Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 3,0, Dresden Technical University (Institut fur Anglistik/Ameikanistik), course: Oral and Written Englisch, language: English, abstract: Douglas Biber's research on factor analysis as well as on multi- dimensional approaches towards variation and spoken and written language drew a controversial picture which is worth talking about. In the following paper his study on the contradictory findings in speaking and writing in English is discussed with the help of two text samples. The first one is an excerpt from Jane Austen s novel Emma and the second text is The Dean s List taken from the New Yorker in 2001.3