Characteristics of the English language in AX Semantics
Fundamentals
English has two numbers for nouns: singular and plural. Number influences the used determiner (e.g. this mouse [sg] vs. these mice [pl]). English has four cases for pronouns: nominative, oblique (accusative/dative), and genitive. Otherwise, case is not relevant to the declension of English nouns or adjectives.
| grammatical name | values | examples |
|---|---|---|
| number | singular | a red house |
| plural | some big houses | |
| cases (pronoun) | nominative | he |
| accusative/dative | I see him. | |
| genitive | His toy | |
| verb tenses | present | you take |
| past | you took | |
| past participle | you have taken | |
| gerund | you're taking |
The standard order of a noun phrase in English is the following:
preposition + determiner + numeral + adjective + noun
See for example:
about these three popular books
PREP DET NUM ADJ NOUN
Lexicon
Nouns
For English nouns, the lexicon needs to encode numbers and genders. Sometimes also prepositions and determiners if they are needed.
- Some nouns differ from standard behaviour and combine with different determiners than other nouns from the same type. For example, nouns denoting countries usually stand with the none determiner like "Australia", but "the Seychelles" needs a definite determiner. You can define this replacement in noun lexicon entry.
Examples
The lexicon entry for mouse contains
- gender: neuter
- inflection table for case and number:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mouse | mice |
| Genitive | mouse 's | mice 's |
The lexicon entry for Bahamas contains
- gender, case, and number (like above inflection table)
- always set a definite determiner
And the lexicon entry for Malta (Malta) contains
- gender, case, and number (like above inflection table)
- remove all definite determiners
And the lexicon entry for Seychelles contains
- gender, case, and number (like above inflection table)
- always set a definite determiner
Note
If you need lexicon entries for countries, contact the support and you will get them for English with automatic handling of determiners.
Adjectives
Adjectives in English are extremely regular. There should be no need to add English adjectives to the lexicon.
Verbs
The most common verbs are encoded in our software. If a verb inflects incorrectly, you should add it to the lexicon. For English verb, the lexicon needs to encode person, number and tense.
Container settings
Nouns
You can configure grammatical case and number for English nouns.
Adjectives
If multiple adjectives are used in a container, the AX NLG platform will sort them based on their attributes in the following order: opinion, size, physical, quality, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose. This automatic ordering only happens for adjectives, whose position information is stored in the global lexicon.
Numerals
The noun will automatically agree with the numeral number when you use a numeral variable. There is no need to add additional branches for numeral. Four types of numerals are possible on the AX NLG platform: cardinal, cardinal as digit, ordinal, and ordinal as digit.
| cardinal | ordinal | |
|---|---|---|
| text | Nine mice in my room. | The ninth day at school. |
| digit | 9 mice in my room. | The 9th day at school. |
For English, ordinal numerals are written out until 9 on the platform, otherwise (above 9) the output is in digit form. Cardinal numerals do not have this limitation. The following example shows the ordinal numerals limitation in English (written out vs. digit):
The following example shows the ordinal numerals limitation in English:
ninth car
vs.
10th car
Verbs
The number and person of the verb will automatically agree with the role (subject). You will need to configure the tense for the verb. Four English tenses are available: Present (e.g., they buy), Past (e.g., they bought), Past Participle (e.g., they have bought), and Gerund (e.g., they are buying).
Determiners
The AX NLG platform supports the following determiners for English: definite, indefinite, demonstrative, relative, possessive, and quantifier (e.g.,every, any, some). If you set the determiner switch for the specific noun in lexicon, it will automatically switch to another determiner when you add the determiner to the container.
Determiner switch
Determiners can be switched according to lexical information. If you set the determiner switch for a specific noun in the lexicon, it will automatically switch to another determiner when you add the determiner you intend to switch in the container. The container setting for Australia in the first example is: preposition="to", determiner is unset (blank), and case="nominative".
from Paris to Australia (no determiner)
In the second example, the container settings for Seychelles are still: preposition="to", determiner is unset (blank), and case="nominative". However, the determiner switches from none to definite, because it is configured in the lexicon entry for Seychelles.
from Paris to the Seychelles (switch to definite determiner)
Note
If the lexicon entry of a country includes a switch from none to definite, there is still a way to use the country without the article (e.g., just "Seychelles"). The determiner will always remain none by setting determiner=none in the container. Only an unset determiner (blank) triggers the switch from none to another determiner.
Pronouns
Pronoun type include personal, demonstrative, possessive 3rd, and reflexive pronoun in the container. If the pronoun type is possessive (e.g., their), you will also need set possessive target (e.g., a subject or object role).
Preposition switch
They meet in Germany.
They meet at Shibuya station. (preposition switches to "at")
Prepositions
Some nouns differ from standard behaviour and combine with different prepositions than other nouns of the same type. If you set the preposition switch for the specific noun in lexicon, the container will automatically switch to different prepositions like the example.