2.1 Data sniffing

Before conducting a search with Google, the method of ‘data-sniffing’ is very helpful to get some first impressions and general information about the syntactic environment, some grammatical detail and the context in which the construction of interest might be used.

                                                     Figure 1: Data-sniffing with Google

The following results were retrieved by entering the phrase lest he be in inverted commas in Google.co.uk as shown in the screenshot above:

• Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way...

(bible.cc/psalms/2-12.htm)

• Withdraw yourself from your neighbors house; lest he be tired of you, and hate you.

(quotationsbook.com/quote/28109/)

• Lest he forget: Ex-soldier has all 232 names of troops killed in Afghanistan tattooed on his body

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226986/Lest-forget-Ex-soldier-223-names-troops-killed-Afghanistan-tattooed-body.html#ixzz0bjYsViKT)

• He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.

(www.stumbleupon.com/.../quotes.php%253Fday%253D38)

• Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee.

(www.thepost.ohiou.edu/archives/042798/column.html)

• He won't go outside, lest he be eaten by those ravenous eagles.

(en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lest)

• So let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

(www.davidniebuhr.com/Documents/Sunday04May2008.pd)

• Bush has to act decisively while he still can, lest he be forced into merely managing our defeat.

(corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q)

Although the retrieved hits appear to be unorganized and confusing at first view, they offer important general information about the grammatical and contextual surroundings of the construction lest he be. The results clearly show that lest he be seems to be used most often in biblical contexts; less frequently also in journalistic ones.

After getting a general idea about the phrase, in a second step, the user can make use of Google's advanced search options in order to retrieve more structured and refined search results.

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