| APPGE | possessive pronoun, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, our) |
| AT | article (e.g. the, no) |
| AT1 | singular article (e.g. a, an, every) |
| BCL | before-clause marker (e.g. in order (that), in order (to)) |
| CC | coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, or) |
| CCB | adversative coordinating conjunction ( but) |
| CS | subordinating conjunction (e.g. if, because, unless, so, for) |
| CSA | as (as conjunction) |
| CSN | than (as conjunction) |
| CST | that (as conjunction) |
| CSW | whether (as conjunction) |
| DA | "after-determiner", or post-determiner capable of pronominal function (e.g. such, former, same) |
| DA1 | singular post-determiner (e.g. little, much) |
| DA2 | plural post-determiner (e.g. few, several, many) |
| DAR | comparative post-determiner (e.g. more, less, fewer) |
| DAT | superlative post-determiner (e.g. most, least, fewest) |
| DB | "before-determiner", or pre-determiner capable of pronominal function ( all, half) |
| DB2 | plural before-determiner ( both) |
| DD | central determiner (capable of pronominal function) (e.g any, some) |
| DD1 | singular determiner (e.g. this, that, another) |
| DD2 | plural determiner ( these, those) |
| DDQ | wh-determiner (which, what) |
| DDQGE | wh-determiner, genitive (whose) |
| DDQV | wh-ever determiner, (whichever, whatever) |
| EX | existential there |
| FO | formula |
| FU | unclassified word |
| FW | foreign word |
| GE | germanic genitive marker - (' or 's) |
| IF | for (as preposition) |
| II | general preposition |
| IO | of (as preposition) |
| IW | with, without (as prepositions) |
| JJ | general adjective |
| JJR | general comparative adjective (e.g. older, better, stronger) |
| JJT | general superlative adjective (e.g. oldest, best, strongest) |
| JK | catenative adjective (able in be able to, willing in be willing to) |
| MC | cardinal number,neutral for number (two, three..) |
| MC1 | singular cardinal number (one) |
| MC2 | plural cardinal number (e.g. sixes, sevens) |
| MCGE | genitive cardinal number, neutral for number (two's, 100's) |
| MCMC | hyphenated number (40-50, 1770-1827) |
| MD | ordinal number (e.g. first, second, next, last) |
| MF | fraction,neutral for number (e.g. quarters, two-thirds) |
| ND1 | singular noun of direction (e.g. north, southeast) |
| NN | common noun, neutral for number (e.g. sheep, cod, headquarters) |
| NN1 | singular common noun (e.g. book, girl) |
| NN2 | plural common noun (e.g. books, girls) |
| NNA | following noun of title (e.g. M.A.) |
| NNB | preceding noun of title (e.g. Mr., Prof.) |
| NNL1 | singular locative noun (e.g. Island, Street) |
| NNL2 | plural locative noun (e.g. Islands, Streets) |
| NNO | numeral noun, neutral for number (e.g. dozen, hundred) |
| NNO2 | numeral noun, plural (e.g. hundreds, thousands) |
| NNT1 | temporal noun, singular (e.g. day, week, year) |
| NNT2 | temporal noun, plural (e.g. days, weeks, years) |
| NNU | unit of measurement, neutral for number (e.g. in, cc) |
| NNU1 | singular unit of measurement (e.g. inch, centimetre) |
| NNU2 | plural unit of measurement (e.g. ins., feet) |
| NP | proper noun, neutral for number (e.g. IBM, Andes) |
| NP1 | singular proper noun (e.g. London, Jane, Frederick) |
| NP2 | plural proper noun (e.g. Browns, Reagans, Koreas) |
| NPD1 | singular weekday noun (e.g. Sunday) |
| NPD2 | plural weekday noun (e.g. Sundays) |
| NPM1 | singular month noun (e.g. October) |
| NPM2 | plural month noun (e.g. Octobers) |
| PN | indefinite pronoun, neutral for number (none) |
| PN1 | indefinite pronoun, singular (e.g. anyone, everything, nobody, one) |
| PNQO | objective wh-pronoun (whom) |
| PNQS | subjective wh-pronoun (who) |
| PNQV | wh-ever pronoun (whoever) |
| PNX1 | reflexive indefinite pronoun (oneself) |
| PPGE | nominal possessive personal pronoun (e.g. mine, yours) |
| PPH1 | 3rd person sing. neuter personal pronoun (it) |
| PPHO1 | 3rd person sing. objective personal pronoun (him, her) |
| PPHO2 | 3rd person plural objective personal pronoun (them) |
| PPHS1 | 3rd person sing. subjective personal pronoun (he, she) |
| PPHS2 | 3rd person plural subjective personal pronoun (they) |
| PPIO1 | 1st person sing. objective personal pronoun (me) |
| PPIO2 | 1st person plural objective personal pronoun (us) |
| PPIS1 | 1st person sing. subjective personal pronoun (I) |
| PPIS2 | 1st person plural subjective personal pronoun (we) |
| PPX1 | singular reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourself, itself) |
| PPX2 | plural reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourselves, themselves) |
| PPY | 2nd person personal pronoun (you) |
| RA | adverb, after nominal head (e.g. else, galore) |
| REX | adverb introducing appositional constructions (namely, e.g.) |
| RG | degree adverb (very, so, too) |
| RGQ | wh- degree adverb (how) |
| RGQV | wh-ever degree adverb (however) |
| RGR | comparative degree adverb (more, less) |
| RGT | superlative degree adverb (most, least) |
| RL | locative adverb (e.g. alongside, forward) |
| RP | prep. adverb, particle (e.g about, in) |
| RPK | prep. adv., catenative (about in be about to) |
| RR | general adverb |
| RRQ | wh- general adverb (where, when, why, how) |
| RRQV | wh-ever general adverb (wherever, whenever) |
| RRR | comparative general adverb (e.g. better, longer) |
| RRT | superlative general adverb (e.g. best, longest) |
| RT | quasi-nominal adverb of time (e.g. now, tomorrow) |
| TO | infinitive marker (to) |
| UH | interjection (e.g. oh, yes, um) |
| VB0 | be, base form (finite i.e. imperative, subjunctive) |
| VBDR | were |
| VBDZ | was |
| VBG | being |
| VBI | be, infinitive (To be or not..., It will be ..) |
| VBM | am |
| VBN | been |
| VBR | are |
| VBZ | is |
| VD0 | do, base form (finite) |
| VDD | did |
| VDG | doing |
| VDI | do, infinitive (I may do... To do...) |
| VDN | done |
| VDZ | does |
| VH0 | have, base form (finite) |
| VHD | had (past tense) |
| VHG | having |
| VHI | have, infinitive |
| VHN | had (past participle) |
| VHZ | has |
| VM | modal auxiliary (can, will, would, etc.) |
| VMK | modal catenative (ought, used) |
| VV0 | base form of lexical verb (e.g. give, work) |
| VVD | past tense of lexical verb (e.g. gave, worked) |
| VVG | -ing participle of lexical verb (e.g. giving, working) |
| VVGK | -ing participle catenative (going in be going to) |
| VVI | infinitive (e.g. to give... It will work...) |
| VVN | past participle of lexical verb (e.g. given, worked) |
| VVNK | past participle catenative (e.g. bound in be bound to) |
| VVZ | -s form of lexical verb (e.g. gives, works) |
| XX | not, n't |
| ZZ1 | singular letter of the alphabet (e.g. A, b) |
| ZZ2 | plural letter of the alphabet (e.g. A's, b's) |
| YBL | punctuation tag - left bracket |
| YBR | punctuation tag - right bracket |
| YCOL | punctuation tag - colon |
| YCOM | punctuation tag - comma |
| YDSH | punctuation tag - dash |
| YEX | punctuation tag - exclamation mark |
| YLIP | punctuation tag - ellipsis |
| YQUE | punctuation tag - question mark |
| YQUO | punctuation tag - quotes |
| YSCOL | punctuation tag - semicolon |
| YSTP | punctuation tag - full-stop |
[ Back to Contents ]
In the Sampler Corpus each orthographic word is normally preceded by its wordclass tag, an SGML w element enclosed in angle brackets. A single whitespace follows each word.
Punctuation codes are enclosed in SGML c elements.
The first sentence of file A7V reads:
<w NP1>Lebanon <w NN1>leader <w VVZ>builds <w NN1>cabinet<c YSTP>.
In the text citations in this document, for the purposes of illustrating the choice of tag in particular contexts, we omit all POS-tags except those on the item under discussion. Thus if we are exemplifying lexical verbs (VV-) we would render the above sentenct as:
Lebanon leader <w VVZ>builds cabinet.
Contracted forms include enclitics and 'fused words', such as he's, she'll, don't, wanna and gimme.
In the BNC (both main and sampler corpus) the CLAWS automatic tagger breaks these forms down into separate syntactic units, giving each unit its own tag. Although this policy has, at least in some cases, resulted in some strange-looking word divisions, we nevertheless feel it to be preferable to assigning a single form to the whole orthographic word. Examples include:
<w VM>could<w VHI>'ve
<w VDZ>does<w XX>n't
<w VD0>du<w XX>n< VVI>no
<w VV0>wan< TO>na
<w VV0>gim<w PPIO1>me
Click here for full list of contracted forms
The lack of whitespace between the forms shows that these components form a single orthographic unit.
Note that in the case of ain't we have not found a suitable POS-tag to give to the first element ( ai ), and in all cases have used the unclassified tag FU for the whole orthographic word
`Multi-words' are, in a sense, the reverse of contracted forms. They indicate multiple word combinations which function as one wordclass - for example, a complex preposition, an adverbial, or a foreign expression naturalised into English as a compound noun. It seems linguistically preferable to assign one wordclass tag to the whole unit rather than give a separate tag to each component part. In the Sampler, the tag appears on the first word in the multi-word sequence, for example:
<w RR>of course (adverb)
To make multiword units clearer in citations given here we link the component parts by means of the underscore ( _ ) character, like this:
<w RR>of_course (adverb)
<w II>according_to (preposition)
<w NN1>persona_non_grata ('naturalised' compound noun)
<w CS>except_that (conjunction)
Click here for full list of multi-word forms and their associated tags .
Note that some multi-words can represent different categories according to context, e.g. rather than in:
Someone else should have done it <w II>rather_than
me.
Her disability had enriched <w CS>rather_than
restricted her life
Moreover, sometimes it is more appropriate to tag a word combination as consisting of ordinary words than as a multi-word sequence, as in the case of 'know how' below:
You <w VV0>know <w RRQ>how we used to always
fight
cf. The creation of the <w NN1>know_how fund for the
former Soviet Union
Words which are joined together and delimited by a slash ( / ) are not split up in tagged versions of the text:
We have adopted the following simple principle for handling such items:
Examples
A title and/or_CC an author's name
You should be a graduate in Electrical/Electronic_JJ Engineering,
Physics , Mathematics , Computing or a related discipline .
A time-space matrix for each rural/social/age_FU group.
choice of tags:
ND1 NN NN1 NN2
NNO NNO2 NNT1 NNT2 NNU NNU1 NNU2
NNA NNB NNL1 NNL2
NP NP1 NP2 NPD1 NPD2 NPM1 NPM2
There are two main categories of noun in the Sampler Corpus: common (mostly beginning NN- ) and proper nouns (NP-). We have moreover made distinctions for number (-1, -2 or no suffix), and presence of an additional feature in the case of locative (NNL-), titular (NNB), temporal (NNT-, NPM-, NPD-) and directional (ND) nouns, and for units of measurement (NNU-). While this level of detail can be highly informative, it also means that borderlines have had to be drawn between the various categories, to achieve consistency of application.
Singular nouns end in -1; plural nouns -2. Nouns such as fish, which is morphologically invariant for number, and government, which can take either a singular or plural verb, (so-called 'neutral for number') have no numeric suffix:
Take a <w NN1>shower and two <w NN2>glasses of ice-cold <w NN1>water
The <w NP2>Jones arrived yesterday
The <w NN>government is (/ are) recommending changes in higher education.
Mmm... the <w NN>fish is excellent.
We were fifteen <w NNU2>miles away from the nearest town.
The <w NP2>Alps
We make no special distinction between common nouns (eg water, cheese) that can be mass (or 'non-count') nouns, and other common nouns. All are tagged NN1 when singular and NN2 when plural:
<w NN1>Cheese is good for you.
One <w NN1>car is enough for a family.
Three <w NN2>cheeses.
Three <w NN2>cars.
The three main categories of Proper noun we apply are PERSONAL, COMPANY and GEOGRAPHICAL names.
<w NP1>Harold, <w NP1>Jane, <w NP1>Turner
<w NP1>London, <w NP1>New <w NP1>York, <w NP1>Africa
<w NP1> IBM, <w NP1>Glaxo, <w NP1>Minolta
A person's initials preceding a surname are tagged NP1, just as the surname itself:
<w NP1>E.M. <w NP1>Forster
The following compound names are treated as individual proper nouns
<w NP1>United <w NP1>States
<w NP1>United <w NP1>Kingdom
BUT we retain ordinary tags for.....?
Soviet Union , Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ... Republic (Dominican Republic?) British Isles
Baltic Atlantic Pacific
BUT Indian Ocean , Irish Sea
The <w NP2>Alps
Preceding a proper noun, or sequence of proper nouns, these are
tagged NNB.
<w NNB>Miss <w NP1>Pamela <w NP1>S <w NP1>Jones
<w NNB>Archbishop <w NP1>Runcie
<w NNB>Pastor <w NP1>Tukes
<w NNB>Chairman <w NP1>Mao
<w NNB>Sub-Lieutenant <w NP1>A <w NP1>J <w NP1>Morris
Newspapers are grouped under this category, although it should be noted that in the first release of the BNC these were treated as proper nouns
<w NP1>Lancashire <w NNT1>Evening <w NN1>Post
<w AT>The <w JJ>Daily <w NN1>Mail
<w NP1>DentuBrite
<w NP1>Tampax
choice of tags:
VB0 VBDR VBDZ VBG VBI VBM VBN VBR VBZ
VD0 VDD VDG VDI VDN VDZ
VH0 VHD VHG VHI VHN VHZ
VM VMK
VV0 VVD VVG VVGK VVI VVN VVNK VVZ
| -0 base form finite | -Z 3rd person sing | -M 1sg (BE only) |
| -D past tense | -N past participle | -R 1pl/2pl/3pl (BE only) |
| -I infinitive | -G present participle |
All forms of BE, HAVE and DO receive
tags beginning VB-, VH- and VD- respectively.
We do not differentiate between auxiliary and main uses of
such verbs:
She <w VBZ>is writing to her MP.
<w VB0>Be calm, as I <w VBM>'m sure he will come.
John <w VHZ>'s sent three letters.
We <w VH0>have a problem.
He <w VDD>did n't care.
They <w VD0>do nice chocolates.
Note that Subjunctives receive base form tags.
She ordered that they <w VB0>be taken away.
All modals are tagged VM. We make no distinction between so-called past and present forms:
We <w VM>can go
We <w VM>could go.
Tags beginning VV- apply to all other (lexical) verbs.
She <w VVZ>goes ; They <w VV0>want to take the bus
After <w VVG>sitting here for hours, we <w VVD>left
<w VVN>Left to our own devices, we decided to <w VVI>get
on with it.
We're <w VVGK>going to fight this all the way
They <w VMK>used to play rugby
See further - Guide to Disambiguation
Section 3 VV0 vs VM
Section 4 got, dare,
let, used
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags: JJ JJR JJT JK
The number of tag distinctions made for adjectives is limited to four. However, ambiguities frequently arise between adjectives and other worclasses, in particular adverbs, nouns and participles.
The general tag for adjective is JJ. We make no distinction between predicative and attributive uses:
The ground was <w JJ>dry and <w JJ.>dusty
The colonel prodded the <w JJ>dry ground.
Comparative adjectives receive the tag JJR;
Superlative adjectives receive JJT.
Adjectives which have a heightening or downtoning effect rather like that of comparatives and superlatives, but which do not behave syntactically like comparatives or superlatives, are treated as ordinary adjectives. Examples include utter, upper and uppermost, which are acceptable in these examples
Events in Eastern Europe were still <w JJ>uppermost in Mr
Li's mind.
This won't affect the <w JJ>upper classes
BUT not these:
* It was an utter shambles than I have ever seen.
(cf It was a worse shambles than I have ever seen.)
* The salmon pool is upper than the dam.
(cf The salmon pool is lower than the dam.)
Will you be <w JK>able to manage?
In other contexts able and unable are classed as general adjectives, eg:
Your son is very <w JJ>able
See further - Guide to Disambiguation
Section 3 ADJECTIVE vs PARTICIPLE JJ vs VVG, JJ vs VVN
Section 3 ADJECTIVE vs NOUN JJ vs NN1
Section 3 ADJECTIVE vs ADVERB JJ vs RR, JJR vs RRR
Section 4 double, well, right
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags: RA REX RG RGQ RGQV RGR RGT RL
Adverbs constitute one of the most heterogeneous lexical categories in English, and to some extent this is reflected in the wide range of tags included.
As well as the general adverb RR, we provide tags for degree adverbs (very, too etc.) (RG), prepositional adverbs/particles (RP), locative adverbs (RL), adverbs of time (RT), post-nominal adverbs (inclusive, 79BC, galore etc.) (RA). For the first two of these tags, a comparative and superlative also exists (RRR, RRT, RGR, RGT). Further adverb-tags are listed in Section 1b.
Examples
From 1922 to 1977 <w RA>inclusive
<w RL>Here, <w RL>there and <w RL>everywhere
They drove <w RRR>faster
Within the adverb class one sometimes encounters a difficult choice
between a more general and a more specific tag, eg:
RG vs RR, RGQ vs RRQ RL vs RR,
RR vs MD.
In most instances we default to the more general tag, but
some notable exceptions are the following words:
so, too, quite, rather
See further - Guide to Disambiguation
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags:
Recognising that there is a large amount of formal and functional
overlap between determiners and pronouns, we have conflated under the
D- heading words that are capable of either function, such as
that, few, both, another.
Examples:
The D- type words are subdivided according to the positions in
which they would occur in a complex noun phrase.
Click here for full list of D- tagged words.
Tags beginning P- indicate pronouns which do not share the
determiner function, eg I, it , anyone.
The main attributes we recognise with regard to pronouns are : personal
or indefinite (PP- or PN-), case (nominative= -S-, accusative = -O-) and
number (singular=1, plural=2). Examples include:
indefinite pronouns (PN-), anyone, everything,
nobody (all PN1).
Click here for full list of P- tagged words
APPGE is the prenominal possessive pronoun (my, your, etc).
The, a/an, no and every are given
separate status as articles rather than determiner-pronouns, since they
never function pronominally.
Which as a relative or interrogative pronoun is grouped with
the other determiner-pronouns, and tagged DDQ
Meanwhile, that as a relative clause
complementizer is treated with that as a complement clause complementizer, and
tagged CST
Note however that that does take a D- tag, namely DD1, when
it functions as a demonstrative pronoun or a determiner.
For D-tagged words, the main source of ambiguity is between
determiners and adverbs. See
Section 2 ADVERB vs ORDINAL
Section 2 DEGREE ADVERB vs GENERAL ADVERB
Section 3 ADVERB vs ADJECTIVE RR vs JJ, RRR vs JJR )
Section 3 COMPARATIVE ADVERB vs DETERMINER
Section 3 ADVERB vs PREPOSITION ( )
Section 4 about, as, but,
much, no, so, when
ARTICLES, DETERMINERS & PRONOUNS
AT AT1 APPGE
DA DA1 DA2 DAR DAT DB DB2 DD DD1 DD2 DDQ DDQGE DDQV
PN PN1 PNQO PNQS PNQV PNX1 PPGE PPH1 PPHO1 PPHO2 PPHS1 PPHS2
at <w DB>all times of the year
free secondary education for <w DB>all
<w DA2>Few diseases are incurable
for the benefit of the <w DA2>few
DD- indicates a central determiner which appears in ordinary
position, ie before other modifiers and the head noun (eg
<w DD>some children, <w DD>some new plates )
DB- indicates a pre-determiner, ie a determiner coming before the
noun phrase and any other determiners. (eg <w DB>all the
children, <w DB>all of their recommendations)
DA- indicates a post-determiner, ie a determiner coming after
any other determiners ( eg few in a <w DA2>few biscuits,
many in the <w DB>many plates ).
The initial A- signals that it shares the position of articles.
<w DDQ >Which flavour do you want?
The details <w DDQ >which I have been able to gather are
inconclusive.
This is the news <w CST>that we dreaded.
Jim decided <w CST>that enough was enough.
Section 3: DAR vs RRR ('more' and
'less') and
Section 4:
much;
no;
that
Note also the expressions:
a little
a great/good many
a lot
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags:
IF II IO IW
RP RPK
Most prepositions are tagged II, including a large number of complex prepositions.
Examples
<w II>in Paris ;
<w II>as a rule
<w II>according_to the Bible
<w II>other_than that, I would agree with you
That's certainly something to think <w II>about.
Click here for full list of II words
More specific tags are used as follows:
IW denotes with (or wi'), without
IO denotes of
IF denotes for
We assign the tag RP to a preposition-type word which has no
complement. Typical uses of RP are in
phrasal verb constructions, or when it functions as a place adjunct.
e.g.
there's a lot of it <w RP>about these days
Don't give <w RP>up on us just yet.
The following is a full list of possible RP words:
'bout about along around back by down in off on out over round through thru to under up
Of the above list all except back allow also a
prepositional reading.
Thus there are many instances of
ambiguity between II and RP. (See below)
Note the special use of about in the catenative construction be about to:
We were <w RPK>about to climb on the bus when suddenly it shot away.
See further - Guide to Disambiguation
Section 3 Preposition vs Adverb
Particle vs Locative Adverb (II vs RP)
Section 4 but, about
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags: CCB CC CS CSA CSN CST CSW
We have maintained the traditional division of conjunctions into coordinating and subordinating types.
CS is the default tag (eg before, since,
because, and the compound as soon as.)
CSA applies to as when it
introduces a subordinate clause, or the second operator in a
comparative (as...as.., same...as) construction.
CSN applies to than (in any context except certain
multiwords)
eg other than, more than
CST applies to that, introducing reported speech
(and also relative clauses)
CSW applies to whether and if when they appear in indirect questions.
Examples:
<w CS>When you have finished, give me a call.
Alexander rejoiced <w CS>after he heard the news.
<w CSA>As the war is nearly over, we should start thinking about truce.
Come over <w CS>as_soon_as you can.
It was a much bigger catch <w CSN>than she could handle.
Glaxo announced <w CST>that half-year profits were up from 1989.
Tell me <w CSW>whether (or <w CSW>if) you want to come along.
Click here for full list of CS-tagged words and compounds.
See further - Guide to Disambiguation
Section 4 so,
as,
that
[ Back to Contents ]
choice of tags:
MC MC1 MCMC MCGE MF
MD
NNO NNO2
put a '<w MC>3' in the box.
<w MC1>one in <w MC>ten students
in <w MC>1991
scored <w MC>11.05
These are treated differently from other numbers because they are nouns both morphologically (taking plural endings) and syntactically (acting as head of a noun phrase - eg being preceded by determiners or even adjectives, eg a good hundred).
Currency expressions, consisting of numbers and a unit of measurement of some kind, are assigned a nominal tag, NNU1 (singular), NNU2 (plural), or NNU (neutral for number)
<w NNU>6kg;
<w NNU>£600
<w NNU>12.5%
<w NNU2>12&ins;
Page <w FO>7a
Serial no. <w FO>909X44T
<w FO>A4 sheets
Just drive up the <w FO>M1
The main ambiguity in this category is between one functioning as a cardinal number (MC1) and as a pronoun (PN1).
[ Back to Contents ]
Do you <w VVI>want to <w VHI>have your shower now?
In the summer holidays I can get up early if I
want <w TO>to .
Note the morphological variation of to in the following colloquial forms:
We <w VVN>got<w TO>ta go, but
we <w VV0>wan<w TO>na stay.
BCL is only ever used with the compound form in order to (+INFINITIVE)
<w BCL>In_order <w TO>to let you through I must see your passport.
ZZ1 is the default tag for a single letter of the alphabet.
If however, the letter clearly represents a separate word, or an abbreviation of a separate word, we generally prefer the appropriate POS tag for that word, rather than ZZ1.
Examples:
I as personal pronoun is PPIS1 rather than ZZ1.
a as indefinite article is tagged AT1
F as in John F. Kennedy is tagged NP1
In spoken texts, words which are spelt out by the speaker are transcribed letter by letter, and each letter is tagged ZZ1.
<w NP1>I <w NP1>B <w NP1>M
<w FU>blah <w FU>blah <w FU>blah
<w FU>er I think so
it was <trunc> <w FU>hap </trunc>happening all the time
For the distinction between FU and UH see section 3, INTERJECTION vs UNCLASSIFIED.
[ Back to Contents ]
The following is a guide to the resolution of the most common
tagging ambiguities.
DEGREE ADVERB VS. GENERAL ADVERB (RG VS RR, RGQ VS RRQ)
RG is a tag restricted to adverbs of degree (also called intensifiers)
which precede the word or expression they modify. Clear cases
of RG are so X, as X, very X and too X, where X
is an adjective, adverb or determiner.
e.g. <w RG>very <w JJ>likely <w RG>too <w
RR>soon
<w RG>so <w DA2>few
Adverbs which have a range of functions, including that of adverb
of degree, are not normally tagged RG, but are given the more
general RR 'general adverb' tag instead. E.g.in It was <w
RR>beautifully simple, beautifully is an RR rather than
an RG, because it could also occur after a verb, as in She
dresses beautifully.
This is another case of the usual principle of avoiding general-specific
tagging ambiguities within a word class. RG is only for words
which do not have a more general range of adverbial uses.
There are exceptions to this, however, where the semantic functions
of the two forms of the same adverb are clearly very different.
(see Section 1, and Section 2: Adverbs; see also Section 4: So.)
The words which may be tagged RG or RR are:
So: She is <w RG>so attractive. I would think <w RR>so.
Too: This is <w RG>too heavy. Can I come <w RR>too?
Rather: That's <w RG>rather nice. I would <w RR>rather go out.
Quite: He's <w RG>quite talkative. <w RR>Quite,
I agree.
Note that about may be tagged RP or RG. However, this does
not go against the principle mentioned above, since both RP and
RG are sub-categories of the general class of adverbs represented
by RR.
About: He's <w RG>about twelve years old.
Stop messing <w RP>about.
[ Back to Contents ]
[ Back to Contents ]
After a verb or an object, there is sometimes a difficult choice
between JJ and RR, or between JJR and RRR. e.g.:
They arrived <w JJ>tired and <w JJ>hungry.
Here, both tired and hungry are JJ. The main test
is to see whether one can express the relation between these words
and their logical subjects using the verb be: They arrived
tired and hungry implies 'They were tired and hungry'. The
word tagged JJ refers to a property of a noun, rather than to
a property of an event or situation. Contrast:
Peter sang out <w RR>loud and <w RR>clear.
This sentence does not imply that Peter was loud and clear,
but is more or less equivalent to Peter sang out loudly and
clearly. It means that his singing was loud and clear.
It follows that when, in colloquial English, a word which we normally
expect to be an adjective is used as an adverb, we tag it RR;
e.g:
We did <w RR>terrific today.
Here is another pair of examples, where the JJ/RR word follows
an object:
I thought the game too <w JJ>long. (i.e. 'the game was too long'.)
The dried fish goes <w JJ>bad if you keep it too <w RR>long.
(i.e. 'the fish will be bad', but NOT 'the fish will
be too long.')
Also note the similar distinction between JJR and RRR:
They'll have to make the taxes <w JJR>higher. ('the taxes will be higher')
You'll have to aim <w RRR>higher. (NOT 'you will
be higher')
and between JJT and RRT: I considered it <w JJT>best
to... BUT: I loved her <w RRT>best.
[ Back to Contents ]
There are many words in English which can be tagged either adjective
(JJ) or noun (NN1). Colour words like black, white and
red are fairly consistent in allowing the two tags, and
may be used to illustrate the difference. In attributive (premodifying)
or predicative (complementing) positions without further modification
these words are normally adjectives: a <w JJ>white screen,
The screen is <w JJ>white. When the word is the head
of a noun phrase, on the other hand, it is a noun: <w NN1>Red
is my favourite colour. They painted the wall a brilliant
<w NN1>white.
Sometimes a word cannot be used predicatively as an adjective,
but can occur attributively in a way which suggests adjectival
use. For example, past, present and future are
adjectives in
(1) We need to review our <w JJ>past, <w JJ>present
and <w JJ>future needs.
We do not find present, etc. being used as predicative
adjectives, however:
(2) *These needs are past, present, and future.
(Note that present can be used as a predicative adjective
meaning the opposite of 'absent'; but this meaning is not comparable
to the temporal meanings of past, present and future
above.)
Contrast (1) above with cases where past, present etc.
are heads of noun phrases, e.g. following the definite article,
and are clearly nouns:
You are living in the <w NN1>past. Let's think
about the <w NN1>future.
The only reason for treating past and future in
example (1) above as adjectives is that they have an institutionalized
meaning as modifiers, which is rather different from the meaning
they have as nouns. Further examples of this type are words such
as model in model behaviour, giant in a giant
caterpillar and vintage in vintage cars.
Words ending in -ing are a particular problem: when they
premodify a noun, they can be tagged either NN1 (noun) or JJ (adjective).
Contrast:
new <w NN1>spending reductions a <w JJ>working mother
her <w NN1>acting ability in the <w JJ>coming
weeks
The guideline is as follows. If X-ing + Noun is equivalent
in meaning to 'Noun who/which X-es / X-ed / BE +
X-ing', then X-ing is an adjective (JJ). That is,
a word ending -ing is an adjective when it is the notional
subject of the noun it premodifies. E.g.:
the <w JJ>smiling children ('the children who are/were smiling')
In other cases, X-ing is generally a noun (NN1). In such
cases, it is often possible to paraphrase X-ing + Noun
by a more explicit phrase in which X-ing is clearly a noun:
new <w NN1>spending reductions ('new reductions in spending')
her <w NN1> acting ability ('her ability in acting')
Further examples:
a couple of <w JJ>mating chimpanzees the <w NN1>mating season
a <w JJ>falling rate of exchange <w NN1>slimming
tablets.
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COMPARATIVE DETERMINER VS. COMPARATIVE ADVERB (DAR VS. RRR)
More and less can be assigned to either of the tags
DAR or RRR. The difference between them is that DAR is for noun-phrase-like
(and determiner-like) uses of the word in question, whereas RRR
is for adverbial uses. The two can be hard to distinguish, particularly
after a verb:
(a) You should relax <w RRR>more. (b) You should spend <w DAR>more.
Since relax is an intransitive verb in (a), more
cannot be a noun phrase following it. Instead, more can
be paraphrased roughly as 'to a greater extent' or 'to a greater
degree'. On the other hand, spend in (b) is a transitive
verb, and so more is a determiner-pronoun form following
it. As confirmation of this, note that sentence (b) could be turned
into a passive with more as subject: More should be
spent.... There are unfortunately some verbs for which the
distinction is less clear than in the above examples, e.g.:
You should eat more. You should read more. You should smoke less.
In these cases, the verb may be used transitively or intransitively
with almost identical meanings, so that the syntactic structures
of the immediate and/or surrounding context are the only clues
as to which is the case:
Do you smoke? (Intransitive) How many do you smoke
in a week? (Transitive)
Contrast (c) and (d) below:
(c) At the moment we have 23 fixtures per season.
Personally, I would rather play <w DAR>more.
(d) You should work less and play <w RRR>more.
(In (d) the adverb more has roughly the meaning of 'more
often'.)
See also RG VS RR for the tagging of more and less as
degree adverbs or as general adverbs.
[ Back to Contents ]
ADJECTIVE VS PARTICIPLE (JJ vs VVG and JJ vs VVN)
Another area of borderline cases is the tagging of words as adjectives
(JJ) or as participles (VVG or VVN).
(I) In both cases, the word can be a JJ. One test is to see whether
a degree adverb like very can be inserted in front of the
word: e.g. in We were very surprised, surprised is a JJ.
(ii) Another test, having the opposite effect, is to see whether
there is an agent by-phrase following the word in -ed
or -en. If so it is a VVN: e.g. We were <w VVN>surprised
by pirates. Even where it is not present, the possibility
of adding the by-phrase, without changing the meaning of
the word, is evidence in favour of VVN. (However, this criterion
can clash with the preceding one - since it occasionally happens
that an -ed word is both preceded by an adverb like very
AND followed by a by-phrase: E.g. I was so irritated
by his behaviour that I put the phone down. When these do
occur, we give preference to JJ.)
(iii) A third test is negative: to see whether the word in question can be placed before a noun. e.g.:
The effect is <w JJ>lasting (compare a <w JJ>lasting effect).
The door is <w JJ>locked (compare the <w
JJ>locked door.)
This shows that lasting or locked can easily be
(but need not be) a JJ. If the word could not be placed (with
the same meaning) before the noun|, this would be evidence that
the word is a participle.
(iv) Even though an -ing word is normally a VVG after
the verb be, it is generally treated as a JJ before a noun:
The man was <w VVG>dying. BUT: the <w JJ>dying
man.
(v) However, when the -ing or -ed forms part of
a premodifying phrase, the VVG or VVN tag is preferred:
an <w NN1>interest <w VVG>earning account
a <w NN1>hypothesis <w VVN>driven approach
In these examples the NN1+VVG/VVN sequence has the character of
a premodifying adjective compound. We can therefore imagine the
two words bracketed together forming an adjective: an [JJ interest-earning
JJ] account. But within the adjective, the VVG and VVN tags
retain their verbal character, with the initial noun acting as
object of the verb (cf. the account earns interest).
The same applies when the premodifying compound phase is noun-like:
a [<w NN1>carol <w VVG>singing ] contest
(vi) If the verb be can be replaced by another verb such
as seem or become, without changing the meaning
of the following JJ / VVN word, this is a strong indication that
the construction is not properly a passive, and that the word
is a JJ:
The building was <w JJ>infested with cockroaches
(cf.: The building seemed/became infested with cockroaches)
(vii) A further distinction which can be used to test with 'event'
verbs is that the JJ refers to a 'resultant state', whereas the
VVN refers to an event:
Bill was <w JJ>married. (i.e. he was not single)
Bill was <w VVN>married to Sarah on the 15th May. (i.e.
the actual event)
This is a manifestation of the general semantic character of adjectives
(which typically refer to states or qualities) and verbs (which
typically refer to events or actions).
However, VVG and VVN can also sometimes refer to states, when the meaning of the verb is stative:
She is not <w VVN>disturbed by that sort of threat.
The tourists were <w VVG> standing around a map of the
city.
(viii) Note that a verb takes following complements such as a
noun phrase, an adjective or an adverbial. These cannot follow
the same word as adjective. E.g.:
Are you <w VVG>expecting a result soon?
The price is <w VVG>looking good.
<w VVG>Turning abruptly, she left the room.
[ Back to Contents ]
PREPOSITION vs PREPOSITION ADVERB vs ADVERB (II vs RL, and
II vs RP)
This kind of ambiguity occurs frequently, particularly in spoken
texts. Compare:
(a) She ran <w II>down the hill.
(b) She ran <w RP>down her best friends.
In (a), down is a preposition, because:
(1) An adverb could be inserted before it: She ran quickly down the hill.
(But not: *She ran viciously down her best friends.)
(2) It can be moved (somewhat awkwardly) to the front of a wh-word:
This is the hill <w II>down which he ran.
<w II>Down which slopes do you like ski-ing?
In (b), down is an adverbial particle because:
(1) It can be placed before or after the noun phrase acting as
object of the verb:
She ran her best friends <w RP>down. (But not:
*She ran the hill down.)
(2) If the noun phrase is replaced by a pronoun, the pronoun has
to be placed in front of the particle:
She ran them <w RP>down. (= her best friends)
(But not: *She ran down them.)
Similarly: The dentist took all my teeth <w RP>out. ~ The dentist took them out.
Contrast: She went <w II>through the gate. ~ She went
through it.
Notice that the syntactic distinction between (for example) down
as an adverbial particle and down as a preposition
is independent of the semantic distinction between locative and
non-locative interpretations of down.
When the verb is simply followed by down or out,
etc., without a following noun phrase, it is normally an RP:
Income tax is coming <w RP>down.
The decorations are put <w RP>up on Christmas Eve.
However, it is important to recognize 'stranded' prepositions,
which have been deprived of the company of their noun phrase,
the prepositional complement, because it has been fronted or omitted
through ellipsis (e.g. in relative clauses, with passives, in
questions, etc.):
This is the hill (which) she ran <w II>down.
(Cf. This is the hill down which she ran.)
The poor were looked down<w RP> on<w II> by<w II> the rich.
(Here on is the stranded preposition)
Which car did she arrive <w II>in?
The same tests apply to words which are tagged either as prepositions
or as locative adverbs (RL), such as across, past and behind.
INTERJECTION VS UNCLASSIFIED ( UH VS FU)
The borderline between interjections or exclamatory particles
(tagged UH) and unclassified 'noise' words (tagged FU) is drawn
as follows:
UH is used for 'institutionalized' interjections such as
<w UH>good-bye, <w UH>oh, <w UH>okay, <w
UH>no, <w UH>oops
FU is used in contexts where no other wordclass tag seems appropriate:
<w FU>blah <w FU>blah <w FU>blah
<w FU>er I think so. <w FU>Erm nope.
<w FU>methinks. <w FU>ai<w XX>n't
The contraction ain't is a special case: its first half
is tagged FU because it abbreviates so many different verb forms
(am not, is not, are not, has not, have not) that no single
tag can be applied to it (unless one were to invent a special
tag for that purpose).
[ Back to Contents ]
In this section we discuss some common words which belong to more
than one word class, and are among the most problematic words
for disambiguation. They words covered are:
'S,
AS,
BUT,
DOUBLE,
GOT,
HOME,
LIKE,
MUCH,
MORE,
NO,
ONE ,
RIGHT,
SO,
THAT,
THEN,
TO,
WELL,
WHEN,
WORTH
Choice of tags: VBZ VHZ VDZ GE VM ZZ2 MC2
The problematic choices for 's are between the verb tags
VBZ, VHZ and VDZ
<w DD1>That<w VBZ>'s perfect. (= That is...)
<w NP1>Jo<w VHZ>'s got her work cut out. (= Jo has...)
<w DDQ>What<w VDZ>'s he do for a living? (=
What does...)
eating Victory <w ZZ2>V's
in the <w MC2>1980's
<w VM>Let's <w VVI>go.
Note that let's is not considered a contraction of let
us, but is treated as a single 'verbal particle', tagged VM,
on the grounds that it is closely analogous to modal auxiliaries.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: II, RG and RP
When about has an approximating meaning, typically premodifying
a quantifying expression, it is tagged RG (not II):
<w RG>about three weeks
<w RG>about half the original cost
Note also the multiword just about, as in: We're <w
RR>just_about ready.
E.g. It's a novel <w II>about the American Civil War.
How did this disaster come <w RP>about?
Choice of tags: II, RG and CSA (also multi-word tags)
As is a degree adverb (RG) when it occurs before an adjective,
adverb or determiner (and sometimes other words) in phrases of
the type as X as Y, or simply as X (where the comparative
clause or phrase as Y) is omitted but understood:
I go there <w RG>as often as I can.
There are not <w RG>as many visitors as last year.
I don't think that one is <w RG>as good..
In the first and second examples above, the second as introduces
a comparative construction which expresses 'equal comparison',
as contrasted with the unequal comparison of more X than Y.
When as is a word introducing such a comparative construction,
it is tagged CSA:
She's not <w RG>as good <w CSA> as she claims.
An ostrich can run <w RG>as quickly <w CSA>as a zebra.
He has <w RG>as many <w CSA>as six children.
Notice that as in this comparative use is tagged CSA whether
or not it introduces a clause. Often it introduces a noun phrase.
In the following example, it introduces an adjective:
Please come <w RG>as quickly <w CSA>as possible.
The tag CSA is also used when introducing other subordinate clauses,
such as adverbial clauses of time or reason:
Just <w CSA>as I was arriving, there was a rumble of thunder.
I'll lend you the money, <w CSA>as you're my friend.
The tag II is used for as functioning clearly as a preposition:
They consider him <w II>as a member of the family.
<w II>As governor of the province, I had to take action.
Usually the meaning is related to the equative meaning of the
verb be. However, the guideline restricts II to cases
where as is followed by the normal noun phrase or nominal,
as is normal for prepositions. Where the as is followed
by an adjective or a past participle clause, it is tagged CSA,
even though it may retain the equative type of meaning:
They've adapted the novel <w CSA>as originally written.
Many people regard his paintings as <w CSA>hideous.
As is part of many multi-words which get tagged with a
single tag: e.g. as soon as, such as, in so far as,
as long as, as well as. The sequence as well as, for
example, is tagged as a coordinating conjunction (CC) in such
examples as
She's illustrating <w CC>as_well_ as writing the book.
(In this and later examples, the underline character _ is used
to connect words which are part of a multi-word expression. However,
this coding is not used in the corpus itself.) Note that this
is different from the multi-word adverb as well (meaning
also); it is also different from the sequence of as
well as as three separate words, e.g. in:
She's <w RG>as <w JJ>well <w CSA>as can
be expected.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: CCB, CS, II, RR
The coordinating conjunction CCB is overwhelmingly the most common
use of but.
But is an adverb when its meaning is similar to 'only':
She can spare you <w RR>but a few minutes.
There is <w RR>but one penalty.
But is either a conjunction (CS) or a preposition (II)
if it has the meaning of 'except (for)', 'other than' or 'apart
from'. CS is used when it introduces a clause, and II is used
when it introduces a phrase:
I couldn't help <w CS>but notice.
Poorer women especially had little choice <w CS>but to follow their husbands.
I remember everything <w II>but his actual words.
the last <w II>but one ship to leave was the 'Tempest'.
Otherwise but is a coordinating conjunction, tagged CCB,
linking units of the same kind (e.g. clauses or adjective/adverb
phrases). Its function is to express contrastive or 'adversative'
meaning:
The Hulsbys were present, <w CCB>but insignificantly so.
Go home immediately, <w CCB>but don't forget to phone me when you arrive.
midwives or nurses <w CCB>but not doctors
Note also multi-words such as but that (CS), but for
(II).
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: JJ RR NN1 VVB VVI
They were <w RR>double the size.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: RL and NN1
We stayed <w RL>home.
This place is my <w NN1>home.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: II RR CS VV0 VVI NN1 JJ
In speech, when like has a discoursal function as a 'hedge',
we tag it RR:
You know <w RR>like when you're in the car by yourself.
She says <w RR>like you're gonna get into trouble <w
RR>like.
Like very frequently occurs as a preposition or as a verb.
The noun and adjective uses are fairly rare:
...badgers, dolphins and the <ww NN1>like.
They're as <w JJ>like as two peas.
Choice of tags: JJ, DA1, RR, (also multi-words)
The meaning of little (JJ) is the opposite of big:
It was a dear <w JJ>little cottage. <w JJ>Little
green shoots of recovery are stirring.
The meaning of little (DA1) is 'not much':
She had <w DA1>little to say. There was <w
DA1>little food in the shops.
As an adverb (RR), too, little has the meaning 'not much':
She eats and drinks very <w RR>little.
Note that the multi-word a little can also be a determiner-pronoun
(DA1) or an adverb (RR):
I just want <w DA1>a_little milk.
I thought he was <w RR>a_little drunk.
[See ADVERB vs DETERMINER ]
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: DA1 RR
<w DA1>Much of his writing is unpublished.
We won't spend too <w DA1>much money.
Thank you very <w RR> much. I didn't sleep <w RR>much
during the flight.
Choice of tags: DAR RRR RGR
[ See COMPARATIVE DETERMINER vs ADVERB ]
You deserve <w DAR>more than that.
<w DAR>More haste, <w DAR>less speed.
It just made me <w RGR>more thirsty.
The divorce just made her hate him <w RRR>more.
I was <w RGR>more_than delighted.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: AT NN1 RR UH
As a noun, no is usually an abbreviation for number:
Mozart's Symphony <w NN1>No 25.
I don't talk to Kelly <w RR>no more.
No is tagged as an interjection (UH) where it functions
as the opposite of Yes.
Did you believe her? Frankly, <w UH>no.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: PN1, MC1
The clearest cases of MC1 are:
In a quantifying noun phrase, typically allowing the substitution
of another numerical expression (e.g. one cheeseburger
contrasts with two cheeseburgers) or of the digit 1 (1
cheeseburger):
<w MC1>one cheeseburger, please
How many places have you set? Just <w MC1>one.
<w MC1>One in five sufferers never tells their partners.
Orford Ness is <w MC1>one of Britain's most unusual
coastal features.
In such noun phrases, one functions like a determiner pronoun
such as some.
The clearest cases of PN1 are:
(a) As a substitute form, standing for an understood noun or noun
phrase:
The channel was not a broad <w PN1>one.
In this use, one has a plural form ones.
(b) As a generic personal pronoun, meaning 'people in general':
Indeed, <w PN1>one might go so far as to say....
Choice of tags: RR VV0 VVI NN1
As both an adverb (RR) and an adjective (JJ) right means
the opposite of 'wrong' and also the opposite of 'left'. As a
noun, it generally means 'entitlements': e.g. I have a <w
NN1>right to know. The uses of right as a verb are
very rare.
Less obvious points:
As a discourse marker, right is tagged RR:
<w RR>Right, how you doing there?
I'll tell you what happened, <w RR>right.
In dialectal usage, right can be an intensifier, and is
tagged RR:
Mhm it's a <w RR>right soft carpet.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: RG RR CS
In most cases so is tagged as an adverb (RR):
<w RR>So what's the score?
As a pro-form meaning 'thus' or standing for a clause/predicate,
so is tagged RR:
<w RR>So say I and <w RR>so say the folk.
Dignified, I think <w RR>so, yes.
As a degree adverb or intensifier, so is tagged
RG:
That's why they're <w RG>so keen.
There are <w RG>so many lonely people.
Introducing purpose clauses, so is tagged CS (subordinating
conjunction):
The idea is <w CS>so you can do that while mummy does
this...
Note that so is frequently part of a multi-word: so
that, so far, so as to, (in) so far as, etc.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: RT JJ
In all functions except clear adjectival usage (JJ), then
receives the tag RT:
And <w RT>then he spoke Let's stay at home, <w RT>then.
the <w JJ>then mayor of West Berlin.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: DD1 CST RG
<w DD1>That's my book. It's driving me mad, <w DD1>that
noise.
This applies to that as a complementizer:
They claim <w CST>that it was all a mistake.
And also to that as a relativizer (introducing a relative
clause):
a clock <w CST>that always keeps time.
This is different from the more traditional analysis which treats
that introducing a relative clause as a relative pronoun.
It wasn't all <w RG>that bad.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: TO II RP
Note elliptical uses of the pre-infinitival to, especially
in informal spoken texts:
In the summer holidays, I can, I can get up early if I want
<w TO>to.
Note also the common colloquial spelling of want to, got to,
and going to as fused words:
<w VV0>wan<w TO>na <w VVN>got<w TO>ta
<w VVG>gon<w TO>na
Prepositions are normally followed by a noun phrase or nominal
clause. Where the preposition is 'stranded' (i.e. where the noun
phrase associated with the preposition has been moved or ellipted)
it can be confused with an adverbial particle:
This is what you're entitled <w II>to by law.
A: Where <w II>to? B: <w II>To the airport,
please.
The adverbial particle to is extremely rare: it occurs
in come to meaning 'regain consciousness'.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: RR VV0 VVI JJ NN1
By far the most common function for well is as an adverb:
e.g. She's playing <w RR>well..
When well has the function of a discourse marker, it is
treated as an adverb (RR):
Oh <w RR>well, that'll be the finish.
I bet he doesn't get up till about, <w RR>well, it's
eleven now.
Well is tagged RR, too, where it has an intensifying function:
e.g. It's <w RR>well past your bedtime.
Well is tagged as an adjective where it means 'in good
health': You don't look <w JJ>well.
As a verb, well is very rare, and occurs in the phrasal
verb well up.
[ Back to Contents ]
Choice of tags: RRQ CS
When can introduce three types of clauses: an adverbial
clause, a nominal clause, or a relative clause. Where it introduces
an adverbial clause, it is tagged CS. Otherwise it is tagged RRQ.
The RRQ tag is also used for when introducing a question.
Examples:
Adverbial clause:
<w CS>When I got back, there was no one at home.
John left <w CS>when Sheila arrived (when = at the time at which)
I smoke <w CS>when I'm nervous. (when = whenever)
Note that when is also a conjunction (CS) in abbreviated
adverbial clauses which lack a subject and finite verb, such as
when in doubt, when ready, when completed.
Nominal clause:
I can't remember <RRQ>when we met last.
Do you know <RRQ>when the next bus is due? (when
= at what time)
Before an infinitive, when is also tagged RRQ:
I didn't know <w RRQ>when to apply.
Also when the rest of the infinitive clause is understood: Tell
me <w RRQ>when.
Relative clause:
in the year <RRQ>when I was born (when = in which)
the moment <RRQ>when he arrived (when = at which)
Note that when can often be omitted in relative clauses:
the moment he arrived.
Direct questions:
<w RRQ>When did you find out?
Choice of tags: RRQ CS
Where is like when in that it can be a wh-
adverb (RRQ) or a subordinating conjunction (CS). However, with
where the CS tag is much less likely than the RRQ tag.
Examples:
nominal clause: I don't know <w RRQ>where she put them.
relative clause: the house <w RRQ>where the conspirators met.
direct questions: <w RRQ>Where are you going?
Choice of tags: II NN1
My records are <w II>worth a small fortune.
He is <w II>worth about two million.
It's not <w II>worth gambling on.
Worth also occurs as a 'stranded preposition' in questions
used to elicit such responses, and in some other common constructions:
What do you think they are <w II>worth?
He knew exactly how much the jewellery was <w II>worth.
She gave it everything she was <w II>worth.
Baker showed his <w NN1>worth for Ipswich in the 20th minute.
a hundred pounds <w NN1>worth of dry goods.
a dollar's worth of ink.
[End]
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