A fact and four types: a corpora-based analysis

The ultimate goal of this paper is to provide a detailed frequency analysis of it is said that, it is believed that, it is alleged that, and it is expected that within the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the British National Corpus (BNC), the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), and the Time Magazine Corpus (TMC). The COCA and COHA clearly indicate that the type it is said that is the most preferred by American people, followed by it is believed that, it is expected that, and it is alleged that. This paper argues that the reason why it is said that has the highest frequency may be due to the fact that it carries the highest possibility of a fact and that it is the most suitable for conveying facts and factual information. The BNC clearly shows that it is said that is the most preferred by British people, followed by it is believed that, it is expected that, and it is alleged that. This implies that the results from the COCA, BNC, and COHA show exactly the same pattern. A major point of the frequency of the four types in the TMC is that it is said that was the most frequently used type by educated American people, followed by it is expected that, it is believed that, and it is alleged that, which in turn suggests that it is said that was the most preferred by educated American people. When it comes to the frequency of the academic genre, it is expected that is the most preferred by Americans, followed by it is believed that, it is said that, and it is alleged that, whereas it is said that is the most preferred by British people, followed by it is believed that, it is alleged that, and it is expected that. As for the newspaper genre, it is said that is the most frequently used type by American people, followed by it is expected that, it is believed that, and it is alleged that, whereas it is expected that is the most commonly used type by British people, followed by it is believed that, it is said that, and it is alleged that.