Real life examples of KWIC-searches

[MortenJensen]

Hi all,
I am trying to expand my use of BW and have come to the KWIC-module. I understand that you can do lemma or word-searches and get some info on which words are generally found in the near proximity. However, I have difficulty of seeing the big point in this. I am sure, I just need to have my mind expanded. So could anyone throw some examples of how you use KWIC-searches?
Thanks,
Morten

[bkMitchell]

Hi all,
I am trying to expand my use of BW and have come to the KWIC-module. I understand that you can do lemma or word-searches and get some info on which words are generally found in the near proximity. However, I have difficulty of seeing the big point in this. I am sure, I just need to have my mind expanded. So could anyone throw some examples of how you use KWIC-searches?
Thanks,
Morten

Check this out:
http://www.bibleworks.com/classroom/3_02/index.html
and
http://www.bibleworks.com/classroom/3_01/index.html

[MortenJensen]

Thanks, that is a good tutorial.

One for the wish-list: It would be nice, if it would be possible to use predefined search limits - like NT, Paul etc.

Appreciate,

Morten

[DavidR]

Thanks for that pointer, Brian! I've never used the KWIC feature before; like Morten, I couldn't see the point. But now I'll want to keep alert for possibilities for using it effectively. For instance, using the techniques that the tutorial suggested, but searching for εἰς and setting the Left word setting to 2, I quickly found that the most common words immediately preceding εἰς in the NT (apart from pronouns, conjunctions, and definite articles) are forms of ἔρχομαι and πορεύομαι, not surprisingly, but also πιστεύω (perhaps also not surprisingly). Good stuff! This really is a tool with high potential.

Morten, regarding your wish, it's actually pretty easy to type in a search range in the KWIC tool. For instance, in the preceding example, reducing the range from Matt-Rev to Matt-John still retains a significant presence of πιστεύω, but reducing it to Matt-Luke almost completely eliminates πιστεύω (just Matt 18:6 // Mark 9:42). By contrast, specifying a range of John; 1John-3John promotes πιστεύω to the very top of the list, ahead of ἔρχομαι!

And BTW, Brian, the main BW Classroom Tips page just went into my Ermie!

[MGVH]

David, you reminded me of where I've used KWIC w/ my students... There are a number of ways of getting at the info, but the KWIC provides a quick way to see what expressions are used following πιστευω, e.g., believe εις or εν or επι or οτι or simply a dative or...
In this instance I put the words to the left to 0. I use 0 for codes, but if you want to find the datives, then use 2 for codes.

[bkMitchell]

Thank you MortenJensen and DavidR for your kind words I am glad you like the BibleWorks Class room tips, too. I wish the BibleWorks' staff would create a blog featuring tips like this more often. And, thank you MGVH for your pointers as, well.

[MortenJensen]

David, you reminded me of where I've used KWIC w/ my students... There are a number of ways of getting at the info, but the KWIC provides a quick way to see what expressions are used following πιστευω, e.g., believe εις or εν or επι or οτι or simply a dative or...
In this instance I put the words to the left to 0. I use 0 for codes, but if you want to find the datives, then use 2 for codes.

Hi Mark,
Could you educate me here: How does the Codes-button work exactly? Why does "2" reproduce datives? What reproduces accusatives etc?

The text in the Help file is Latin to me: "This spin button and text entry box are used to set the number of codes used in building the KWIC list if your base version is a morphological search. The codes will be truncated to this number of characters. This box will remember the number of words set between sessions of the KWIC module"
Morten

[MGVH]

Hi Mark,
Could you educate me here: How does the Codes-button work exactly? Why does "2" reproduce datives? What reproduces accusatives etc?

The text in the Help file is Latin to me: "This spin button and text entry box are used to set the number of codes used in building the KWIC list if your base version is a morphological search. The codes will be truncated to this number of characters. This box will remember the number of words set between sessions of the KWIC module"
Morten

The Codes button is reflecting the morphological tagging. Usually you will want to have the Codes set to 0, because it fragments the results by sorting everything, not just on their lemma, but also on their morphological coding.
Basically, I'm trying to limit the number of codes so it keeps things clean, but if I'm looking for something like instances of the dative case, I will need to specify some codes.

The coding is the same system as you see when you do a morphological search. (All the stuff following the @ after you've entered the lemma.)

The first code indicates whether the word is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. If you are working with nouns, the second code is used to indicate case. >> Hence, in my example, to sort out nouns in the dative used in the context, you would need at least 2 codes.
I suppose it would actually be better to use 3 codes, because then you could also sort out the dative pronouns. For pronouns, the first code is for pronoun, the second for type of pronoun, and the third for case.

[MortenJensen]

Thanks, makes sense.
Now, I have been looking for an overview over:
- code abbreviations (c n a d and so on)
- which codes goes in which position

I often have to call up the Command Line Morph. Help to refresh my memory.
Does such an overview exist?

Morten

[MGVH]

I often have to call up the Command Line Morph. Help to refresh my memory.
Does such an overview exist?

Morten

In BW9, it's section 66 in the Help file.