Find single words like misterioso, all forms of a word like BRINCAR, words matching patterns like *torn*, phrases like mais * que or NOUN AZUL. You can also search by synonyms (e.g. bonito), and customized wordlists like colors. In each case, you see each individual matching string.

More information: basic syntax, part of speech, lemmas (forms of words), synonyms, customized word lists, and combining words.

Type	Examples
Single word	misterioso, contavan
Phrase	contavan con, maneira simples
Any word	menos * que, * azul
Wildcard	*idade, *torn*,
Lemma (forms)	CURVA SALTAR_v,
Part of speech	NOUN duro, VERB dinheiro
Alternants	longe|curto, longe|curto prazo
NOT	bastante -NOUN (compare bastante NOUN)

You can use parts of speech as part of your query. For example, olhos ADJ would find a two word string, composed of the word olhos followed by an adjective. Some other examples are NOUN DURO, NAME Ferreira, VERB * dinheiro, FALAR ADV, NUM pessoas, PRON DEIXAR VERB.

PoS codes   Detailed verb codes

An easy way to use part of speech tags is by selecting them from the drop-down list (click on [PoS] to show it). You can also type the part of speech tags directly into the search form.

Previously, you had to use the part of speech tag (from the link above) inside of brackets, e.g. [j*]. But that's a bit cumbersome for mobile phones, and there are now different ways of specifying the part of speech -- all of which work equally as well. For example, all of the following would find the same strings: olhos ADJ, olhos [j*], olhos J, olhos _j.

If you are using Type 1 or Type 4 above,  you can use wildcards for the part of speech tag. For example, [nn2*] = plural nouns, [n*] = all nouns, [*n*] = nouns (including ambiguous noun/adj tags), etc. If you are using Type 2 or Type 3, it needs to be upper case: NOUN duro.

You can also add a part of speech tag to the end of any word, but you need to use either Type 1 or Type 4 above. For example, trabalho would find trabalho with any part of speech, but trabalho_n or trabalho.[n*] would limit it to trabalho as a noun, and trabalho.[v*] or trabalho_v would limit it to trabalho as a verb. Make sure that you separate the word and the part of speech with a period / full stop and bracket (Type 1) or an underscore (Type 4), and that there is no space.

If you don't know what the part of speech tag is for a given word (or the words in a phrase), just select [OPTIONS] and then [GROUP BY] = [NONE] (SHOW POS). For example, see the PoS tags for luz, fizemos, bonitas, or em lugar de

If you capitalize an entire word, it will find all forms of that word. For example, DIZER would find all forms of dizer (dizem, disseram, dirão, etc), whereas dizer would just find the single form dizer.

Another example: =INTELIGENTE would find all of the forms of all synonyms of inteligente (sábio, sábias, capaz, capaces, etc), whereas =inteligente would just find inteligente, sábio, capaz, etc.

You can search by all of the synonyms of a given word, which provides powerful "semantically-based" searches of the corpus. For example, you can find the synonynms of bonito, barulho, or publicar.

Of course you can use the synonyms as part of phrases as well. For example, =PUBLICAR * NOUN, =ALUNO =INTELIGENTE, or =ARGUMENT0 LÓGICO. As the last example shows, synonyms can be very useful when you are a non-native speaker, and you want to know which related words are used in a particular context.

As =PUBLICAR * NOUN shows, not every token will actually be a synonym of a given word in every case. For example, lançar may be a synonym of publicar in one context, but not in many others.

Note that it is often also useful to find all forms of the synonyms, by capitalizing the word: PUBLICAR. And of course you can combine these as well, for example all forms of all synonyms of publicar.

Finally, note that you can click on the [S] to find synonyms for each word in the results set. This allows you to follow a "synonym chain" from one word to another to another...

The EEBO corpus has been "semantically tagged", and you can use these tags as part of your search. A few examples are given below.
 

Semantic tag (click to run)	Meaning	Sample results
{BA:06}	"Armed hostility: defense"	fortresse, defended
{AC:01:b:06}	"Health and disease: Respiratory disorders, coughing"	pleurisie, pneumonic, empyema
{BI:09:c:10}	"Occupation and work: Worker: Manual/industrial worker: Miner"	miner, coal-owner, collier
WORD(S) [WORK] COLLOCATES: {BI:09:c:10}	WORK near "Occupation and work: Worker: Manual/industrial worker: Miner"	worke || miners
{AY:04:f:04}	"Society: Social relations: Exclusion from society"	disowned, lepers
{BI:05}	"Occupation and work: Business affairs"	companie, transacted
WORD(S) {AY:04:f:04} COLLOCATES: BI:05	"Business" near "exclusion"	company || disowning
{AU:11}	"Emotions: Happiness"	happinesse, delighted
he|she|they BE {AU:11}	I am "Emotions: Happiness" that	they are happy he was ioyfully
{AR:13}	"The mind: Idealism"	heaven, romantick
{AR:13} [[=idea]]	"The mind: Idealism" + [all forms of all synonyms of idea]	abstract ideas, implicite belief

"User lists" or "customized lists" are word lists that you create -- related to a certain topic  (e.g. sports, clothing, or emotions), words that are grammatically related (e.g. a certain subset of adverbs or pronouns), or any other listing that you might want.  For example, click here to run a query based on two sample word lists that we created -- one with a list of colors, and the other with a short list of parts of clothing.

There are two ways to create a customized list:
1. Create a list "from scratch"
2. Run a query (such as synonyms of bonito) and then save some of the words from the results set as a list. (More information...)

You can later view the lists that you have created, and modify the wordlist (add or delete words), or delete a list entirely.

Once created, you can re-use a wordlist in queries at any time in the future -- they remain stored in the database on the server. The easiest way to include a list in the main search window is to just select it in the wordlist window. If desired, you can also type it into the search form directly. The format is:

     @listName
e.g.:
     @comida
     @emocões

You can also use the list as part of a phrase:
     SER muito @belo
     JOGAR a @esportes

1.Select [SAVE LISTS] = 'YES' in the search form

2. Run a query, such as finding synonyms of bonito

3. Select and de-select words from the list by clicking in the checkbox to the left of each word. Only the words that you select will be saved to the list. You can use the checkbox to the left of the [CONTEXT] button to select or de-select the entire list.

4. Enter the name you want to give to the list (in this case, maybe bonito-syn).

5. Make sure you really have selected some words (step 2 above), and then click [Submit] to save your list.

6. If you want, select the list that you've saved in the customized wordlists interface. You can add to the list, modify entries (click M), or delete words from the list.

7. Finally, you can then re-use this list as part of subsequent queries. For example, if [mark_davies@byu.edu] has created and stored the list [bonito-syn] then he could find cases of SER muito followed by one of these adjectives.

Many of the examples shown in the other sections are for individual words. But you can combine the different types of searches to create fairly complex phrases. For example:
  \n

Example	Explanation
NOUN lindo|belo|bonito	A noun followed by any of these three words
me|lhe DEIXAR VERB	me or lhe + any form of deixar + verb
.|,|; contudo VERB	Notice that punctuation can be used like any "word"; just make sure that it is separated from words by a space.
QUEBRAR_v * NOUN	Any form of quebrar (as a verb, when multiple possibilities) followed by any word, and then a noun
NOUN =BONITO	Noun + any form of any synonym of belo.
PÔR ART @roupa	Any form of PÔR + article + any form of any word in the "roupa" customized list.