Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 7 (2009), 141–163. doi 10.1075/arcl.7.06rom issn 1572–026 / e-issn 1572–0276 © John Benjamins Publishing Company he inseparability of lexis and grammar Corpus linguistic perspectives* Ute Römer University of Michigan his paper focuses on the interface of lexis and grammar and provides corpus evidence for the inseparability of two areas that have traditionally been kept apart, both in language teaching and in linguistic analysis and description. he paper will irst give an overview of a number of inluential research strands and model-building attempts in this area (Pattern Grammar and Collostructional Analysis, among others) and then explore the use of a selected lexical-grammati- cal pattern, the introductory it pattern (e.g. it is essential for EFL learners to come to grips with connotations, attested example) in corpora of expert and apprentice academic writing. Keywords: corpus linguistics, lexis-grammar inseparability, introductory it patterns, apprentice vs. expert academic writing, proiciency development 1. Introduction If there is one major inding of modern (computer) corpus linguistic research over the past 40 years, it is probably that language is highly patterned. To a high degree, language is made up of ixed or semi-ixed units, and the co-selection of language items can be predicted on the basis of research indings in the areas of collocation and phraseology (see the seminal work of John Sinclair; Sinclair, 1991, 2004; Sin- clair, Jones and Daley, 1970/2004; and the publications in Granger and Meunier, 2008). Corpus studies, based on large collections of authentic text from a range of diferent sources, have provided massive evidence for the interdependence of lexis and grammar (or vocabulary and syntax). hey have demonstrated that two areas that have traditionally been kept apart, both in language pedagogy and in linguistic theory, are in fact inseparable. As Hoey and O’Donnell (2008, p. 293) put it, “[i]n the traditional view […], there is a grammar for every language and there is, quite separately, a lexicon.” As we now know, thanks to researchers like Sinclair