Noun collocates of "start" and "begin"

[Molly]

If we look at "the company each word keeps" i.e., in this seach, noun collocates of "start" and "begin", maybe we can begin/start to test your thinking on these two little, but very common, words:

Some of the collocates of "start" (within up to 3 words distance):

1 BUSINESS
2 FAMILY
3 SCHOOL
4 GAME
5 POINT
6 COURSE
7 TIME
8 JOB
9 WORLD
10 THINGS
11 WALK
12 BOOK
13 YEAR
14 DAY
15 WAY
16 TRIAL
17 PLACE
18 NUMBER
19 LIFE
20 PEOPLE
21 SECTION
22 PERIOD
23 QUESTIONS
24 WORDS
25 RUN
26 AUTUMN
27 CAMPAIGN
28 WEEK
29 EDUCATION
30 MEETING

Some of the collocates of "begin" (within up to 3 words distance):

1 ANALYSIS
2 EARNEST
3 OPERATIONS
4 DISCUSSIONS
5 INVESTIGATION
6 SERIES
7 SEARCH
8 DISCUSSION
9 SENTENCE
10 PROCESS
11 NEGOTIATIONS
12 TOUR
13 TALKS
14 PROCEEDINGS
15 TRAINING
16 PROGRAMME
17 MONTH
18 BEGINNING
19 CAREER
20 END
21 WORK
22 CHAPTER
23 WEEK
24 CAMPAIGN
25 LIFE
26 PEOPLE
27 DAY
28 YEAR

Source: http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp

Used the "Word comparisons" search function.

[Molly]

And what do you think about:

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start....

or:

When they begin the beguine, It brings back the sound of music so tender . . .

??

And what difference would there be between these?

Ray would you care to start the meeting?
Ray would you care to begin the meeting?

And which would you choose here and why?

"Bacon and Bungay were so exhausted that they set their servant, Miles, to watch it whilst they were asleep, under the instruction that they should be woken if the head started/began speaking ."