Contents

1. Heuristics for efficient treebanking
   1. Top-down
   2. Bottom-up
   3. Prefer Simpler
2. Technical choices
   1. Complex proper names
      1. Titles
      2. Capitalized words in name
      3. Profession modifier
      4. Native names preferred when available
   2. Proper names and punctuation
   3. PP/modifier attachment
   4. Temporal modifiers
   5. Complex compound nouns
   6. Coordination
   7. Passive verb vs. adjective
   8. Punctuation
   9. Adverbs
   10. Measure phrases
   11. Quotations with explicit attribution
   12. Partitive NPs
   13. Modification in noun phrases
3. Notes from Tomar meeting

• Choose the construction that spans the whole sentence
  • Typically SUBJH
  • Typically not one of the FRAG* rules

• Disambiguate lexical entries early, to reduce remaining ambiguity

• in general prefer the simpler choice
  • e.g. for nominal seating prefer NP over intransitive V, rather than NP over transitive V with an optional complement.

• |Mr. Browne|
  • Choose NP-TITLE-CMPND, not APPOS

• treat as parts of name, not ordinary words
• |Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Inc.|
  • |Motor Cars|
    • NP_NAME_CMPND, not NOUN_N_CMPND
  • |Rolls-Royce|
    • Choose multi-word entry when available
  • |Rolls-Royce Motor Cars|
    • NP_NAME_CMPND
  • Attach |Inc.| with NADJ_RR

• treat as appositive
• |Howard Mosher, president and CEO|
  • First combine |Howard Mosher|
  • Then combine it with |president and CEO| using APPOS_NBAR

• Company names
  • |Rolls-Royce|
    • Choose n_-_pn_le, not NP_NAME_CMPND
• Country names
  • |U.S.|
    • Choose n_-_c-nm-pd_le, not n_-_pn-gen_le

• Unknown names
  • |Elianti.|
    • Choose PUNCT_PERIOD_ORULE (period is not part of name)
• Name abbreviations containing periods
  • |U.S.|
    • Choose PUNCT_PERIOD_ORULE if word is at end of sentence

• Choose highest attachment point consistent with meaning

  • |remain steady at 1,200 cars|

    • attach to VP, not to |steady|

  • |reserve a room for Browne|

    • attach to VP, not to |room|

  • but disprefer modifier attachment to semantically vacuous heads

    • e.g. attach modifiers to hiring ..., not be hiring ...
• In copula constructions (with forms of verb "be"), attach PP inside
  • |be payable Feb. 15|
    • First combine |payable| with |Feb. 15| with HADJ_I_UNS
• Complement vs. modifier - choose complement when available
  • |based in Los Angeles|
    • Choose HCOMP, not HADJ_I_UNS
• PP modifier inserted between verb and its complement NP
  • |publish in statements the names of insiders|
    • First combine |publish| with |in statements| using VMOD_I

• When precede VP, attach to subject NP
  • |the maker last year sold cars|
    • attach |last year| to |maker|
• Treat as modifiers, pumping temporal NP to a PP
  • |last year|
    • Choose NPADV, not ADJN
  • |Feb. 15|
    • Combine with HSPECHC, then choose NPADV
• Complex phrases
  • |early next year|
    • Combine |early| with |next year| using NADJ_RR

• Choose bracketing with intended sense
  • |luxury auto maker|
    • first combine |luxury| with |auto|
• When intended bracketing is not clear, group from right to left
  • |airline ticket counter|
    • first combine |ticket| with |counter|

• if you have a choice between XP CCONJ XPvs X CCONJ X choose the XP (or S), that is, the highest constituent

  • e.g., for cats and dogs, prefer NP coordination over N coordination with a bare NP rule on top

• Nominal phrases

  • Choose N_COORD_TOP_2, not N_COORD_TOP_3 when given the choice

• Sentence-initial conjunction - treat as incomplete coordination of clauses

  • |But Abrams arrived early.|
    • Combine |But| with |Abrams arrived early.| with HMARK_CL

• Choose verb if the meaning is agentive; otherwise choose adjective
  • |A date hasn't been set|
    • For |set|, choose v_np*_le, not aj_-_i_le

• Attach punctuation to the preceding words
  • except for some rare conjunctions
• Paired commas marking off a modifier: choose "paired" rule (-PR suffix)
  • |Bell, based in Los Angeles|
    • Choose NADJ_RC_PR to combine modifier phrase with |Bell|

• Negation - always attach |not| to preceding auxiliary if possible
  • |did not meet|
    • First combine |did| with |not| using HCOMP
• Other adverbs between auxiliary and main VP - attach adverb to following VP
  • |can really sing|
    • First combine |really| with |sing| using ADJH_S
• Sentence-initial - Prefer attachment without extraction when possible
  • |Apparently the commission met|
    • Choose ADJ_S, not FILLHEAD_NON_WH_IG

• Degree modifiers - combine with the number word
  • |about 25 % of them|
    • First combine |about| with |25| using HSPECHC
    • Combine |%| with |of them| using HCOMP
• Dollar amounts - treat the symbol |$| as the head (the unit of measure)
  • |$ 80 billion|
    • Combine |$| with |80 billion| using MEAS_NP_SYMB

• treat as extraction from 'saying' verb
  • |They arrived, Browne said.|
    • Combine |They arrived,| with |Browne said.| using FILLHEAD_NON_WH

• First pump determiner to noun, and treat of-PP as complement
  • |some of the books|
    • Combine |some| with |of the books| using HCOMP
• For |all|, |not all|, |both|, and |half|, treat following NP as complement
  • |not all those who wrote|
    • For |not all|, choose native entry n_np_mc-neg_le
    • Combine |not all| with |those who wrote| using HCOMP

• Modifiers to the right of the head noun are always attached _before_
  • any modifiers to the left
  • |important changes by the SEC|
    • First combine |changes| with |by the SEC| using NADJ_RR

1. Where lexical ambiguity is hard to decide (e.g. even-deg vs even-conj), choose based on frequency in redwoods/deepbank

2. Disprefer modifier attachment to semantically vacuous heads e.g. attach adverbs to hiring..., not be hiring...

3. For there-copula:

   1. Avoid double-object choice and avoid modification of there-cop
   2. Also prefer low attachment of modifier after obj NP
   3. Accept extraction of PP for there-cop as is

4. When choice of verb-particle or verb-mod as in go away, if you can modify the `particle' as in go far away, it is not verb-particle.

5. When choice of spr-hd or mod-hd for Adv-Adj, choose mod-hd

6. Avoid adv-add except for not

7. When WH-Q of form NP-be-NP [EMB: guessing this is choose subj-head; Dan please confirm]

8. For complement of saying, if there's a main clause option for the quoted material choose it:

   • |"Who did Kim hire" asked Mary| not |*Who Kim hired, asked Mary|

9. No free relatives

10. Attach three-dot punct as low as possible

11. Reject ellipsis

12. For ndash between clauses, use run-on

13. For degree specifiers, when there's a choice, take the shortest lexent type name

14. Attach subord clause high [EMB: subordinate clauses are understood as clauses with all arguments overt; do not include in+order+to purposives, etc.]