Monday, May 27, 2002, 22:48 GMT
I've completed a survey of 67 works of English literature to see the frequency a word will be present in a given work (again, not how many times the word occurs ...)
353 Words in 100% of the novels
a, about, above, after, again, against, air, all, almost, alone, along, already, also, always, among, an, and, another, answer, answered, any, are, arms, as, ask, at, away, back, bad, be, bed, been, before, behind, being, best, better, between, body, both, broke, broken, brought, but, by, call, called, came, can, care, carried, carry, case, caught, certainly, chance, changed, close, cold, come, common, could, country, course, cut, dark, day, days, dead, deep, did, distance, do, doing, done, door, down, each, either, end, enough, even, evening, ever, every, except, eye, eyes, face, fair, fall, far, fear, feel, feet, fell, felt, few, find, fine, fire, first, foot, for, found, four, friends, from, full, gave, get, give, given, giving, going, gone, good, great, ground, had, half, hand, hands, hard, has, have, having, he, head, hear, heard, heart, heavy, held, help, her, here, high, him, himself, his, hold, home, hot, how, hundred, i, if, in, indeed, instead, into, is, it, its, itself, just, keep, kept, kind, knew, know, known, laid, large, last, late, lay, least, leaving, led, left, let, life, like, little, live, long, longer, look, looked, looking, lost, low, made, make, making, man, many, matter, may, me, means, met, middle, might, mind, moment, more, morning, most, much, must, my, name, near, never, new, next, night, no, none, not, nothing, now, of, off, old, on, once, one, only, open, or, other, others, our, out, over, own, part, pass, passed, past, people, place, play, poor, put, quiet, quite, ran, rather, read, reason, red, remember, rest, right, room, rose, run, running, said, same, saw, say, see, seen, sent, set, several, she, shook, short, should, side, sight, silent, small, so, some, something, sometimes, soon, sound, stand, still, stood, struck, such, sure, take, taken, taking, talk, tell, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, there, these, they, things, think, this, those, thought, three, through, time, times, to, together, told, too, took, true, turn, turned, two, under, up, upon, use, very, voice, walk, was, water, way, we, well, went, were, what, when, where, whether, which, while, white, who, whole, whose, why, will, wind, wish, with, without, word, world, would, years, yet, you, young, your
644 Additional words in 90% or more of the novels
able, according, account, across, act, action, added, advantage, afraid, afternoon, age, ago, agreed, alive, allowed, altogether, am, angry, anxious, anything, appear, appearance, appeared, arm, around, arrived, aside, asked, asleep, attention, bank, bear, beat, beautiful, became, because, become, began, begin, beginning, begun, believe, believed, below, bent, besides, beyond, bird, bit, black, blood, blow, blue, bones, book, books, bore, bottom, bound, boy, break, breakfast, breaking, breath, bright, bring, broad, burning, burst, business, busy, calling, cannot, carefully, carrying, cast, catch, cause, certain, chair, change, charge, chief, child, children, choose, chosen, clear, clearly, closed, clothes, cloud, comes, coming, companion, company, consider, considered, continued, conversation, corner, courage, covered, creature, cried, cross, cry, danger, dare, deal, dear, death, delight, die, died, different, difficult, difficulty, dinner, direction, discovered, does, dog, don't, doors, doubt, draw, drawing, drawn, dream, dressed, drew, drink, drive, driven, drop, dropped, drove, dry, dull, during, duty, ear, early, ears, earth, ease, easily, east, easy, edge, effect, eight, else, empty, enemy, enter, entered, entirely, escape, especially, everything, exactly, excellent, excuse, expect, expected, explain, faces, fact, faint, fairly, fallen, falling, family, fancy, fashion, fast, fate, father, feared, feeling, fellow, field, fifty, fight, figure, filled, finding, finger, finished, fit, five, fixed, flat, flew, floor, fly, flying, follow, followed, following, foolish, force, forget, forgotten, form, forth, forward, free, fresh, friend, frightened, front, further, future, game, garden, gathered, general, gently, getting, glad, glass, go, goes, gold, got, grass, grave, greatest, green, grew, growing, guess, hair, hanging, happen, happened, happy, hardly, harm, heads, helped, herself, higher, holding, hope, hoped, horror, hour, hours, house, however, human, hung, hurried, hurry, i'll, idea, immediately, impossible, inside, interest, iron, join, joined, journey, joy, judge, justice, keeping, kill, killed, knees, knocked, knowing, knowledge, knows, land, later, laugh, laughed, laughing, law, lead, learn, learned, leave, leaves, legs, length, less, lie, lies, lifted, light, likely, line, lips, listen, listened, lived, lives, living, looks, loose, lose, lot, loud, love, lower, lying, makes, man's, managed, manner, mark, marked, master, matters, mean, meant, meet, memory, men, mere, miles, mine, minute, minutes, missed, mistake, money, months, mother, mouth, move, moved, moving, myself, names, narrow, natural, naturally, nature, nearer, nearly, neck, need, neither, news, nights, noise, nor, nose, notice, number, o'clock, offered, often, oh, ones, opened, opening, opposite, order, orders, otherwise, ought, outside, paid, pair, pale, paper, particular, particularly, parts, passage, passing, path, patience, pay, peace, perfect, perfectly, perhaps, person, piece, pieces, placed, places, plain, played, playing, pleasant, please, pleased, pleasure, pocket, point, pointed, pointing, points, possible, power, prepared, presence, present, pretty, pride, private, promise, promised, proud, proved, pulled, purpose, putting, quarter, question, questions, quick, quickly, quietly, raised, reach, reached, reading, ready, real, really, relief, remain, remained, remembered, repeated, respect, return, returned, rich, rise, rising, road, roof, rough, round, sad, safe, sake, sat, save, saved, saying, says, scene, sea, search, seat, second, secret, seeing, seem, seemed, seems, seized, send, sense, service, setting, settled, seven, shake, shall, shape, share, sharp, shoulder, shoulders, show, showed, shut, sides, sign, silence, silver, simple, since, single, sir, sit, sitting, situation, six, sky, sleep, slept, slowly, smile, soft, somewhere, son, sooner, sorry, sort, soul, sounds, space, speak, speaking, speech, speed, spent, spirit, spite, spoke, spoken, spot, spread, spring, standing, start, started, state, stay, step, steps, stone, stop, stopped, story, straight, strange, stranger, strength, stretched, strike, strong, sudden, suddenly, sun, suppose, surely, surprise, surprised, sweet, swept, table, talking, tall, teeth, telling, ten, terrible, terror, thank, that's, therefore, thick, thin, thing, thinking, third, though, thoughts, thousand, threw, throw, thus, till, tongue, top, touch, touched, town, trees, trembling, tried, trouble, trust, truth, try, turning, twenty, twice, understand, understood, unknown, unless, until, us, used, usual, vain, view, visit, voices, wait, waited, waiting, walked, walking, wall, walls, want, wanted, warm, watch, watched, watching, ways, weak, week, weight, welcome, wet, whatever, whispered, whom, wide, wife, wild, window, wished, within, woman, women, wonder, wonderful, wood, words, wore, work, working, worse, worst, worth, writing, written, wrong, year, yes, yours, yourself
353 Words in 100% of the novels
a, about, above, after, again, against, air, all, almost, alone, along, already, also, always, among, an, and, another, answer, answered, any, are, arms, as, ask, at, away, back, bad, be, bed, been, before, behind, being, best, better, between, body, both, broke, broken, brought, but, by, call, called, came, can, care, carried, carry, case, caught, certainly, chance, changed, close, cold, come, common, could, country, course, cut, dark, day, days, dead, deep, did, distance, do, doing, done, door, down, each, either, end, enough, even, evening, ever, every, except, eye, eyes, face, fair, fall, far, fear, feel, feet, fell, felt, few, find, fine, fire, first, foot, for, found, four, friends, from, full, gave, get, give, given, giving, going, gone, good, great, ground, had, half, hand, hands, hard, has, have, having, he, head, hear, heard, heart, heavy, held, help, her, here, high, him, himself, his, hold, home, hot, how, hundred, i, if, in, indeed, instead, into, is, it, its, itself, just, keep, kept, kind, knew, know, known, laid, large, last, late, lay, least, leaving, led, left, let, life, like, little, live, long, longer, look, looked, looking, lost, low, made, make, making, man, many, matter, may, me, means, met, middle, might, mind, moment, more, morning, most, much, must, my, name, near, never, new, next, night, no, none, not, nothing, now, of, off, old, on, once, one, only, open, or, other, others, our, out, over, own, part, pass, passed, past, people, place, play, poor, put, quiet, quite, ran, rather, read, reason, red, remember, rest, right, room, rose, run, running, said, same, saw, say, see, seen, sent, set, several, she, shook, short, should, side, sight, silent, small, so, some, something, sometimes, soon, sound, stand, still, stood, struck, such, sure, take, taken, taking, talk, tell, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, there, these, they, things, think, this, those, thought, three, through, time, times, to, together, told, too, took, true, turn, turned, two, under, up, upon, use, very, voice, walk, was, water, way, we, well, went, were, what, when, where, whether, which, while, white, who, whole, whose, why, will, wind, wish, with, without, word, world, would, years, yet, you, young, your
644 Additional words in 90% or more of the novels
able, according, account, across, act, action, added, advantage, afraid, afternoon, age, ago, agreed, alive, allowed, altogether, am, angry, anxious, anything, appear, appearance, appeared, arm, around, arrived, aside, asked, asleep, attention, bank, bear, beat, beautiful, became, because, become, began, begin, beginning, begun, believe, believed, below, bent, besides, beyond, bird, bit, black, blood, blow, blue, bones, book, books, bore, bottom, bound, boy, break, breakfast, breaking, breath, bright, bring, broad, burning, burst, business, busy, calling, cannot, carefully, carrying, cast, catch, cause, certain, chair, change, charge, chief, child, children, choose, chosen, clear, clearly, closed, clothes, cloud, comes, coming, companion, company, consider, considered, continued, conversation, corner, courage, covered, creature, cried, cross, cry, danger, dare, deal, dear, death, delight, die, died, different, difficult, difficulty, dinner, direction, discovered, does, dog, don't, doors, doubt, draw, drawing, drawn, dream, dressed, drew, drink, drive, driven, drop, dropped, drove, dry, dull, during, duty, ear, early, ears, earth, ease, easily, east, easy, edge, effect, eight, else, empty, enemy, enter, entered, entirely, escape, especially, everything, exactly, excellent, excuse, expect, expected, explain, faces, fact, faint, fairly, fallen, falling, family, fancy, fashion, fast, fate, father, feared, feeling, fellow, field, fifty, fight, figure, filled, finding, finger, finished, fit, five, fixed, flat, flew, floor, fly, flying, follow, followed, following, foolish, force, forget, forgotten, form, forth, forward, free, fresh, friend, frightened, front, further, future, game, garden, gathered, general, gently, getting, glad, glass, go, goes, gold, got, grass, grave, greatest, green, grew, growing, guess, hair, hanging, happen, happened, happy, hardly, harm, heads, helped, herself, higher, holding, hope, hoped, horror, hour, hours, house, however, human, hung, hurried, hurry, i'll, idea, immediately, impossible, inside, interest, iron, join, joined, journey, joy, judge, justice, keeping, kill, killed, knees, knocked, knowing, knowledge, knows, land, later, laugh, laughed, laughing, law, lead, learn, learned, leave, leaves, legs, length, less, lie, lies, lifted, light, likely, line, lips, listen, listened, lived, lives, living, looks, loose, lose, lot, loud, love, lower, lying, makes, man's, managed, manner, mark, marked, master, matters, mean, meant, meet, memory, men, mere, miles, mine, minute, minutes, missed, mistake, money, months, mother, mouth, move, moved, moving, myself, names, narrow, natural, naturally, nature, nearer, nearly, neck, need, neither, news, nights, noise, nor, nose, notice, number, o'clock, offered, often, oh, ones, opened, opening, opposite, order, orders, otherwise, ought, outside, paid, pair, pale, paper, particular, particularly, parts, passage, passing, path, patience, pay, peace, perfect, perfectly, perhaps, person, piece, pieces, placed, places, plain, played, playing, pleasant, please, pleased, pleasure, pocket, point, pointed, pointing, points, possible, power, prepared, presence, present, pretty, pride, private, promise, promised, proud, proved, pulled, purpose, putting, quarter, question, questions, quick, quickly, quietly, raised, reach, reached, reading, ready, real, really, relief, remain, remained, remembered, repeated, respect, return, returned, rich, rise, rising, road, roof, rough, round, sad, safe, sake, sat, save, saved, saying, says, scene, sea, search, seat, second, secret, seeing, seem, seemed, seems, seized, send, sense, service, setting, settled, seven, shake, shall, shape, share, sharp, shoulder, shoulders, show, showed, shut, sides, sign, silence, silver, simple, since, single, sir, sit, sitting, situation, six, sky, sleep, slept, slowly, smile, soft, somewhere, son, sooner, sorry, sort, soul, sounds, space, speak, speaking, speech, speed, spent, spirit, spite, spoke, spoken, spot, spread, spring, standing, start, started, state, stay, step, steps, stone, stop, stopped, story, straight, strange, stranger, strength, stretched, strike, strong, sudden, suddenly, sun, suppose, surely, surprise, surprised, sweet, swept, table, talking, tall, teeth, telling, ten, terrible, terror, thank, that's, therefore, thick, thin, thing, thinking, third, though, thoughts, thousand, threw, throw, thus, till, tongue, top, touch, touched, town, trees, trembling, tried, trouble, trust, truth, try, turning, twenty, twice, understand, understood, unknown, unless, until, us, used, usual, vain, view, visit, voices, wait, waited, waiting, walked, walking, wall, walls, want, wanted, warm, watch, watched, watching, ways, weak, week, weight, welcome, wet, whatever, whispered, whom, wide, wife, wild, window, wished, within, woman, women, wonder, wonderful, wood, words, wore, work, working, worse, worst, worth, writing, written, wrong, year, yes, yours, yourself