Big"and "Large."

(Big)

But remember also that today's his tory was once big news.
And who will be the big winners in the Chinese search engine market?
Hollywood movies typically end with a big embrace between the man and woman.
The Chinese have a big problem in that their idea of human rights is still very weak.
I have a big inferiority complex.
Taking a little iron and selling it to the indigenous people was a way to make a big profit.

(Large)
The exhibitions attracted large crowds, which reacted with great enthusiasm.
Chang Chin-wen says that a surgeon can only "live parasitically" through a large hospital.
How do you keep the large amount of material you have collected in order?
Compared to these sites, Chengziya is much larger, and many more large artifacts have been discovered.
Who was Chen Lai-chang, and how was he able to obtain exclusive rights to cultivate such a large area?



I use OXFORD Dictionary to find the difference meanings between them.

(Big)
1.large in size, degree, amount, etc.
2.(informal) older.
3.[only before noun] important.
4.(informal) (of a plan) needing a lot of effort, money or time to succeed.
5.(informal) popular with the public; successful.
6.(informal) enthusiastic about sb/sth.
7.doing sth often or to a large degree.
8.of sb (usually ironic) kind or generous.

(Large)
1.big in size or quantity.
2.used to describe one size in a range of sizes of clothes, food, products used in the house, etc.
3.wide in range and involving many things.



I use WebCOLL- Wikipedia Edition to find the collocations about the two words.

(Big)




















(Large)





















After using so many tools to find the differences between the two words, I still have no exactly idea about the answer.In my opinion, I think they are smilier except some aspects.For example,in the collocation"big brother" , you can't use "large" to substitute "big". Generally,they are the same in describing size,amount,quantity and so on. I think in most situations they are equal!