A corpus-based study of English synonyms: convince and persuade

This study investigates two synonymous verbs, "convince" and "persuade," focusing on their similarities and differences in terms of definitions, distribution across genres in relation to frequency of occurrence and degree of formality, noun collocations in relation to semantic preference, and grammatical patterns. To review their definitions and usage examples, three online dictionaries were consulted. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) was utilized to explore distribution across genres, noun collocations, and grammatical patterns. The findings of this study indicate that "convince" and "persuade" share similar core meanings but have subtle differences in their definitions. In terms of distribution across genres, "persuade" is predominantly used in formal contexts, such as newspapers, magazines, and academic texts, while "convince" is more prevalent in non-formal contexts like blogs, web pages, and spoken genres. Based on these results, it can be concluded that "persuade" exhibits a stronger degree of formality compared to "convince." Additionally, both verbs commonly collocate with object nouns and share similar noun collocates and semantic preference themes. Regarding grammatical patterns, these two synonyms display similarities; however, there is a significant difference in the frequency of occurrence. "Convince" is more frequently used with "that clauses," while "persuade" is typically found with "to" infinitives. Therefore, while "convince" and "persuade" are near-synonyms, they cannot be used interchangeably in all contexts. The results of this research will be beneficial for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, enabling them to utilize these synonyms effectively for communication purposes.