Hoe meer je erop let, hoe vaker kom je ze tegen: Een onderzoek naar de vormen en het gebruik van de Nederlandse comparatieve correlatief.

The present paper presents a corpus-based analysis of a construction that has not been studied thoroughly yet, viz. the Dutch comparative correlative (e.g. hoe eerder, hoe beter het is; hoe eerder, des te beter het is 'the sooner, the better it is'). Contrary to previous literature, this paper gives a more comprehensive description of the form and use of the comparative correlative. It shows, for instance, that there is a notable preference for verb-final word order in the second part of the hoe... hoe... construction, while hoe... des te... seems compatible with both verb-second and verb-final word order. In addition, genre differences are attested, as well as differences between the Netherlands and Belgium, e.g. in the use of conjunctions within the construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]