What do BNC texts look like ‘in the raw’? Like other XML files they are understandable, provided that you know what the tags are for and how to interpret the syntax. The markup used in the BNC is documented in the User Reference Guide, which also gives usage examples for all the markup constructs contained you will encounter in the real corpus. However, for the insatiably curious, we present here a complete BNC file, the smallest in the corpus: text FX8, containing nine "utterances" from a doctor's surgery, with a total of 128 words...
<bncDoc xml:id="FX8"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title> General practitioner's surgery: medical consultation. Sample containing about 125 words speech recorded in public context </title><respStmt><resp> Data capture and transcription </resp><name> Longman ELT </name> </respStmt></titleStmt><editionStmt><edition>BNC XML Edition, December 2006</edition></editionStmt><extent> 125 tokens; 130 w-units; 15 s-units </extent><publicationStmt><distributor>Distributed under licence by Oxford University Computing Services on behalf of the BNC Consortium.</distributor><availability> This material is protected by international copyright laws and may not be copied or redistributed in any way. Consult the BNC Web Site at http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk for full licencing and distribution conditions.</availability><idno type="bnc">FX8</idno><idno type="old"> 093802 </idno></publicationStmt><sourceDesc><recordingStmt><recording n="093802" type="DAT"/></recordingStmt></sourceDesc></fileDesc><encodingDesc><tagsDecl><namespace name=""><tagUsage gi="align" occurs="4"/><tagUsage gi="c" occurs="21"/><tagUsage gi="event" occurs="1"/><tagUsage gi="gap" occurs="1"/><tagUsage gi="mw" occurs="2"/><tagUsage gi="pause" occurs="2"/><tagUsage gi="s" occurs="15"/><tagUsage gi="u" occurs="9"/><tagUsage gi="unclear" occurs="16"/><tagUsage gi="w" occurs="130"/></namespace></tagsDecl></encodingDesc><profileDesc><creation date="0000">0000-00-00 Origination/creation date not known </creation><particDesc n="C126"><person ageGroup="X" xml:id="PS22T" role="unspecified" sex="m" soc="AB" dialect="NONE" firstLang="EN-GBR" educ="Ed0"><persName>Doctor</persName> <occupation>doctor</occupation> <persNote>other participants are doctors patients</persNote></person><person ageGroup="X" xml:id="FX8PS000" role="unspecified" sex="u" soc="UU" dialect="NONE"/><person ageGroup="X" dialect="NONE" n="W0000" role="other" sex="u" soc="UU" xml:id="FX8PSUNK"><persName>Unknown speaker</persName></person><person ageGroup="X" dialect="NONE" n="W000M" role="other" sex="u" soc="UU" xml:id="FX8PSUGP"><persName>Group of unknown speakers</persName></person></particDesc><settingDesc><setting n="093802" who="PS22T FX8PS000"><placeName>Strathclyde: Lanarkshire </placeName> <locale> G.P.'s surgery </locale><activity> Medical consultation </activity></setting></settingDesc><textClass><catRef targets="SPO ALLTIM3 ALLAVA0 ALLTYP2 SCGDOM3 SPOLOG2 SPOREG3"/><classCode scheme="DLEE">S consult</classCode><keywords><term> medicine </term><term> medical consultation </term></keywords></textClass></profileDesc><revisionDesc><change date="2006-10-21" who="#OUCS">Tag usage updated for BNC-XML</change><change date="2000-12-13" who="#OUCS">Last check for BNC World first release</change><change date="2000-09-01" who="#OUCS">Check all tagcounts</change><change date="2000-06-23" who="#OUCS">Resequenced s-units and added headers</change><change date="2000-01-29" who="#OUCS">Revised participant details</change><change date="2000-01-21" who="#OUCS">Added date info</change><change date="2000-01-09" who="#OUCS">Updated all catrefs</change><change date="2000-01-09" who="#OUCS">Updated REC elements to include tape number</change><change date="2000-01-08" who="#OUCS">Updated titles</change><change date="1999-12-25" who="#OUCS">corrected tagUsage</change><change date="1999-09-20" who="#UCREL">POS codes revised for BNC-2; header updated</change><change date="1994-11-27" who="#dominic">Initial accession to corpus</change></revisionDesc></teiHeader>
<stext type="OTHERSP"><u who="FX8PSUNK">
<s n="1"><w c5="ITJ" hw="ah" pos="INTERJ">Ah </w><w c5="AV0" hw="there" pos="ADV">there </w><w c5="PNP" hw="we" pos="PRON">we </w><w c5="VBB" hw="be" pos="VERB">are</w><c c5="PUN">,</c><unclear/><c c5="PUN">.</c></s>
<s n="2"><w c5="AV0" hw="right" pos="ADV">Right </w><unclear/><w c5="AJ0" hw="abdominal" pos="ADJ">abdominal </w><w c5="NN1" hw="wound" pos="SUBST">wound</w><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she</w><w c5="VBZ" hw="be" pos="VERB">'s </w><w c5="AT0" hw="a" pos="ART">a </w><w c5="AJ0-NN1" hw="wee" pos="ADJ">wee </w><w c5="NN1" hw="bit" pos="SUBST">bit </w><pause/><w c5="VVN-AJ0" hw="confuse" pos="VERB">confused</w><c c5="PUN">.</c></s>
<s n="3"><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">She </w><w c5="VDD" hw="do" pos="VERB">did</w><w c5="XX0" hw="not" pos="ADV">n't </w><w c5="VVI" hw="bother" pos="VERB">bother </w><w c5="TO0" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><w c5="VVI" hw="tell" pos="VERB">tell </w><w c5="PNP" hw="i" pos="PRON">me </w><w c5="CJT" hw="that" pos="CONJ">that </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she</w><w c5="VHD" hw="have" pos="VERB">'d </w><w c5="AV0" hw="only" pos="ADV">only </w><w c5="VVN" hw="get" pos="VERB">got </w><unclear/><w c5="TO0" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><w c5="VVI" hw="call" pos="VERB">call </w><w c5="PNP" hw="you" pos="PRON">you</w><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="AV0" hw="right" pos="ADV">right</w><c c5="PUN">?</c></s>
<s n="4"><w c5="UNC" hw="erm" pos="UNC">Erm </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VBD" hw="be" pos="VERB">was</w><w c5="XX0" hw="not" pos="ADV">n't </w><w c5="PRP" hw="in" pos="PREP">in </w><w c5="DPS" hw="she" pos="PRON">her </w><w c5="NN1" hw="nightdress" pos="SUBST">nightdress </w><w c5="CJC" hw="but" pos="CONJ">but </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="AV0" hw="only" pos="ADV">only </w><w c5="VVD" hw="dress" pos="VERB">dressed </w><w c5="PNX" hw="herself" pos="PRON">herself</w><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VVD" hw="say" pos="VERB">said </w><align with="FX8LC001"/><unclear/><align with="FX8LC002"/></s></u><u who="PS22T">
<s n="5"><align with="FX8LC001"/><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">And </w><w c5="PNP" hw="you" pos="PRON">you </w><unclear/><align with="FX8LC002"/></s></u><u who="FX8PS000">
<s n="6"><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">She </w><w c5="VVD" hw="say" pos="VERB">said </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VVD" hw="go" pos="VERB">went </w><w c5="TO0" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><w c5="VVI" hw="buy" pos="VERB">buy </w><w c5="PNI" hw="something" pos="PRON">something </w><unclear/><w c5="PNX" hw="herself" pos="PRON">herself</w><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VVD" hw="phone" pos="VERB">phoned </w><w c5="AT0" hw="the" pos="ART">the </w><w c5="NN1" hw="clinic" pos="SUBST">clinic </w><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">and </w><w c5="AT0" hw="the" pos="ART">the </w><w c5="NN1" hw="clinic" pos="SUBST">clinic </w><unclear/><c c5="PUN">.</c></s>
<s n="7"><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">She</w><w c5="VBZ" hw="be" pos="VERB">'s </w><unclear/><w c5="AV0" hw="here" pos="ADV">here </w><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">and </w><gap desc="name" reason="anonymization"/><w c5="VVZ" hw="say" pos="VERB">says </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VM0" hw="should" pos="VERB">should </w><w c5="VBI" hw="be" pos="VERB">be </w><unclear/><w c5="AV0" hw="fortnightly" pos="ADV">fortnightly </w><unclear/><c c5="PUN">.</c></s>
<s n="8"><pause/><w c5="AV0" hw="so" pos="ADV">So </w><w c5="PNP" hw="i" pos="PRON">I </w><w c5="VDB" hw="do" pos="VERB">do</w><w c5="XX0" hw="not" pos="ADV">n't </w><w c5="VVI" hw="know" pos="VERB">know </w><w c5="CJS" hw="whether" pos="CONJ">whether </w><w c5="PNP" hw="you" pos="PRON">you </w><w c5="VVB" hw="want" pos="VERB">want </w><w c5="TO0" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><w c5="VVI" hw="go" pos="VERB">go </w><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">and </w><w c5="VVI" hw="see" pos="VERB">see </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">her </w><mw c5="PRP"><w c5="AV0" hw="rather" pos="ADV">rather </w><w c5="CJS" hw="than" pos="CONJ">than</w></mw><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="PNP" hw="i" pos="PRON">I </w><w c5="VM0" hw="could" pos="VERB">could </w><w c5="VVI" hw="get" pos="VERB">get </w><w c5="AT0" hw="a" pos="ART">a </w><w c5="NN1" hw="doctor" pos="SUBST">doctor </w><w c5="TO0" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><w c5="VVI" hw="go" pos="VERB">go </w><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">and </w><w c5="VVI" hw="see" pos="VERB">see </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">her </w><w c5="CJC" hw="and" pos="CONJ">and </w><w c5="NN1-VVB" hw="phone" pos="SUBST">phone</w><c c5="PUN">,</c><unclear/><c c5="PUN">.</c></s></u><u who="PS22T">
<s n="9"><unclear/><w c5="PNP" hw="it" pos="PRON">it</w><w c5="VBZ" hw="be" pos="VERB">'s </w><w c5="AV0" hw="just" pos="ADV">just </w><w c5="CJT" hw="that" pos="CONJ">that </w><w c5="PNP" hw="i" pos="PRON">I</w><w c5="VBB" hw="be" pos="VERB">'m </w><w c5="AV0" hw="never" pos="ADV">never </w><w c5="VVG" hw="gon" pos="VERB">gon</w><w c5="TO0" hw="na" pos="PREP">na </w><w c5="VVI" hw="get" pos="VERB">get </w><w c5="PRP" hw="to" pos="PREP">to </w><mw c5="PRP"><w c5="AVP" hw="up" pos="ADV">up </w><w c5="PRP" hw="to" pos="PREP">to</w></mw><c c5="PUN">.</c></s></u><u who="FX8PS000">
<s n="10"><unclear/><c c5="PUN">?</c></s></u><u who="PS22T">
<s n="11"><w c5="ITJ" hw="yeah" pos="INTERJ">Yeah</w><c c5="PUN">.</c></s></u><u who="FX8PS000">
<s n="12"><w c5="AV0" hw="okay" pos="ADV">Okay</w><c c5="PUN">.</c></s></u><u who="PS22T">
<s n="13"><w c5="ITJ" hw="yeah" pos="INTERJ">Yeah</w><c c5="PUN">.</c></s></u><u who="FX8PS000">
<s n="14"><w c5="UNC" hw="erm" pos="UNC">erm</w><c c5="PUN">, </c><w c5="ORD" hw="first" pos="ADJ">first </w><unclear/><w c5="CRD" hw="twelve" pos="ADJ">twelve </w><w c5="NN2" hw="week" pos="SUBST">weeks </w><w c5="AJ0" hw="pregnant" pos="ADJ">pregnant </w><w c5="AV0" hw="so" pos="ADV">so </w><w c5="VM0" hw="should" pos="VERB">should </w><w c5="PNP" hw="i" pos="PRON">I </w><w c5="VVI" hw="mark" pos="VERB">mark </w><w c5="PRP" hw="at" pos="PREP">at </w><w c5="AT0" hw="the" pos="ART">the </w><w c5="NN1-AJ0" hw="bottom" pos="SUBST">bottom </w><w c5="CJS" hw="when" pos="CONJ">when </w><w c5="PNP" hw="she" pos="PRON">she </w><w c5="VVZ" hw="type" pos="VERB">types </w><unclear/><c c5="PUN">.</c></s>
<s n="15"><w c5="UNC" hw="erm" pos="UNC">Erm </w><unclear/><w c5="DT0" hw="this" pos="ADJ">this </w><w c5="PNI" hw="one" pos="PRON">one</w><c c5="PUN">.</c><event desc="recording ends"/></s></u></stext></bncDoc>