A Comparative Analysis of Dream of and Dream about in Two Corpora

Namkil Kang

Far East University, South Korea

1. INTRODUCTION

As Murphy (2016, 2019) points out, dream of and dream about are synonymously used. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of dream of and dream about in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus. First, we try to detect the subtle difference between two types by examining the eight genres of the COCA and the seven genres of the BNC. Second, we attempt to detect the subtle difference between two types by measuring the distance between them. Third, we try to differentiate between two types in terms of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA. Additionally, we consider which type is the preferable one in America and the UK. Also, we observe which collocations are the preferable ones for Americans. We try to compare the collocations of dream of and those of dream about in the COCA. This is performed by the software NetMiner. The organization of this is as follows.

Corresponding Author: Namkil Kang

*Cite this Article: Namkil Kang (2021). A Comparative Analysis of Dream of and Dream about in Two Corpora. International Journal of Social Science and Education Research Studies, 1(4), 90-98

In section 2.1, we argue that in the COCA, dream of and dream about show the same pattern in three genres, whereas they do not show the same pattern in five genres. In section 2.2, we further argue that in the COCA, dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the TV/movie genre, whereas dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the spoken genre. In section 3.1, we maintain that in the BNC, dream of and dream about show the same pattern in three genres, whereas they show a different pattern in four genres. We also maintain that dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the fiction genre, whereas dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the non-academic genre. In section 4,1, we contend that dream of freedom is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream of love, dream of home, and dream of life, in descending order. We also contend that dream about competition is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream about girls, and dream about flying, in that order. Additionally, we argue that only 14.28% of the total nouns belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. In section 4.2, we further argue that dream of being and dream about being are the most preferred by Americans. Finally, we show that only 48.14% of the total gerunds belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. 

2. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DREAM OF AND DREAM ABOUT

2.1. A Genre Analysis of dream of and dream about in the COCA   

In what follows, we aim to consider the subtle difference between dream of and dream about in the eight genres of the COCA. Table 1 shows the frequency of dream of and dream about in the COCA:

Table 1. Frequency of dream of and dream about in the COCA

An important question is “Which type is preferred by Americans?” Table 1 clearly indicates that the type dream of is the preferable one for Americans. This comes from the fact that the frequency of dream of is four times higher than that of dream about. It is thus reasonable to hypothesize that Americans prefer using the type dream of to using the type dream about. 

An immediate question is “In which genre are dream of and dream about the most frequently used?” It is interesting to point out that the type dream of is the most widely used in the magazine genre, whereas the type dream about is the most commonly used in the TV/movie genre. Thus, the types dream of and dream about show a different pattern about their ranking in the magazine and TV/movie genres, thus showing no deep similarities in two genres. It should be noted that the type dream of is preferable to the type dream about in the magazine and TV/movie genres. The frequency of dream of is six times higher than that of dream about in the magazine genre. On the other hand, the frequency of the type dream of is 1,234 tokens in the TV/movie genre, whereas that of the type dream about is 764 tokens. 

It is worth pointing out that the types dream of and dream about are the second most preferred ones in the fiction genre. These two types reveal the same pattern about their ranking in the fiction genre. This in turn suggests that the types dream of and dream about show a high degree of similarity in the fiction genre. It should be noted, however, that the frequency of dream of is three times higher than that of dream about in the fiction genre. It can thus be inferred that the type dream of is favored over the type dream about in the fiction genre. 

It is interesting to note that the type dream of is the third most preferred one in the newspaper genre, whereas the type dream about is the third most preferred one in the magazine genre. More interestingly, two types dream of and dream about do not reveal the same property about their ranking in the newspaper and magazine genres, thus showing a slight difference. It should be pointed out that the frequency of dream of is six times higher than that of dream about in the newspaper genre. This in turn indicates that the type dream of is preferred over the type dream about by American journalists. 

It would be worthwhile mentioning that the type dream of is the fourth most preferred one in the web genre, whereas the type dream about is the fourth most preferred one in the spoken genre. Again, these two types do not reveal the same characteristic about their ranking in the web genre and the spoken genre, thus showing that they are low similarity synonyms. It should be pointed out that the type dream of is preferable to the type dream about in the web genre. This stems from the fact that the frequency of dream of is six times higher than that of dream about. It is interesting to note that the type dream of is favored over the type dream about in the spoken genre. The frequency of dream about is three times lower than that of dream of. This in turn implies that Americans prefer using dream of to using dream about in daily conversation. 

It is worth mentioning that the types dream of and dream about are the fifth most preferred ones in the blog genre. These two types show the same property about their ranking in the blog genre. This in turn indicates that these two types show a high degree of similarity in the blog genre. It should be noted, however, that the frequency of dream of is five times higher than that of dream about. We take this as indicating that American bloggers prefer using dream of to using dream about. 

It is noteworthy that the type dream of is the sixth most preferred one in the TV/movie genre, whereas the type dream about is the sixth most preferred one in the web genre. These two types do not show the same pattern about their ranking in the TV/movie and web genres. This in turn implies that two types do not show deep similarities in the TV/movie and web genres. Note that the type dream about is the most widely used in the TV/movie genre, whereas the type dream of is the sixth most preferred one. It must be noted, however, that dream of is preferred over dream about by American celebs in the TV/movie genre. 

It is important to note that the type dream of is the seventh most preferred one in the spoken genre, whereas the type dream about is the seventh most preferred one in the newspaper genre. Again, these two types show a different property about their ranking in the spoken genre and the newspaper genre. This in turn implies that these two types do not reveal very close similarities in two genres. It should be pointed out that in the spoken genre, the frequency of dream of is three times higher than that of dream about. This indicates that dream of is favored over dream about in daily conversation.

It is interesting to point out that dream of and dream about are the eighth most preferred ones in the academic genre. These two types show a high degree of similarity in the academic genre. It should be noted, however, that the frequency of dream of is ten times higher than that of dream about in the academic genre. To sum up, the types dream of and dream about show the same pattern in the fiction and blog genres and the academic genre, whereas they do not show the same pattern in the newspaper, magazine, web, and TV/movie genres and the spoken genre. In a word, the type dream of is 37.5% the same as the type dream about. It can thus be inferred that two types are low similarity synonyms.  

Now attention is paid to the use of dream of and dream about in the eight genres of the COCA:

Figure 1. Percentage of the use of dream of in the COCA

It is worthwhile noting that the magazine genre is the most influenced by the type dream of, followed by the fiction genre, the newspaper genre, the web genre, the blog genre, the TV/movie genre, the spoken genre, and the academic genre, in descending order.

Figure 2. Percentage of the use of dream about in the COCA

It is interesting to point out that the TV/movie genre is the most influenced by the type dream about, followed by the fiction genre, the magazine genre, the spoken genre, the blog genre, the web genre, the newspaper genre, and the academic genre, in that order.

2.2 The Euclidean distance 

  In what follows, we provide the Euclidean distance between dream of and dream about in the eight genres of the COCA. A lower figure indicates more similarity. The formula of the Euclidean distance is as follows:

(1) The Euclidean distance:

d(p,q)=i=1n(pi–qi)2

The following table shows the Euclidean distance between dream of and dream about:

Table 2. Euclidean distance between dream of and dream about

It is interesting to note that dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the TV/movie genre. On the other hand, dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the spoken genre. More specifically, the figure of the Euclidean distance in the spoken genre is 1.39, which is the lowest in the eight genres of the COCA. This in turn suggests that these two types show deep similarities. It is interesting to point out that the figure of the Euclidean distance in the blog genre is 3.31, which is the second lowest. This in turn indicates that dream of and dream about show very close similarities in the blog genre. We thus conclude that the types dream of and dream about reveal deep similarities in the spoken genre, but they do not reveal them in the TV/movie genre. 

3. A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DREAM OF AND DREAM ABOUT

3.1. A Genre Analysis of dream of and dream about in the BNC   

In this section, we provide a comparative analysis of dream of and dream about in the seven genres of the BNC. Table 3 shows the frequency of dream of and dream about in the BNC:

Table 3. Genre Frequency of dream of and dream about in the BNC

An important question is “Which type is the preferable one for the British?” Table 3 clearly indicates that the type dream of is preferred over the type dream about by the British. It is thus reasonable to assume that the British prefer using the type dream of to using the type dream about. 

It is significant to note that the types dream of and dream about are the most frequently used ones in the fiction genre. These two types show the same property about their ranking in the fiction genre, thus showing very close similarities. It should be pointed out, however, that the type dream of is preferred over the type dream about by British writers. This can be derived from the fact that the frequency of dream of is four times higher than that of dream about in the fiction genre. 

It is interesting to point out that the type dream of is the second most preferred one in the misc genre, whereas the type dream about is the second most preferred one in the spoken genre. More interestingly, these two types do not show the same characteristic about their ranking in the misc and spoken genres. It should be pointed out that the type dream of is preferable to the type dream about in the misc genre. This stems from the fact that the frequency of dream of is thirteen times higher than that of dream about. Likewise, the type dream of is favored over dream about in the spoken genre. More specifically, the frequency of dream of is 30 tokens, whereas that of dream about is 13 tokens. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the British prefer using dream of to using dream about in daily conversation. 

It is worthwhile noting that the types dream of and dream about are the third most preferred ones in the newspaper genre. Interestingly, these two types show the same property about their ranking in the newspaper genre, thus implying that two types show deep similarities in the newspaper genre. It must be noted, however, that dream of is preferred over dream about by British journalists. The frequency of dream of is eleventh times higher than that of dream about in the newspaper genre. 

It is interesting to point out that dream of is the fourth most preferred one in the magazine genre, but in the case of dream about, there is no rank-four. The types dream of and dream about reveal a different property, thus showing no deep similarities. It is noteworthy that dream of and dream about are the fifth most preferred ones in the non-academic genre. The types dream of and dream about have a commonality of their ranking in the non-academic genre, thus showing a high degree of similarity. It should be noted, however, the frequency of dream of is nine times higher than that of dream about. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that dream of is preferable to dream about in the non-academic genre. 

It is worthwhile pointing out that dream of is the sixth most preferred one in the academic genre, whereas dream about is the sixth most preferred one in the magazine genre. Interestingly, dream of and dream about show a different pattern, thus showing no deep similarities in the academic genre and the magazine genre. It must be pointed out that dream of is favored over dream about in the academic genre. This can be derived from the fact that the frequency of dream of is thirty seven times higher than that of dream about.  

It is worth mentioning that dream of is the seventh most preferred one in the spoken genre, whereas dream about is the seventh most preferred one in the academic genre. Again, dream of and dream about show a different pattern about their ranking in the spoken and academic genres, hence no deep similarities. It must be pointed out that dream of is preferred over are dream about by the British in daily conversation. To sum up, dream of and dream about show the same pattern in the fiction and newspaper genres and the non-academic genre, whereas they show a different pattern in the misc, academic, and spoken genres and the magazine genre. Simply put, the type dream of is 42.85% the same as the type dream about. One possible conclusion that can be derived from this is that dream of and dream about are slightly different from each other in their use.

Now attention is paid to the use of dream of and dream about in seven genres:

Figure 3. Percentage of the use of dream of 

It is interesting to point out that the fiction genre is the most influenced by dream of, followed by the misc genre, the newspaper genre, the magazine genre, the non-academic genre, the academic genre, and the spoken genre, in descending order.

Figure 4. Percentage of the use of dream about 

It is worth noting that the fiction genre is the most influenced by dream about, followed by the spoken genre, the misc genre (the newspaper genre), the non-academic genre, the magazine genre, and the academic genre, in that order.

3.2. The Euclidean distance 

  In what follows, we provide the similarity index about how much dream of and dream about are related to each other in seven genres:

Table 4. Euclidean distance between dream of and dream about

It is important to point out that dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the fiction genre. On the other hand, dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the non-academic genre. To be more specific, the figure of the Euclidean distance between dream of and dream about is 2.32, which is the lowest. This in turn implies that dream of and dream about show deep similarities. When it comes to the Euclidean distance in the academic genre, its figure is 4.17, which is the second lowest. This in turn suggests that dream of and dream about show very close similarities. With respect to the Euclidean distance in the spoken genre, its figure is 9.32, which is the second highest. This in turn shows that they do not show a high degree of similarity. We thus conclude that dream of and dream about are slightly different from each other in their use.   

4. A COLLOCATION ANALYSIS OF DREAM OF AND DREAM ABOUT IN THE COCA

4.1. The Frequency of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA

In this section, we consider the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA. Table 5 shows the frequency of the collocation of dream of in the top 20:

Table 5. Collocation of dream of in the COCA

An important question is “Which collocation is the most preferred by Americans?” Table 5 clearly indicates that the expression dream of freedom is the most frequently used in America. This in turn suggests that dream of freedom is the most preferable one among Americans. As alluded to in Table 5, dream of freedom is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream of love, dream of home, dream of life, dream of things, dream of success, and dream of independence, in descending order. More interestingly, the expression dream of life is the fourth most preferred one in America. It is worthwhile pointing out that the expression dream of success is the sixth most preferred one in America. The expression dream of peace ranks ninth in the COCA, which in turn implies that Americans prefer using this collocation. 

  Now attention is paid to the collocation of dream about in the top 20:

Table 6. Collocation of dream about in the COCA

An immediate question is “Which collocation is the most preferred by Americans?” Table 6 clearly shows that dream about competition is the most widely used in America. This in turn implies that dream about competition is the most preferable one for Americans. As illustrated in Table 6, dream about competition is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream about girls, dream about flying (dream about food), in that order. It is interesting to note that dream about life ranks eighth in the COCA, whereas dream of life ranks fourth. It is worth mentioning, on the other hand, that dream about peace and dream of peace rank eighth in the COCA. Additionally, it should be pointed out that dream about success ranks eighth in the COCA, whereas dream of success ranks sixth. We thus conclude that dream about competition is the most preferable one among Americans. 

Now let us turn to the visualization of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the top 20:

Figure 5. Visualization of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA   

It is important to point out that particular nouns are linked to dream of and dream about, respectively. More importantly, five of thirty five nouns are linked to both dream of and dream about. To be more specific, the nouns life, peace, home, flying, and success are the collocations of both dream of and dream about. Simply put, only 14.28% of the total nouns belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. This in turn indicates that dream of and dream about are interchangeably used, they are slightly different from each other. 

4.2. The Frequency of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA

In this section, we aim to consider the collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA. Table 7 shows the frequency of the collocations of dream of and dream about in the top 20:

Table 7. Collocations of dream of and dream about in the COCA 

An important question is “Which gerund is the most frequently used with dream of and dream about?” Table 7 clearly shows that the gerund being is the most commonly used with dream of and dream about. This in turn suggests that dream of being and dream about being are the most preferred by Americans. When it comes to the collocation of dream of, dream of being is the most preferable one among Americans, followed by dream of becoming, dream of having, dream of doing, and dream of going, in that order. In the case of the collocation of dream about, dream of being is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream about having, dream about going, dream about getting, and dream about doing, in descending order. It is important to note that dream about going is the third most preferred one in America, whereas dream of going is the fifth most preferred one. On the other hand, dream about living and dream of living rank eleventh in the COCA. Interestingly, dream about working ranks eighteenth in the COCA, whereas dream of working ranks twelfth. We thus conclude that dream of being and dream about being are the most preferable ones among Americans. 

Finally, attention is paid to the visualization of the collocations of dream of and dream about:

Figure 6. Visualization of the collocations of dream of and dream about

It is significant to note that thirteen of twenty seven gerunds are linked to both dream of and dream about. In Figure 6, thirteen gerunds are the collocations of both dream of and dream about. More specifically, the gerunds being, having, going, getting, doing, winning, taking, living, making, leaving, playing, working, and seeing are the collocations of both dream of and dream about. Simply put, only 48.14% of the total gerunds belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. One possible conclusion that can be derived from this is that dream of and dream about are interchangeably used, but they are somewhat different from each other in their use. 

5. CONCLUSION 

To sum up, we have provided a comparative analysis of dream of and dream about in the COCA and BNC. In section 2.1, we have argued that in the COCA, dream of and dream about show the same pattern in the fiction and blog genres and the academic genre, whereas they show a different pattern in the newspaper, magazine, web, and TV/movie genres and the spoken genre. In section 2.2, we have further argued that in the COCA, dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the TV/movie genre, whereas dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the spoken genre. In section 3, we have maintained that in the BNC, dream of and dream about show the same pattern in the fiction and newspaper genres and the non-academic genre, whereas they show a different pattern in the misc, academic, and spoken genres and the magazine genre. We have also maintained that dream of is the furthest type from dream about in the fiction genre, whereas dream of is the nearest type to dream about in the non-academic genre. In section 4,1, we have contended that dream of freedom is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream of love, dream of home, dream of life, and dream of things, in descending order. We have also contended that dream about competition is the most preferred by Americans, followed by dream about girls, and dream about flying, in that order. Additionally, we have argued that only 14.28% of the total nouns belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. In section 4.2, we have further argued that dream of being and dream about being are the most preferred by Americans. Finally, we have shown that only 48.14% of the total gerunds belong to the collocations of both dream of and dream about. 

REFERENCES

1. British National Corpus (BNC). 10, November 2021. Online https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc  
2. Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). 10, November 2021. Online 

https://corpus.byu.edu/coca 

3. Murphy, R. (2016). Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press.
4. Murphy, R. (2019). English Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press.