Automatic Correction of Idiomatic Usage in English Using Web Search

Non-native English speakers often have problems determining the exact form of an idiomatic expression while they have some vague idea about the key words in them. In this paper, we describe a system called Webtionary that allows users to consult idiomatic usage by entering a questionable expression. Webtionary uses Web search to find candidate corrections and suggests expressions that are commonly used in writing and semantically-related to the user query. Evaluation results show that Webtionary significantly outperforms direct Web search in providing useful suggestions.