beginning vs following

beginning

noun
  • The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states. 

  • The initial portion of some extended thing. 

  • That which is begun; a rudiment or element. 

  • That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause. 

adj
  • Of or relating to the first portion of some extended thing. 

following

prep
  • After, subsequent to. 

adj
  • About to be specified. 

  • Blowing in the direction of travel. 

  • Coming next, either in sequence or in time. 

noun
  • A thing or things to be mentioned immediately after. 

  • A group of followers, attendants or admirers; an entourage. 

  • Vocation; business; profession. 

How often have the words beginning and following occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )