“ This was the most flattering setup that we had, so therefore it was banned. “ Synonymy of result adverbialsso therefore Marta Andersson, English Language Department Stockholm University

What motivates the use of seemingly synonymous forms?

Corpus-driven* study of lexical and functional synonymy of five function words synonymous at a broader level and exhibiting both meaning and function differences at the narrower level: so, thus, therefore, hence, then * written section of the BNC

Syntactic/distributional constraints ’So’ – it can occur only S2-initial: In June 1946, however, a referendum indicated that more than half of the Italian people wanted a republic, so Umberto left Italy.so He was able to expand his studies in the way that was ultimately to produce Capital, his main theoretical work. The Commons, by its elected status, associates the people with the government, and makes a major contribution to legitimacy, a concept essential for government by consent. therefore *soso thus?soso

Meaning differences He thereupon immediately wrote to Kingsway Motors informing them of the situation and claiming the return of his purchase price. A week later Miss A completed her payments under her hire-purchase agreement and in doing so fed title down the line of purchasers. The process of feeding stopped at Kingsway Motors who thus became owners of the car.

21411 hits 1 [THEREFORE] [BE] [THEREFORE] [HAVE] [THEREFORE] [DO] [THEREFORE] [NEED] [THEREFORE] [CAN] 92-41could 6[THEREFORE] [SEEM] 85 7 [THEREFORE] [REQUIRE] 62 8 [THEREFORE] [MAKE] 61 9 [THEREFORE] [DECIDE] [THEREFORE] [SHOULD] hits [THUS] [BE] [THUS] [HAVE] [THUS] [BECOME] [THUS] [MAKE] [THUS] [PROVIDE] [THUS] [GIVE] [THUS] [REDUCE] 97 8 [THUS] [CREATE] 87 9 [THUS] [ALLOW] [THUS] [AVOID] 56

Therefore – for this reason/because of that Elena would regard anything called the Central London Polytechnic as an institution of the same rank, and therefore/?as a result worthy of her. Therefore/*as a result try to arrive at the venue a day early.

Hence By nightfall I have discovered that, before they thought of using money, the Finns used to use squirrels as currency, hence the splendid Finnish joke about trying to put a squirrel in a slot machine.hence

Away) from here, from this place; to a distance, ca Hence might they see the full array of either host. From this, as a source or origin, ca As an inference from this fact or circumstance; from these premises or data; for this reason; therefore. ca From hence, therefore, we may conclude, that the size in these animals is not sufficient to make a distinction among them. (OED) English: hence, Polish: stąd

Distribution Sentence initial: Hence 189 Thus 212 Therefore 45 Sentence-medial - linking to the preceding sentence(s)/clause Hence 14 (236) Thus 140 (114) Therefore 240 (215)

The case of ”if…then” If you cannot find someone to conduct a mock interview then leave a tape-recorder on while you practice some of your more important answers.then No cases of ”if…therefore/hence/thus”, scarce examples of ”if…so”.

Vaguness of ”then”… Bridget made a sympathetic comment and then went off to busy herself with another chore.and then I only had twenty four hours' notice and then I sat up all night learning a speechand then

Domain, speaker involvement and… He passed the exam, so he worked hard. He passed the exam, *therefore/*hence/*thus he worked hard. He passed the exam, ?then/so then/therefore he must have worked hard! Internal causation speaker involvem ent

After all, the newspapers are brimming with reports of horrendous attacks on women, so the risk must be considerableso Yet we felt we should give this fellow a chance, so/therefore/?hence/*thus my wife put it in a box and set it on top of the Aga. so He is a big man with two Rottweiler dogs, so/?then you don't argue! so Volition *as a result Speech- act Speaker’s conclusion

Academic prose General fiction [then] Prepared speeches Face-to-face conversation Dimension 1- involved vs. informative Biber, Conrad, Reppen, 1998 [hence, therefore, thus] [so]

Is the synonymy of semantically ”thin” function words rampant or does it contribute to nuanced and stylistically advanced communication? Existing or anticipated high interest rates may in fact depress share prices and hence call prices thus permitting the investor to buy the option contracts at very favourable prices. They called the bank and the real estate agent, thus decreasing the risk that somebody else will buy the house.