Text corpora such as the American National Corpus are enormous collections of electronically stored texts that can be used for empirical testing of hypotheses regarding the frequency of typical word usage. If one has a ____ that the word “get” has a high incidence in English, for example, an analysis of a corpus can support that hypothesis by showing that “get” is the fifth most commonly used verb.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Context: Text corpora can test "hypotheses regarding the frequency of typical word usage." If one has a [blank] "that the word 'get' has high incidence," corpus analysis can support that—initial guess.
Answer: D) supposition
Why? Initial guess = assumption. Supposition = assumption, hypothesis.
Traps:
- A) recognition → means acknowledgment, different
- B) scheme → means plan, different
- C) synopsis → means summary, different