📘 English seeds: morphology (en/seeds/morph)

A seed is a short Markdown note that states one fact of English grammar, with its sources. A checkable rule grows from it. This folder covers morphology: inflection (number, degree, tense and person forms), the Penn Treebank (PTB) tags and Universal Dependencies (UD) features that encode those forms, lemmas, spelling changes, pronoun paradigms and word formation. Seeds in en/seeds/lexicon cover verb valency instead.

How seeds fit into en

en is a deterministic English parser written in Rust: tokenizer, PTB tagger, lemma/form morphology (morph.rs), dependency parser and word-order generator. Seeds feed it in two ways:

• The lexicon is compiled; the seeds are not. en/build.rs compiles data/lemmas.tsv (the lemma heap) and data/forms.tsv (every form with its tag, lemma, UD frequency and source: UD, AGID or a stem) into static open-addressing hash tables (lexicon.bin). It also writes word constants (words.rs, e.g. w::THE) for the 5,000 most frequent lemmas plus the lemmas listed in data/consts.txt. At runtime nothing is read from disk, and a word check is an integer comparison. The morphology seeds describe the facts these tables and morph.rs must respect: which tag goes with which form and which lemma belongs to an irregular form.
• Rules are interpreted. The fenced ```rule blocks inside seeds are loaded from the seeds directory by the rule engine en::expert. The command en expert-check <seeds dir> [--gold <file>] <file> runs them over CoNLL-U, and annotation tools use them as hints ("token 5 breaks rule X"). The cargo test gate seeds_all_parse requires every rule in every seed to parse and every rule id to be unique. A rule that cannot be parsed is an error, never silently skipped.

Seed format

Each seed has these sections:

• Gist: what the grammar says, in 1–3 sentences.
• Conditions and exceptions.
• Examples: short English examples, often tagged.
• In UD: how the phenomenon appears in UD 2.18 / EWT annotation (UPOS, XPOS, FEATS, relations).
• Sources: grammars (Sweet, Whitney, Jespersen, Kruisinga, Mätzner, Poutsma, Brown), Santorini 1990 (the PTB tagging guidelines), UD documentation and ACL Anthology paper ids.
• Zero or more ```rule blocks.

The rule block

rule: en.morph.comparative-form
what: a form tagged JJR or RBR ends in -er (or is more, less, worse)
match: a[xpos=JJR|RBR, !feats.Typo]
require: a[suffix=er|more|less|worse]
severity: warn
source: Santorini 1990, §2, p. 1

• match: one or more nodes, separated by ;. A node is written name[cond, cond, …]. The engine tries every binding of distinct words in the sentence that satisfies all the conditions.
• require: what must hold for each binding; if it does not, the binding is a violation. Clauses are separated by ;, and or inside a clause gives alternatives. Clause forms: name[…] (a condition on a bound node), not name[…], exists c[…] (some other word satisfies the conditions), none c[…] (no word does).
• unless: optional exceptions. These clauses use the same forms as require; if any of them holds, the violation is dropped.
• Conditions: upos=, xpos=, lemma=, form= (case-insensitive; a|b means "one of"); feats.X=V, feats.X!=V, feats.X and !feats.X (the feature is present or absent); rel= (exact relation) and rel~ (relation by base, so nsubj also matches nsubj:pass); head=v and head=0; before=, after=, next=, prev= (word order); suffix= and prefix= on the form; lemma.suffix= and lemma.prefix=; negation of any condition with !=; feats.X=@s (same value as node s); lemma=@form.
• severity: error means the annotation is certainly wrong; warn means it is suspect.
• source: required. It says where the rule comes from.

Most morphology rules exclude tokens marked Typo (!feats.Typo), because a misspelled form keeps the annotation of the intended word.

Seeds

adj-as-noun

Adjective used as a noun: the rich vs the natives

Gist. English adjectives do not inflect, but they can head a noun phrase in two ways. In partial conversion (the rich, the poor, the English, the unknown) the word takes no -s and no a, so it is still an adjective (ADJ, JJ, Degree=Pos, no Number). In full conversion (a native → natives, a criminal, the ancients, his betters, goods) it takes plural -s and a, so it is a noun (NOUN, NN/NNS with Number).

Conditions and exceptions. Test: if the word can take plural -s and a/an, it is a noun; if it cannot, but can be intensified (the very rich), it is an adjective. Nationality words ending in a sibilant (the English, the French, the Dutch, the Chinese) convert only partially, while others convert fully (an American, Americans). Language names (He speaks Chinese) are nouns (PROPN or NOUN in EWT). The prop-word one carries the noun endings (a good one, the red ones), and a noun used before a noun (gold watch, silk thread) stays a noun with compound.

Examples. The rich get richer (ADJ); the natives of the island (NOUN, NNS); the unknown (ADJ); two Americans (PROPN/NOUN with Number=Plur).

Sources. Sweet, A New English Grammar (NEG) I §§106–107, 179–180, 1035; Whitney §§76, 144, 196; Santorini 1990 §4.1; Jespersen, Modern English Grammar (MEG) II 11.3–11.5; Kruisinga II.3 §§1789–1803, 1850; Mätzner I pp. 270–272.

adj-comparison-er-est

Degrees of comparison in -er/-est

Gist. Short adjectives form the comparative with -er and the superlative with -est (big → bigger → biggest, happy → happier → happiest), while long ones use more/most. The choice depends on length and sound shape, and in a transition zone both forms occur. The lemma of an -er/-est form is the positive (bigger → big).

Conditions and exceptions. Monosyllables, disyllables stressed on the last syllable (polite, severe) and many initially stressed disyllables, especially those in -y, -ow, -le, -er (happy, narrow, simple, clever), take -er/-est. Words in -ful, -ish, -ive, -ous, -st, participial adjectives in -ed/-ing and most words of three or more syllables take more/most. Spelling changes follow spell-consonant-doubling, spell-silent-e and spell-y-to-i. Flat adverbs compare the same way (harder, sooner). Only the suppletive more, less, worse and most, least, worst break the -er/-est shape.

Examples. a bigger house; the easiest way; nicer weather; the latest news.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1038–1039; Whitney §§199–200; Santorini 1990 §2; UD docs/_en/feat/Degree.md; Kruisinga II.3 §§1723–1729; Mätzner I pp. 273–275.

Rules. en.morph.comparative-form (warn): a JJR/RBR form ends in -er or is more/less/worse. en.morph.superlative-form (warn): a JJS/RBS form ends in -est or is most/least/worst.

adj-comparison-periphrastic

Periphrastic comparison: more/most + adjective

Gist. Long adjectives and nearly all -ly adverbs are compared with more/most (or less/least): more difficult, most carefully, less expensive. The adjective itself stays in the positive degree (JJ, Degree=Pos), and the degree is carried by more/most.

Conditions and exceptions. More/most before an adjective or adverb is an adverb (RBR/RBS, advmod). Before a noun (more money) it is a quantifying adjective (JJR/JJS, amod). Used alone, PTB tags it JJR as an object (eat more) and RBR as an adverbial (relax more). Double comparison (more braver) is now substandard; if it occurs, braver is still tagged JJR. Intensifying most (a most interesting book) is RBS. In more than (more than ten), EWT tags more ADJ with ExtPos=ADV.

Examples. a more difficult task (more RBR, difficult JJ Degree=Pos); the most carefully planned trip; less expensive.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1038–1039, 1041, 1524; Whitney §200; Santorini 1990 §4.2; UD docs/_en/feat/Degree.md; Kruisinga II.3 §§1727–1729, 1777–1778; Mätzner I pp. 280–282.

Rules. en.morph.more-most-advmod-adv (warn): more/most/less/least as advmod (without ExtPos) is ADV with RBR/RBS.

adj-comparison-suppletive

Irregular comparison: good–better–best, bad–worse–worst

Gist. A few very frequent words form their degrees from another root: good/well → better → best, bad/badly/ill → worse → worst, much/many → more → most, little → less → least. Some have double forms with different meanings: farther/further, older/elder, later/latter, latest/last, nearest/next.

Conditions and exceptions. Part of speech decides the lemma: ADJ better/best → good, ADV → well; ADJ worse/worst → bad, ADV → badly (EWT sometimes uses bad). Elder/eldest refers to family seniority only. Latter and last have their own lemma and the tag JJ. Further meaning "additional" is JJ with lemma further, while comparative further (further away) is RBR with lemma far. Lesser is a double comparative. In EWT more, most, less, least keep their own lemmas, while fewer → few, later/latest → late and older → old.

Examples. a better plan (ADJ, lemma good); she sings better (ADV, lemma well); worse luck (ADJ, bad); more people (ADJ JJR, lemma more).

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1044–1052, 1525; Whitney §§202, 316; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1, 4.2; UD EWT 2.18 lemma practice; Kruisinga II.3 §§1731–1733.

Rules. en.morph.better-best-adj (error): ADJ better/best → lemma good. en.morph.better-best-adv (error): ADV → well. en.morph.worse-worst-adj (error): ADJ → bad. en.morph.worse-worst-adv (warn): ADV → badly or bad. en.morph.more-most-lemma (error): degree-tagged more/most/less/least keep their own lemma. en.morph.farther-further-lemma (warn): degree-tagged further/farther/furthest/farthest → far.

adj-degree-tags

Degrees of comparison in tags and features

Gist. PTB tags encode degree in the tag name: JJ/JJR/JJS for adjectives and RB/RBR/RBS for adverbs. The UD feature Degree repeats this, so tag and feature must agree: Pos ↔ JJ, Cmp ↔ JJR/RBR, Sup ↔ JJS/RBS.

Conditions and exceptions. Every JJ adjective has Degree=Pos. Among adverbs, only those with their own comparison forms have it (see adv-flat-degree); ordinary -ly adverbs have no Degree. In EWT an adjective inside a proper name keeps the tag NNP but gets UPOS ADJ and its degree (Greater London: ADJ, NNP, Degree=Cmp). Periphrastic comparison does not change the adjective's degree.

Examples. young JJ Degree=Pos — younger JJR Degree=Cmp — youngest JJS Degree=Sup; sooner RBR Degree=Cmp; best (adverb) RBS Degree=Sup.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Degree.md, docs/_en/pos/ADJ.md; Santorini 1990 §2.

Rules. en.morph.jj-degree-pos (error): ADJ JJ → Degree=Pos. en.morph.jjr-rbr-degree-cmp (error): JJR/RBR → Degree=Cmp. en.morph.jjs-rbs-degree-sup (error): JJS/RBS → Degree=Sup. en.morph.degree-cmp-tag and en.morph.degree-sup-tag (error): the reverse direction, also allowing NNP. en.morph.jj-is-adj (error): JJ/JJR/JJS → UPOS ADJ (or X).

adj-false-comparatives

Words in -er/-est that are not degrees of comparison

Gist. Not every word in -er is a comparative, and not every word in -est is a superlative. JJR/RBR and JJS/RBS mark only forms with a live comparative or superlative meaning. Words like other, proper, clever, bitter, honest, modest, earnest are plain JJ.

Conditions and exceptions. Some roots simply end in -er (proper, clever, bitter, eager, tender, sober, sinister, sheer, mere, severe, sincere); these can still be compared (cleverer). Some former comparatives (other, former, latter, upper, inner, outer, utter) are now plain adjectives, used without than. The Latin comparatives (superior, inferior, senior, junior, major, minor, prior, interior, exterior) take to, not than, and are JJ Degree=Pos. Words in -est without superlative meaning (honest, modest, earnest, manifest, west, interest) are compared with more/most. Agent nouns in -er are a separate suffix. In PTB an -er form without clear "more" meaning is JJ (further details) or RB (come by later).

Examples. the other side (JJ); the former president (JJ); superior to (JJ); an honest man (JJ); a clever trick (JJ).

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1038, 1043, 1527, 1746; Whitney §§202, 211; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Kruisinga II.3 §§1732, 1747, 1759–1761, 1772; Mätzner I pp. 278–280.

Rules. en.morph.false-comparative-er (error): listed -er/Latin forms are never JJR/RBR. en.morph.false-superlative-est (error): honest, modest, earnest, manifest, west, interest (and negatives) are never JJS/RBS.

adv-flat-degree

Adverbs without -ly and their degrees

Gist. Some adverbs have the same form as the adjective, without -ly (work hard, run fast, come late, fly high). These, plus soon, often, well, badly, far, little, have their own degree forms (harder, fastest, sooner, better, worse, further, less). Adverbs in -ly are compared only with more/most.

Conditions and exceptions. Pairs with different meanings each keep their own lemma: hard/hardly, late/lately, most/mostly, near/nearly. Colloquial speech also compares -ly adverbs with the plain form (easier said than done). Seldom has a rare seldomer, and rather is a frozen comparative. In UD only these adverbs carry Degree=Pos in the positive; other ADV tokens have no Degree.

Examples. She works hard (RB, Degree=Pos) — harder (RBR) — hardest (RBS); come soon — sooner; sing well — better — best.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Degree.md; Sweet NEG I §§342, 1498–1499, 1524–1525; Whitney §§99, 313d, 316; Jespersen MEG VI 22.9; Kruisinga II.2 §§943–945, II.3 §1714; Mätzner I pp. 396–398.

Rules. en.morph.rb-degree-flat-only (warn): RB with Degree only for hard, fast, late, long, high, easy, early, far, soon, low, close, well, badly, little, near, deep, quick, slow, loud, often, seldom. en.morph.rb-degree-pos (error): RB with Degree has Degree=Pos.

adv-ly

Adverbs in -ly and adjectives in -ly

Gist. The suffix -ly productively turns adjectives (and participles) into adverbs (quick → quickly, willingly, reportedly). It is not a reliable sign of an adverb, though: added to a noun, it makes an adjective (friendly, manly, daily).

Conditions and exceptions. Spelling: consonant + -y → -ily (happily); -le → -ly (simply, ably); -ll → -lly (fully); -ic → -ically (basically, except publicly); also truly, duly, wholly. Adjectives in -ly (friendly, lovely, lonely, ugly, silly, costly) form no adverb (in a friendly way). Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early, kindly, only are both adjective and adverb, and syntax decides which. Endings -ously, -ically, -fully, -lessly, -ably/-ibly, -tively/-sively, -ingly, -edly give only adverbs. The lemma of a -ly adverb is the adverb itself (RB, no Degree).

Examples. She spoke quietly. He is friendly (ADJ). The paper comes out daily (ADV) / a daily paper (ADJ). Surprisingly, it worked.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§341, 1500; Whitney §§94, 193, 313a; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; UD EWT 2.18 lemma practice; Jespersen MEG VI 22.7–22.9; Kruisinga II.3 §§1709–1716; Mätzner I pp. 395, 441.

Rules. en.morph.derived-adverb-suffix (warn): words in -ously, -ically, -fully, -lessly, -ably, -ibly, -tively, -sively, -ingly, -edly are ADV (or PROPN/X). en.morph.ly-adjective (warn): friendly, lovely, lonely, ugly, silly etc. are ADJ (or NOUN/PROPN), not adverbs.

det-articles

Articles a/an and the

Gist. The indefinite article is a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound. Pronunciation decides, not spelling: an hour, an MP, an FBI agent but a university, a one-time offer, a European. Both forms share the lemma a. The is the only definite article.

Conditions and exceptions. Silent h takes an (an honest man, an heir); for sounded h modern usage has a (a hotel), though older texts have an hotel. With abbreviations the name of the first letter decides (an SMS, a UN report). An adjective between article and noun decides (an old car). Text errors (a apple) do not change the annotation. In UD both are DET, DT, det: a/an have lemma a with Definite=Ind|PronType=Art, and the has Definite=Def|PronType=Art.

Examples. a book, an apple, an hour, a university, the end.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Definite.md, feat/PronType.md, docs/_en/pos/DET.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Sweet NEG I §1137; Whitney §§220–221; Kruisinga II.2 §§1305–1307; Mätzner I p. 317.

Rules. en.morph.article-indefinite (error): DET a/an → lemma a, DT, Definite=Ind, PronType=Art. en.morph.article-definite (error): DET the → lemma the, DT, Definite=Def, PronType=Art.

noun-genitive-group

Group genitive: the King of England's crown

Gist. Possessive 's attaches to a whole phrase, at its end, not to a word: the King of England's crown, somebody else's coat, colloquial the man I saw yesterday's son, my son-in-law's car. So 's is a clitic, not a case ending.

Conditions and exceptions. Joint possession takes one 's (John and Mary's house); separate possession takes one per owner (John's and Mary's houses). Apposition: my friend the hunter's rifle. Time and measure: two hours' drive. Long groups are usually rephrased with of. In UD, 's (PART, POS) attaches by case to the head of the possessor phrase, which is nmod:poss of the possessed noun. So 's always follows its head but is not always next to it; in EWT about one 's in ten is separated from its head.

Examples. the King of England's crown; somebody else's idea; my father-in-law's house.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§443, 1016–1017; Whitney §§137–138, 379; UD docs/_en/dep/case.md, dep/nmod-poss.md; Jespersen MEG VI 17.1–17.5; Kruisinga II.2 §§825, 831.

Rules. en.morph.possessive-after-head (error): a POS token comes after the head it attaches to.

noun-genitive-s

Possessive case: 's and '

Gist. English nouns have two cases: common (man, men) and possessive (man's, men's). The possessive is written 's in the singular and in plurals without -s (the boy's, the children's), and as a bare apostrophe after plural -s (the boys'). In PTB and UD tokenization, 's and ' are separate tokens.

Conditions and exceptions. Sibilant-final nouns, especially names, have both forms (James's/James', Socrates' wisdom, for conscience' sake). Possessive pronouns have no apostrophe (its, hers, yours, ours, theirs), but one's does. 's after a noun may also be contracted is/has (John's here); then it is a verb (VBZ, lemma be/have, see verb-clitics). The possessive can stand without a following noun (at my uncle's, a friend of John's), and it attaches to whole groups (see noun-genitive-group). In UD 's / ' (also ’s, ’) is PART, POS, lemma 's, case.

Examples. the boy's bike; the boys' bikes; the children's toys; James's car.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§78, 111, 998, 1022; Whitney §§133–135, 142; Santorini 1990 §2; UD docs/_en/dep/case.md, dep/nmod-poss.md; Jespersen MEG VI 16.1, 16.8; Kruisinga II.2 §§751, 826–829; Mätzner I p. 243.

Rules. en.morph.possessive-token (error): a POS token is PART with lemma 's and relation case.

noun-number-tags

Noun number: tags NN, NNS, NNP, NNPS

Gist. PTB tags encode noun number: NN and NNP are singular, NNS and NNPS plural. The UD Number feature must agree with the tag. Number is decided by agreement with the verb and determiner, not by form alone.

Conditions and exceptions. Plurals without -s (men, children, sheep) are NNS, Plur. Nouns in -s with singular agreement (news, linguistics) are NN, Sing. Singular collectives (the committee has voted) are NN; police, people, cattle agree as plurals (NNS). Plural-only nouns (clothes, scissors) are NNS with Number=Ptan, which occurs only with NNS/NNPS. Measures (10 minutes is not enough) remain NNS, Plur.

Examples. apple NN — apples NNS; London NNP; the Alps NNPS; sheep NN or NNS depending on context.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md, docs/_en/pos/NOUN.md, pos/PROPN.md; Santorini 1990 §4.1; Jespersen MEG II 2.1; Kruisinga II.3 §§2136–2141.

Rules. en.morph.nns-number-plur (error): NNS/NNPS → Number=Plur|Ptan. en.morph.nn-number-sing (error): NN/NNP nouns → Number=Sing. en.morph.ptan-plural-tag (error): Number=Ptan → NNS/NNPS.

noun-plural-compounds

Plural of compound nouns: sons-in-law, passers-by, forget-me-nots

Gist. In a compound noun the plural usually goes on the head word. If the head comes first and is followed by a prepositional phrase or adverb, the -s is inside: sons-in-law, passers-by, hangers-on, commanders-in-chief. If there is no head noun (the word names a bearer of a property), the -s goes at the end: forget-me-nots, go-betweens, grown-ups, runaways.

Conditions and exceptions. Noun + postposed adjective: formal courts-martial, attorneys general, colloquial court-martials. Handful, spoonful, mouthful are no longer felt as compounds (handfuls). Compounds in -man change the vowel (Englishmen). Colloquially the -s may move to the end (son-in-laws). A hyphenated compound is usually one token in EWT: NOUN, NNS, Number=Plur, with the singular compound as lemma (passers-by → passer-by).

Examples. my sisters-in-law; the passers-by; the runners-up; two forget-me-nots.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§440–442, 1018–1019; Whitney §130; Jespersen MEG II 2.3, VI 17.8; Kruisinga II.2 §§763–773.

Rules. en.morph.compound-plural-lemma (warn): listed compound plurals (mothers-in-law … courts-martial) are NNS, Plur, with the singular compound as lemma.

noun-plural-foreign

Foreign plurals: criteria, analyses, stimuli, appendices

Gist. Latin and Greek loans often keep their native plural: criterion → criteria, phenomenon → phenomena, analysis → analyses, stimulus → stimuli, formula → formulae, curriculum → curricula, appendix → appendices. The general trend is towards regular -s (formulas, forums, stadiums). Sometimes the two plurals differ in meaning (indexes/indices, geniuses/genii).

Conditions and exceptions. Types: -on → -a; -is → -es; -us → -i; -um → -a; -a → -ae; -ex/-ix → -ices; -eau → -eaux; -im (cherubim). Agenda is now an ordinary singular, and data and media are often singular mass nouns; EWT annotates them by agreement, mostly NN Sing with lemma data/media. Series, species are the same in both numbers. Singular use of criteria or phenomena is a text error; the annotation then follows agreement, which is why the rules here are warn. In UD these plurals are NOUN, NNS, Plur, with the foreign singular as lemma.

Examples. two criteria; the analyses show; stimuli of this kind; the appendices.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1007–1015; Whitney §126; Santorini 1990 §4.2; Jespersen MEG II 2.6; Kruisinga II.2 §§775–782; Mätzner I pp. 223–233.

Rules. en.morph.foreign-plural-number (warn): listed foreign plurals are NNS, Plur. en.morph.foreign-plural-lemma (warn): their lemma is the foreign singular (criteria → criterion, appendices → appendix …).

noun-plural-f-ves

Plurals in -ves: wife → wives, leaf → leaves

Gist. Some nouns in -f/-fe voice the consonant in the plural, spelled -ves: wife → wives, life → lives, knife → knives, thief → thieves, leaf → leaves, loaf → loaves, half → halves, calf → calves, elf → elves, self → selves, shelf → shelves, wolf → wolves, sheaf → sheaves. Other nouns in -f take plain -s (roofs, chiefs, beliefs, proofs, cliffs, safes).

Conditions and exceptions. Some nouns vary (scarfs/scarves, hoofs/hooves, dwarfs/dwarves, wharfs/wharves), and staff has both staffs and staves. Watch for verb homographs: lives (noun life / verb live), leaves (noun leaf, noun leave "time off", verb leave), halves, shelves, calves (verbs halve, shelve, calve); part of speech decides the lemma. The possessive does not voice (wife's). Some -th nouns voice only in speech (paths, mouths; houses).

Examples. three knives; they saved many lives (NOUN, lemma life); she lives here (VERB, lemma live); autumn leaves (lemma leaf).

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§999, 1001, 1290; Whitney §124a–b; Jespersen MEG VI 16.2–16.4; Kruisinga II.2 §§755–758; Mätzner I pp. 223–224.

Rules. en.morph.ves-plural-lemma (error): noun knives, wives, wolves, halves … → lemma in -f/-fe. en.morph.lives-noun-lemma (error): noun lives → life. en.morph.lives-leaves-verb-lemma (error): verb lives/leaves → live/leave. en.morph.leaves-noun-lemma (warn): noun leaves → leaf (or leave).

noun-pluralia-tantum

Plural only: clothes, scissors, trousers, goods

Gist. Some nouns exist only in the plural, or their singular means something else. They are paired objects (scissors, trousers, jeans, pants, pyjamas, tongs, pliers, binoculars, glasses "spectacles") and collective or mass meanings (clothes, goods, riches, outskirts, surroundings, whereabouts, belongings, proceedings, earnings, savings, remains, headquarters, barracks). They take plural agreement (my trousers are) and are counted with a pair of.

Conditions and exceptions. Paired objects never lose -s as phrase heads, but the singular can appear as a premodifier (trouser pocket, scissor kick). Some have a singular with a different meaning (good/goods, arm/arms, manner/manners, content/contents). Riches, alms, eaves are old singulars in -s reanalysed as plurals, and headquarters, barracks, means, crossroads take either agreement. The lemma is the plural form itself (clothes, not clothe), with UD Number=Ptan (NOUN, NNS). EWT uses Ptan widely (regards, troops, supplies, contents, grounds, finances, specifics, decades like 1990s), but EWT 2.18 treats congratulations, belongings as ordinary plurals with singular lemmas.

Examples. Where are my scissors? The clothes are dry. We sell goods online. On the outskirts of town.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md; Sweet NEG I §998, NEG II §§1979–1980; Whitney §129; Jespersen MEG II 5.73–5.77, VI 16.7; Kruisinga II.2 §§759, 808–819; Mätzner I pp. 233–241.

Rules. en.morph.ptan-lemma (warn): listed plural-only nouns have Number=Ptan and lemma = form.

noun-plural-mutation-en

Irregular plural: vowel change (men, feet) and -en (children, oxen)

Gist. A few old nouns form the plural by changing the root vowel (man → men, woman → women, foot → feet, tooth → teeth, goose → geese, mouse → mice, louse → lice). Three keep the old ending -en: ox → oxen, child → children, brother → brethren ("fellow believers" only; otherwise brothers). These lists are closed.

Conditions and exceptions. Compounds in -man/-woman follow the pattern (policemen, Englishmen), but German, human, talisman take -s because their -man is not the word "man". A computer mouse has mice or mouses. In compounds the first element is usually singular (toothbrush), but teeth/feet do occur as modifiers (teeth whitening) and are still NNS. The lemma is the singular. These forms are always plural, so NN on feet, teeth, men is an error.

Examples. two men; my feet hurt; the children played; a pair of oxen.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1002–1004; Whitney §125; UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md; Jespersen MEG VI 11.1, 20.2; Kruisinga II.2 §§760–764.

Rules. en.morph.mutation-plural-number (warn): men, women, feet, teeth, geese, mice, lice, children, oxen, brethren are NNS, Plur. en.morph.mutation-plural-lemma (error): their lemma is the singular (men → man, children → child …).

noun-plural-s-spelling

Plural in -s/-es: pronunciation and spelling

Gist. The regular plural ending -s has three pronunciations, depending on the last sound of the stem: [ɪz] after sibilants (boxes, churches, judges), [z] after vowels and voiced sounds (days, dogs), [s] after voiceless sounds (cats, cliffs). In spelling, [ɪz] is written -es, and final -y after a consonant becomes -ies. The possessive and the verb's 3rd person singular share this ending and these rules.

Conditions and exceptions. -es is written after s, x, z, ch, sh (kisses, boxes, buzzes, matches), and only -s is added after a silent -e (horses, judges). Consonant + y → -ies (cities), vowel + y → -ys (days, valleys), and proper names keep y (the Kennedys, two Marys). Frequent old words in -o take -oes (potatoes, heroes, echoes), while words in -io, short words and loans take -os (ratios, photos, pianos, zeros). Letters, digits and cited words often take an apostrophe (P's and Q's, 9's); decades are the 1990s (NNS, Number=Ptan in EWT). -ves plurals and irregular plurals have their own seeds. The lemma is the singular with its spelling restored (cities → city, potatoes → potato, boxes → box); forms like citie, potatoe, boxe are lemmatization errors.

Examples. box → boxes; church → churches; city → cities; day → days; hero → heroes; photo → photos.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1000, 1021; Whitney §§123–124, 128; Santorini 1990 §2; UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md; Jespersen MEG VI 16.1; Kruisinga I §§574–582; Mätzner I p. 224.

Rules. None (descriptive seed).

noun-plural-zero

Zero plural: sheep, deer, fish, species, aircraft

Gist. Some nouns have the same form in singular and plural: one sheep — two sheep, a deer — many deer, this species — these species. Their number shows only through agreement with a determiner, numeral or verb, so the tag (NN or NNS) and Number are assigned from context. The lemma equals the form.

Conditions and exceptions. Animals: sheep, deer, swine, moose, bison. Fish: fish, salmon, trout, cod (fishes is used for different species), and hunting usage has two brace of pheasants. Latin nouns in -es: species, series; also means, headquarters, crossroads, barracks (EWT often marks these Ptan). Others: aircraft, spacecraft, craft, offspring. Measure words after a numeral take no -s (two dozen eggs, five hundred people, a ten-pound note, but dozens of eggs). Sibilant nationality words are invariable (two Japanese, the Swiss).

Examples. These species are rare (NNS, Plur). A species of bird (NN, Sing). Two aircraft landed (NNS). The sheep is lost (NN).

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1004–1015; Whitney §§127, 144c, 214; Santorini 1990 §4.1; UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md; Jespersen MEG II 3.1–3.5, VI 19.8; Kruisinga II.2 §§783–794.

Rules. en.morph.zero-plural-with-plural-det (warn): a zero-plural noun with these, those, several, many, few, both is NNS, Plur. en.morph.zero-plural-with-singular-det (warn): with det a, an, this, that, each, every it is NN, Sing.

noun-singular-in-s

Singular in -s: news, mathematics, measles

Gist. Some nouns end in -s but are grammatically singular and agree with is, has, this: news, sciences and activities in -ics (mathematics, physics, linguistics, economics, politics, athletics), diseases (measles, mumps) and games (billiards, darts). Agreement, not the final -s, decides number. The lemma is the whole form with -s.

Conditions and exceptions. News is only singular now (the news is good), with lemma news, not new. Politics, economics, ethics can be plural meaning "views, practice" (his politics are…); EWT marks politics, economics as NNS Ptan and mathematics as NN Sing. Ethics as the plural of ethic (work ethics) is an ordinary plural with lemma ethic. Series, species, means are zero plurals, a different type.

Examples. The news is on. Linguistics is my favorite subject. Measles is contagious.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Number.md; Sweet NEG I §§998, 1724; Whitney §129; Santorini 1990 §4.1; Jespersen MEG II 5.76–5.78; Kruisinga II.2 §808, II.3 §§2136–2141.

Rules. en.morph.news-singular (error): noun news is NN, Sing, lemma news. en.morph.ics-lemma (error): mathematics, physics, … measles, mumps, billiards keep the -s in the lemma.

num-ordinal-mult

Ordinal and multiplicative numerals: first, fifth, once, twice

Gist. Apart from first, second, third, ordinals are formed with -th (fourth, fifth, twentieth, hundredth). In compounds only the last word becomes ordinal (twenty-first), and in digits they are written 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. The multiplicative adverbs are once, twice and literary thrice; beyond that the language uses three times.

Conditions and exceptions. Spelling: fifth, twelfth (v → f), eighth, ninth, twentieth (y → ie). Second is also a time-unit noun (a second) without NumType. Ordinals can be ADJ (the third book), ADV (first, we…) or NOUN in dates (July 3rd), always with NumType=Ord (plus NumForm=Word or Combi). Fractions (a half, two thirds) are mostly NOUN with NumType=Frac. Once meaning "as soon as" is SCONJ without NumType. Once, twice are ADV, RB, NumType=Mult, and cardinals are NUM, CD, NumType=Card.

Examples. the fifth chapter; she came first; July 4th; I called twice; once a week.

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1170–1176, 1504; Whitney §§215–218; Santorini 1990 §2; UD docs/_en/feat/NumType.md; Jespersen MEG VI 18.1, 24.4; Kruisinga II.3 §§1693, 1706–1710; Mätzner I pp. 288–289.

Rules. en.morph.ordinal-form (warn): NumType=Ord only on words in -th/-st/-nd/-rd that are ADJ, ADV or NOUN. en.morph.ordinal-words (warn): first, third, fifth … as ADJ/ADV have NumType=Ord. en.morph.multiplicative-once-twice (warn): ADV once/twice/thrice have NumType=Mult. en.morph.cardinal-numtype (error): NUM CD has NumType=Card|Frac.

pron-demonstrative

Demonstratives this/these, that/those

Gist. Demonstratives are the only English determiners that inflect for number: this → these (near), that → those (far). They stand before a noun (this book) or replace a noun phrase (I like this). The lemma of the plural is the singular (these → this, those → that).

Conditions and exceptions. Before a noun they are DET (det); standing alone they are PRON. In both cases the PTB tag is DT, with PronType=Dem and Number=Sing/Plur. That has three non-demonstrative uses: relative pronoun (PRON, WDT, PronType=Rel, no number), conjunction (SCONJ, IN) and degree adverb (not that big: ADV, RB). Only demonstrative that has Number and PronType=Dem. Here, there and expletive there (EX) are also PronType=Dem, without number. Colloquial them for those (them apples) is DET with Number=Plur|PronType=Dem|Style=Vrnc.

Examples. These books are mine. I prefer that. Those who wait…

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/DET.md, docs/_en/pos/PRON.md, feat/PronType.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§125, 177, 1128–1130; Whitney §§150, 166–168; Jespersen MEG II 2.22, 16.3.

Rules. en.morph.dem-plural (error): these/those are DT, Plur, Dem. en.morph.dem-these-lemma, en.morph.dem-those-lemma (error): lemmas this, that. en.morph.dem-this-sing (error): this is Sing, Dem. en.morph.dem-that-det (error): DET that is Sing, Dem.

pron-indefinite

Indefinite pronouns some-, any-, every-, no- + one, body, thing

Gist. Compound pronouns combine some-, any-, every-, no- with -one, -body (person) or -thing (thing). They are written as one word (someone, nothing), except no one, and are always singular (everyone is, nothing has changed).

Conditions and exceptions. PTB tags them NN, but UD makes them PRON because they take no articles or premodifiers. None is a separate negative pronoun (PronType=Neg) without Number, since it agrees either way (none of them is/are). No one is two words: no is DET and one is PRON with PronType=Neg. The matching adverbs (somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, everywhere) are ADV with PronType. The lemma is the whole form. Features: Number=Sing (except none); PronType=Ind for some-/any-, Tot for every-, Neg for no- and none.

Examples. Someone called. I didn't see anything. Everybody knows. Nothing happened. None of them came.

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/PRON.md, feat/PronType.md, pos/ADV.md; Santorini 1990 §4.1; Sweet NEG I §§1136, 1148–1157; Jespersen MEG II 16.6, 17.2–17.3; Kruisinga II.2 §§1339–1356.

Rules. en.morph.indef-pron-upos (error): these words tagged NN are PRON. en.morph.indef-some-any (error): PronType=Ind, Sing. en.morph.indef-every (error): PronType=Tot, Sing. en.morph.indef-no (error): nobody, nothing, none have PronType=Neg. en.morph.indef-lemma (error): lemma = whole form.

pron-personal-case

Personal pronouns: nominative and objective case

Gist. Personal pronouns keep two cases: nominative I, we, he, she, they and accusative (objective) me, us, him, her, them; you and it do not change form. In UD, case is assigned by form, not by syntactic role. The lemma of an accusative form is the nominative.

Conditions and exceptions. Accusative forms in subject position or after be (It's me, Me and him went) stay Case=Acc, and nominative forms in object position (between you and I) stay Case=Nom. Only for you and it is case decided by position: subject → Nom, object or after a preposition → Acc. Her is either accusative (PRP) or possessive (PRP$, see pron-possessive). Archaic thou/thee, ye and colloquial 'em follow the same pattern, and 's in let's is us (lemma we, Acc). UD: PRON, PRP, PronType=Prs.

Examples. She saw him. They told us. It's me. Let*'s** go.*

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Case.md, docs/_en/pos/PRON.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Sweet NEG I §§141, 1084–1087; Whitney §§155, 158; Kruisinga II.2 §§964–984; Mätzner I pp. 293–295.

Rules. en.morph.pron-nominative (error): I, we, he, she, they, thou, ye are PRP, Nom, Prs. en.morph.pron-accusative (error): me, us, him, them, thee, 'em are PRP, Acc, Prs. en.morph.pron-accusative-lemma (error): me/us/him/them → I/we/he/they. en.morph.pron-her-accusative (error): PRP her → lemma she, Acc.

pron-personal-paradigm

Personal pronouns: person, number, gender

Gist. Every personal pronoun form fixes person, and most also fix number. Gender is distinguished only in the 3rd person singular (he, she, it and their forms). Nouns have no gender and get no Gender feature in UD.

Conditions and exceptions. You, your, yours are 2nd person without number; only the reflexives show it (yourself singular, yourselves plural). They, them, their are always Number=Plur, even as singular they, because number is grammatical (they are). Generic one is 3rd singular without gender. Dummy it (it rains) is still PronType=Prs. UD: PRON, PRP or PRP$, PronType=Prs (emphatic reflexives Emp).

Examples. I/me/my/mine/myself — Person=1|Number=Sing; we/us/our/ours/ourselves — Person=1|Number=Plur; he/him/his/himself — Person=3|Number=Sing|Gender=Masc; it/its/itself — Gender=Neut; they/them/their/theirs/themselves — Person=3|Number=Plur.

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/PRON.md, feat/Person.md, feat/Number.md, feat/Gender.md; Sweet NEG I §§1076–1088, 1101; Whitney §§155, 158, 160; Jespersen MEG II 2.23.

Rules. en.morph.pron-1sg, en.morph.pron-1pl, en.morph.pron-2, en.morph.pron-3sg-masc, en.morph.pron-3sg-fem, en.morph.pron-3sg-neut, en.morph.pron-3pl (error): person, number and gender for each form set above. en.morph.gender-only-3sg (error): any token with Gender is a 3rd-person singular PRON.

pron-possessive

Possessive pronouns: dependent and independent

Gist. Possessive pronouns have a dependent form before a noun (my book, your car, her idea) and an independent form that replaces a noun phrase (the book is mine, yours is better). The independent form adds -s (yours, hers, ours, theirs) or -n (mine, archaic thine). His and its have a single form for both roles.

Conditions and exceptions. Her is possessive (PRP$) before a noun and accusative (PRP) otherwise. His can be dependent (PRP$) or independent (PRP, without Case). Its is not it's (which is tokenized it + 's). Independent forms have no apostrophe (yours, not your's), and whose is covered in pron-wh. In UD the dependent form is PRP$ with Case=Gen|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs plus person, number and gender, lemma = form, attached as nmod:poss. The independent form is PRP with Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs and no Case; its lemma is the dependent form (mine → my, yours → your, hers → her, ours → our, theirs → their).

Examples. My car is older than yours. The idea was hers. The cat licked its paw.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Poss.md, feat/Case.md, docs/_en/pos/PRON.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§1022, 1102–1103; Jespersen MEG II 16.21, VI 16.1, 20.3; Whitney §§165, 205–207; Mätzner I pp. 296–297.

Rules. en.morph.prp-dollar-feats (error): PRP$ is PRON with Case=Gen, Poss=Yes, PronType=Prs. en.morph.poss-independent (error): mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs are PRP, Poss=Yes, no Case, with the dependent form as lemma. en.morph.poss-her-dependent (error): PRP$ her has lemma her, Gen, Poss=Yes.

pron-reflexive

Reflexive and intensive pronouns in -self

Gist. Pronouns in -self (singular) and -selves (plural) are built on the possessive in the 1st and 2nd person (myself, yourself, ourselves) and on the accusative in the 3rd (himself, themselves; herself, itself are ambiguous). They have two uses: reflexive, as an object repeating the subject (She hurt herself), and emphatic (She herself said so).

Conditions and exceptions. Generic oneself is built on one. Dialectal hisself, theirselves are built on the possessive, and themself is used for singular they. Number follows the ending: -self is singular, -selves plural (yourself vs yourselves). UD: PRON, PRP, lemma = form, Case=Acc|Reflex=Yes plus person, number and gender; PronType=Prs when reflexive, Emp when emphatic. The UD guidelines give emphatic uses no Case/Reflex, but EWT 2.18 marks both uses, so the feature rule follows the data and is only warn.

Examples. I cut myself. They enjoyed themselves. The president himself called.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Reflex.md, feat/PronType.md, feat/Case.md, docs/_en/pos/PRON.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Sweet NEG I §§1105, 1109–1114; Whitney §164; Kruisinga II.2 §§1024–1030.

Rules. en.morph.reflexive-feats (warn): PRON in -self/-selves is PRP with Reflex=Yes, Case=Acc, PronType=Prs|Emp. en.morph.reflexive-number (error): -selves is Plur. en.morph.reflexive-number-sing (error): -self is Sing. en.morph.reflexive-lemma (error): lemma = form.

pron-wh

Interrogative and relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what, that

Gist. Interrogative and relative pronouns are the same words in two roles: in questions (Who called?) and at the start of relative clauses (the man who called). Only who inflects: who (nominative), whom (accusative), whose (possessive). Which, what and relative that are invariable.

Conditions and exceptions. In speech whom gives way to who even as an object (Who did you see?); the form who keeps lemma who, and its case follows position. Whose is used for people and things (a house whose roof leaks) and must not be confused with who's. Which, what, whatever are DET before a noun and PRON alone. -ever compounds behave like the base word (whomever → lemma whoever). Relative that is PRON, WDT, PronType=Rel. Tags: who, whom, what are WP; whose is WP$; which, that, whatever are WDT. PronType=Int in questions, Rel in relative clauses, and whose has Poss=Yes. The UD guideline gives whom lemma who with Case=Acc, but EWT 2.18 still has lemma whom without Case in some cases, so that rule is warn.

Examples. Whom did you invite? The author whose book I read. Which do you want? The car that I bought.

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/PRON.md, feat/PronType.md, pos/DET.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§211, 216, 1086; Whitney §§169–187; Kruisinga II.2 §§1045–1047, 1079, 1094; Jespersen MEG VI 16.1.

Rules. en.morph.whose-poss (error): whose is PRON, WP$, Poss=Yes, PronType=Int|Rel. en.morph.wh-prontype (error): WP/WP$/WDT tokens have PronType=Int|Rel. en.morph.whom-acc (warn): whom has lemma who, Case=Acc.

spell-consonant-doubling

Doubling of the final consonant: stop → stopped, big → bigger

Gist. Before vowel-initial endings (-ed, -ing, -er, -est, also -y, -ish), a final consonant doubles if it follows a single short stressed vowel: stop → stopped, run → running, big → bigger, prefer → preferred, begin → beginning. The doubling only marks the short vowel in spelling; the lemma has a single consonant (stopped → stop).

Conditions and exceptions. There is no doubling after an unstressed final syllable (visited, offered, opened, developed, galloping, benefited; benefitted also occurs), after two vowels or a long vowel (rained, beating, cooler), or with w, x, y (snowed, fixed, playing). British English doubles l even after an unstressed vowel (travelled, cancelled, crueller, but paralleled), while American English does not (traveled). A few words double in the US too (kidnapped, worshipped, handicapped). -c becomes -ck- before -ed, -ing, -y (panicked, picnicking, trafficked, panicky). Final s varies (gases; buses/busses; focused/focussed). A lemmatizer must remove only one letter, and only when the stem itself does not end in a double consonant (missed → miss, added → add).

Examples. stopped → stop; running → run; bigger → big; preferred → prefer; travelled → travel; panicked → panic.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.2, 16.1, 21.9; Kruisinga I §§572, 574, 581–583; Mätzner I pp. 273, 337.

Rules. en.morph.doubling-verb-lemma (error): listed doubled verb forms (stopped, running, preferred, travelled, panicked …) have the undoubled lemma. en.morph.doubling-adj-lemma (error): bigger, hottest, sadder, thinnest … have lemma big, hot, sad, thin ….

spell-silent-e

Silent -e in inflection: make → making, nice → nicer

Gist. Final silent -e (which marks a long vowel, as in make, hope, nice) drops before vowel-initial endings (making, hoped, hoping, nicer, lovable) and stays before consonant-initial ones (hopeful, lovely, movement). For lemmatization this means hoping → hope (with -e) but hopping → hop (no -e, doubled consonant).

Conditions and exceptions. -ee, -ye, -oe keep the e before -ing (seeing, agreeing, dyeing "colouring" vs dying, hoeing, canoeing, eyeing), as do singeing (vs singing), swingeing and ageing/aging. -ie becomes -y- before -ing (lying, dying, tying, vying). -ce, -ge keep e before a, o (noticeable, manageable, courageous). Stems in -e add only -d (loved, agreed). Adverbs: truly, duly, wholly but solely, vilely. -able varies (likeable/likable). The UD lemma is the stem with -e restored (writing → write, used → use, larger → large, lying → lie).

Examples. making → make; hoping → hope; hopping → hop; nicer → nice; lying → lie; dyeing → dye; dying → die.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.2, 21.9, 22.6, 22.8; Kruisinga I §§567–569, 573, 575; Mätzner I p. 337.

Rules. en.morph.silent-e-verb-lemma (error): making, having, coming, writing, used, hoping … have the lemma with -e. en.morph.ie-ying-lemma (error): lying, dying, tying, vying, untying → lie, die, tie, vie, untie.

spell-y-to-i

-y → -i- in inflection: try → tried, city → cities, happy → happier

Gist. Final -y after a consonant is written -i- before -s, -ed, -er, -est, -ly, -ness: try → tries, tried; city → cities; happy → happier, happiest, happily, happiness. Before -ing, y stays (trying, studying), and after a vowel y does not change (plays, played, days, gayer). For lemmatization, -ies, -ied, -ier, -iest, -ily go back to -y (studies → study, not studie).

Conditions and exceptions. Vowel + y: plays, keys, valleys, boys, with the old exceptions laid, paid, said, daily, gaily (also gayly); staid is now an adjective. Proper names keep y (the Kennedys, two Marys). Monosyllabic adjectives vary (drier/dryer, shyer, slyer; drily/dryly, shyly). -ey: monkeys, valleys, journeys; money → moneys/monies. As adjectives, married, hurried have their own lemma, while as verbs they lemmatize to marry, hurry. EWT treats supplies "provisions" as plurale tantum (lemma supplies), so it is left out of the noun rule. The adverb happily keeps its own lemma.

Examples. tried → try; studies → study; cities → city; carried → carry; happier → happy; happily → happily (the adverb has its own lemma).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.2, 16.1, 22.8; Kruisinga I §§567, 572, 574; Mätzner I pp. 224, 273, 337; Sweet NEG I §1021.

Rules. en.morph.y-to-i-verb-lemma (error): verb forms tried, studies, carried, applied … → lemma in -y. en.morph.y-to-i-noun-lemma (error): nouns cities, countries, companies … → lemma in -y. en.morph.y-to-i-adj-lemma (error): JJR/JJS happier, easiest, earlier … → lemma in -y.

verb-archaic-endings

Archaic verb endings: -th/-eth (hath) and -st/-est (thou hast)

Gist. Older English had two more personal endings: -th/-eth for the 3rd person singular (he goeth, hath, doth, saith) and -st/-est for the 2nd person singular with thou (thou goest, hast, art, canst, wilt). Today they survive in the Bible, prayers, proverbs and solemn or stylized text. For annotation, -eth equals modern -s (VBZ), and -st forms are 2nd person singular.

Conditions and exceptions. Hath, doth, saith lasted into the mid-18th century and were revived in solemn style, which also split doth (auxiliary) from doeth (main verb). 2nd person: -est contracts except after sibilants; -t forms are art, shalt, wilt; -st forms are canst, mayst, darest, hast, dost, didst, hadst, wouldst, shouldst, couldst; wast is indicative and wert subjunctive or poetic; thou must has no ending. Lemmas: hath, hast → have; doth, dost, doeth, didst → do; art, wast, wert → be; saith → say; shalt → shall; wilt → will; canst → can. Wilt is also a modern verb ("to droop"): as MD its lemma is will, as VERB it is wilt. Early Modern English also used -s/-th with plural subjects (they hath). In UD these forms may carry Style=Arch. The -eth forms are VBZ Person=3|Number=Sing|Tense=Pres, and thou forms are Person=2|Number=Sing. Archaic modals are MD with the modern lemma.

Examples. He hath spoken (VBZ, have). Thou art mine (VBP, be, Person=2|Number=Sing). Thou shalt not kill (MD, shall). The Lord giveth (VBZ, give).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 2.3–2.7, 3.6–3.7, II 2.24; Sweet NEG I §§1283, 1479–1490; Whitney §§243, 256, 273, 277–278.

Rules. en.morph.archaic-eth-vbz (warn): a verb ending in -eth is VBZ, 3rd singular, present. en.morph.archaic-verb-lemma (error): hath, hast, hadst, doth, dost, doeth, didst, saith, art, wast, wert → have, do, say, be. en.morph.archaic-modal-lemma (error): MD shalt, wilt, canst, couldst, wouldst, shouldst, mayst, mightst → modern modal lemma.

verb-be-forms

The verb be: am, is, are, was, were, been, being

Gist. Be is the most irregular English verb, with eight forms from different roots: present am (1sg), is (3sg), are (others); past was (1sg, 3sg), were (others and unreal conditions); be (infinitive, subjunctive); participles been, being. It is the only verb that distinguishes person or number in both present and past. The lemma is always be.

Conditions and exceptions. Be can be an auxiliary (AUX: is going, was taken), a copula (AUX, cop: she is happy) or, rarely in EWT, a main verb "exist, be located" (VERB: there are…). Were with a singular subject (if I were) is subjunctive: VBD, Mood=Sub. The contractions 'm, 're, 's are am, are, is (see verb-clitics), and colloquial ain't splits into ai (lemma be) + n't. Non-standard you was, they was, he were are annotated by form. Tags: am VBP Person=1|Number=Sing; is VBZ; are VBP; was VBD Number=Sing; were VBD; been VBN; being VBG; be VB.

Examples. I am here. She is ready. We were late. It has been done. You are being silly.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Person.md, feat/Number.md, feat/Mood.md, docs/_en/pos/AUX_.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§1490–1491; Jespersen MEG VI 5.6; Kruisinga II.1 §§25, 29; Whitney §273.

Rules. en.morph.be-am, en.morph.be-is, en.morph.be-are, en.morph.be-was, en.morph.be-were, en.morph.be-been, en.morph.be-being (all error): each form of be (AUX or VERB) has lemma be and the tag listed above (am also Person=1|Number=Sing; was also Number=Sing).

verb-clitics

Contracted forms: 's, 're, 'm, 've, 'd, 'll, n't

Gist. In informal language, auxiliaries and not contract onto the preceding word: it's, we're, I'm, they've, she'd, you'll, isn't. PTB and UD tokenization split the contraction off as a separate token, which gets the same lemma and features as the full form ('re = are, n't = not).

Conditions and exceptions. 's can be is (it's cold) or has (it's been cold), both VBZ with lemma be or have. It can also be the possessive (POS, see noun-genitive-s) or us in let's (PRON, lemma we). 'd is had (VBD, have) before a participle (I'd gone) or would (MD) before a base form (I'd go). 'll is will (MD). n't splits off together with the n (is|n't, do|n't). Some stems change, and the remnant gets the full lemma: ca|n't (can), wo|n't (will), sha|n't (shall), ai|n't (be or have). Cannot splits into can + not. Colloquial fusions split too: gonna → gon (VBG, go) + na (TO, to), wanna → wan (want) + na, both parts with Abbr=Yes. In UD n't is PART, RB, lemma not, Polarity=Neg; 'm is be VBP Person=1|Number=Sing; 're is be VBP; 've is have; 'll and wo are will MD; ca is can MD.

Examples. It*'s** fine. We**'re** late. I**'d** go. You**'ll** see. It isn't. I can't. I'm gonna try.*

Sources. UD docs/_en/tokenization.md, docs/_en/pos/PRON.md, feat/Polarity.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Sweet NEG I §§78, 1478–1493; Jespersen MEG V 23.1–23.2; Kruisinga II.1 §§20–25.

Rules. en.morph.clitic-nt (error): n't is PART, RB, lemma not, Polarity=Neg. en.morph.clitic-s-verb (error): verbal 's is VBZ, lemma be|have. en.morph.clitic-s-us (error): pronoun 's has lemma we, Acc, 1st plural. en.morph.clitic-am (error): 'm is be VBP 1sg. en.morph.clitic-re (error): 're is be VBP. en.morph.clitic-ve (error): 've is have. en.morph.clitic-will (error): MD 'll/wo is will. en.morph.clitic-can (error): MD ca is can. en.morph.clitic-d (error): MD 'd is would. en.morph.clitic-d-had (error): VBD 'd is have. en.morph.clitic-gonna (error): gon is VBG, lemma go.

verb-ed-regular

Regular past in -ed and forms in -t

Gist. Regular verbs form both the past tense and the past participle with -ed (call → called, want → wanted). This is the only productive pattern: all new verbs follow it (googled, texted). The ending is pronounced [ɪd] after t, d, [d] after voiced sounds and [t] after voiceless sounds.

Conditions and exceptions. Spelling: stems ending in -e/-ee add only -d (loved, agreed); consonant + y → -ied (tried), vowel + y → -yed (played; exceptions laid, paid, said). A final consonant doubles after a short stressed vowel (stopped, preferred, but visited, offered), British English always doubles l (travelled; American traveled), and -c becomes -cked (panicked); see the spell-* seeds. Forms in -t exist beside -ed (more British): burnt, learnt, dwelt, smelt, spelt, spilt, spoilt, dealt, dreamt, knelt, leant, leapt, with the plain stem as lemma (learnt → learn). The old [ɪd] pronunciation survives in adjectives (a learned professor, beloved, aged, blessed), which are JJ with their own lemma, while the verb forms are VBD/VBN with lemma learn. Past is not passed. In UD: VBD (Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin|Mood=Ind) or VBN (Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part), with the lemma spelled correctly (stopped → stop, tried → try, loved → love, panicked → panic).

Examples. She walked home. It was stopped. We tried. I learnt it (VBD, lemma learn).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.2–4.3, 4.5; Sweet NEG I §§1286–1287, 1295–1333; Whitney §§244, 246–249.

Rules. en.morph.t-past-lemma (error): VBD/VBN burnt, learnt, dwelt … blest → lemma burn, learn, dwell … bless.

verb-have-do-forms

The verbs have and do: has, had, does, did, done

Gist. Have and do are irregular verbs with special forms. Have: has, past and participle had. Do: does (regular spelling, different vowel), past did, participle done. Both can be auxiliaries (have gone, do you know) or main verbs (have a car, do homework).

Conditions and exceptions. Had is VBD (he had a car, she had left) or VBN (I have had enough); syntax decides. Did is only VBD and done only VBN (in non-standard he done it, EWT tags by function). Does as the plural of doe is a noun and is not covered (only VERB/AUX are checked). Contractions: 've → have, 's → has, 'd → had. The lemma is have or do; AUX for auxiliary use, VERB for main use.

Examples. She has left. We had fun. Does it work? I did it. It's done.

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/VERB.md, docs/_en/pos/AUX_.md, feat/Number.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§1492–1493; Jespersen MEG VI 3.1, 4.1; Kruisinga II.1 §19.

Rules. en.morph.have-has (error): has → have, VBZ. en.morph.have-had (error): had → have, VBD/VBN. en.morph.do-does (error): does → do, VBZ. en.morph.do-did (error): did → do, VBD. en.morph.do-done (warn): done → do, VBN.

verb-homograph-past

Homographs: the past of one verb = the base of another (found, saw, lay)

Gist. Some irregular forms coincide with the base of another verb or with a noun: found (past of find; base of found "establish"), saw (see; saw "cut, a saw"), lay (lie "recline"; base of lay "put"). A lemmatizer that looks only at the form easily picks the wrong lemma. The tag disambiguates: as VBD/VBN the form belongs to the strong verb, as VB/VBP/NN to the homograph.

Conditions and exceptions. Pairs: found (find / found → founded), saw (see / saw → sawed), fell (fall / fell → felled), lay (lie / lay → laid), rose (rise / the flower), bore (bear / bore → bored), wound (wind / wound → wounded), ground (grind / ground → grounded), bound (bind / bound → bounded), left (leave / the direction), felt (feel / the fabric), lit (light), spoke (speak / a spoke), stole (steal / a stole), tore, wore, dove. The regular homograph verbs form their past in -ed, so found tagged VBD is always from find, and wound VBD always from wind. Lie/lay confusion is old and growing; annotation follows the form, so VBD lay has lemma lie even if "put" was meant. Left, bound, found as adjectives (the left hand, bound to happen) are ADJ with their own lemma.

Examples. I found it (VBD, lemma find). They found a company (VBP, lemma found). He lay down (VBD, lemma lie). We saw the film (VBD, lemma see).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 5.1, 5.3–5.4; Sweet NEG I §§1364, 1405, 1408; Whitney §§96, 262, 264.

Rules. en.morph.homograph-past-lemma (error): VBD/VBN found, saw, fell, rose, bore, wound, ground, bound, left, felt, lit, spoke, stole, tore, wore, dove → the strong verb's lemma. en.morph.lay-past-of-lie (error): VBD lay → lie.

verb-invariable

Invariable verbs: put, cut, set, hit

Gist. A group of verbs in -t/-d has one form for base, past and participle: put, cut, set, hit, let, shut, cost, hurt, burst, cast, spread, split, quit, bet, rid, shed, thrust, wet. Only context (subject, auxiliaries, tense of neighbouring verbs) decides between VB, VBP, VBD and VBN. The lemma always equals the form.

Conditions and exceptions. With a 3rd-person singular subject and no -s (he put, it cost), the verb is past tense (VBD), since the present would be puts, costs (VBZ). So he/she/it + an invariable verb tagged VBP is an error. After a modal, to or do the verb is VB; after have or in the passive it is VBN. Some verbs vary with -ed (knit/knitted, quit/quitted, bet/betted, wet/wetted, sweat/sweated, broadcast(ed), forecast(ed); shred is now usually shredded). Frozen old participles (dread moment, roast beef) are adjectives. Read behaves as invariable in writing. Features: VBD Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin, VBP Tense=Pres.

Examples. Yesterday he put it here (VBD). They cut costs every year (VBP). It has cost a lot (VBN). Don't hit him (VB).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.4; Sweet NEG I §§1344–1363; Whitney §253; Santorini 1990 §4.1.

Rules. en.morph.invariable-3sg-not-vbp (error): an invariable verb with subject he/she/it is not VBP.

verb-md-modals

Modal verbs: can, may, must, shall, will…

Gist. Modals (can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would, must, ought) are defective. They take no 3rd-person -s (he can), have no infinitive, -ing form or participles, and always come first in the verb group. Could, might, should, would were historically past forms but are now separate words with their own meanings (you should go is not past).

Conditions and exceptions. The PTB tag is MD; in UD they are AUX. Could, would, should, might have their own lemma (could → could), not can. Dare and need can be modal (he need not go) or main verbs (he needs to go), and ought takes to but is still MD. The infinitive after a modal is bare (VB, VerbForm=Inf). Contractions: 'll, wo → will, 'd → would, ca → can, sha → shall. Missing forms are supplied periphrastically (be able to, have to). Features: only VerbForm=Fin (no tense, mood, person or number); lemma = form except for contractions.

Examples. She can swim. It might rain. You should go. We must leave. They ought to know.

Sources. UD docs/_en/pos/AUX_.md, feat/VerbForm.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §§1477–1487; Jespersen MEG VI 3.8–3.9, 4.8, 4.9; Kruisinga II.1 §§19, 23; Whitney §§276–278.

Rules. en.morph.md-feats (error): MD is AUX with VerbForm=Fin and no Tense, Mood, Person, Number. en.morph.modal-is-md (error): an AUX with a modal lemma is tagged MD.

verb-mixed-weak

Irregular weak verbs: keep–kept, tell–told, think–thought

Gist. Many irregular verbs are not strong but weak with complications: they add -t or -d and also change the stem vowel or consonant. Their past coincides with the participle (kept, told, thought), so only syntax decides VBD vs VBN. The lemma is the stem, often quite different from the form.

Conditions and exceptions. Groups (after Jespersen): -t with vowel change (keep–kept, sleep, sweep, weep, creep, feel–felt, kneel, deal, dream, lean, leap, mean–meant) or with devoicing (leave–left, lose–lost, bereave–bereft, cleave–cleft); d → t (bend–bent, lend, send, spend, build–built; also went, formerly the past of wend); -d with vowel change (say–said, flee–fled, hear–heard, sell–sold, tell–told, shoe–shod); -d with consonant loss (have–had, make–made); -t with deeper change (bring–brought, think–thought, seek–sought, teach–taught, catch–caught, buy–bought, fight–fought); vowel change only, past = participle (feed–fed, lead–led, meet–met, read–read, speed–sped, bleed, breed; hold–held, stand–stood, sit–sat, shoot–shot, get–got, win–won). Catched is non-standard, and wrought survives only as an adjective (wrought iron).

Examples. She kept it (VBD). It was kept secret (VBN). I thought so. We met yesterday.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.1, 4.5–4.9, 5.1; Sweet NEG I §§1293–1343; Whitney §§249–255.

Rules. en.morph.mixed-verb-lemma (error): VBD/VBN kept, told, thought, brought, met, held … → base lemma (keep, tell, think, bring, meet, hold …).

verb-participle-adjectives

Former participles that became adjectives: drunken, molten, sunken

Gist. When a verb develops two participle forms, the old -en form often detaches and becomes a prenominal adjective: a drunken sailor (but he has drunk), a sunken ship, molten lava, swollen feet, a laden cart, clean-shaven. Likewise wrought (iron), gilt, roast (beef), dread (moment). These are ADJ (JJ, Degree=Pos) with their own lemma, not verb forms.

Conditions and exceptions. Some are adjective-only: drunken, sunken, shrunken, molten, graven, bounden (duty), rotten, misshapen. Others are mostly adjectives but can be verbal: laden, hewn, strewn, mown, swollen, shaven, stricken. Adjectives with old [ɪd] are covered in verb-ed-regular and wf-ed-adjectives. Born is the participle of bear only for birth in the passive (he was born), VBN with lemma bear; borne is used otherwise (has borne five children). Proven is mostly an adjective; as a participle it is VBN with lemma prove. Adverbs are built on the -en form (brokenly, mistakenly).

Examples. a drunken brawl (JJ); he was drunk (JJ, a state); he has drunk it (VBN); a sunken ship (JJ); he was born in 1990 (VBN, lemma bear).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.4, 4.9, 5.3, 5.5, 5.7; Sweet NEG I §§1386, 1390, 1439, 1462; Whitney §§275, 455; Santorini 1990 §4.1.

Rules. en.morph.participle-adjective-only (warn): drunken, sunken, shrunken, molten, graven, bounden, rotten, misshapen are ADJ. en.morph.born-lemma (error): verb born is VBN with lemma bear.

verb-strong-ablaut

Strong verbs: sing–sang–sung, write–wrote–written

Gist. About two hundred verbs form the past and participle by changing the root vowel, often with -n/-en on the participle: sing–sang–sung, write–wrote–written, take–took–taken, know–knew–known. The class is closed and slowly losing members to the regular pattern. For many of these verbs past and participle differ, so the form itself suggests the tag: went, saw, took are VBD; gone, seen, taken are VBN. The lemma is the infinitive.

Conditions and exceptions. Modern groups (after Jespersen): three vowels without -n (swim–swam–swum, begin, sing, ring, drink, sink; run–ran–run, come–came–come); participle in -n (drive–drove–driven, ride, write, rise; speak–spoke–spoken, break, steal, freeze, choose; take, shake; blow–blew–blown, grow, know, throw, fly, draw; give, eat, fall, see, do, beat–beat–beaten); suppletive go–went–gone, be–was/were–been. -n always stays after a vowel or r (seen, done, gone, drawn, known, born, sworn, torn, worn) and never follows a nasal (swum, begun). Double forms: got/gotten (gotten common in the US), proved/proven, showed/shown, woke/waked, hung/hanged ("executed"), born/borne. Non-standard speech levels the forms (I seen it, he done it, had went, have took), and EWT tags by function (VBN after have, even for went). So "only VBN / only VBD" is a warn, while gross errors (VB, VBP, VBZ, VBG on these forms) are error.

Examples. She wrote a letter (VBD). It was written in 1914 (VBN). We went home / We have gone home.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.1, 5.1–5.7; Sweet NEG I §§1284–1288, 1364–1456; Whitney §§257–275.

Rules. en.morph.strong-participle-form-tag (error): gone, seen, taken, written … are VBN or VBD. en.morph.strong-participle-vbn (warn): in standard use they are VBN only. en.morph.strong-preterite-form-tag (error): went, saw, took, wrote … are VBD or VBN. en.morph.strong-preterite-vbd (warn): in standard use they are VBD only.

verb-vb-base-form

The verb base: VB — infinitive, imperative, subjunctive

Gist. The bare verb stem (work, go, be) is the dictionary form. It is tagged VB in three roles: infinitive (to go, can go, will go), imperative (Go!) and present subjunctive (I suggest that he go). In the present indicative the same form is VBP.

Conditions and exceptions. Infinitive: after to, modals, do in questions and negatives (did you go?), and let, make, see (let him go). Imperative: no subject, sentence-initial (Read the book!), including Don't go, where do is also VB. Subjunctive: after suggest, demand, insist that and in formulas (God save the Queen); there is a subject but no -s. The infinitive and subjunctive of be is be (that he be told), while unreal were is VBD. UD features: infinitive has only VerbForm=Inf (no tense, mood, person or number); imperative has Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin; subjunctive has Mood=Sub|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin plus Number/Person from the subject. EWT 2.18 annotates subjunctives this way.

Examples. I want to leave. You must try. Make a sandwich! I suggest that he see a doctor.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/VerbForm.md, feat/Mood.md, feat/Tense.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §1290; Whitney §234.

Rules. en.morph.vb-verbform (error): VB has VerbForm=Inf|Fin. en.morph.vb-finite-mood (error): finite VB has Mood=Imp|Sub. en.morph.vb-infinitive-bare (error): infinitive VB has no Tense, Mood, Person, Number.

verb-vbd-past

Past tense: VBD

Gist. The simple past has one form for all persons and numbers (I/you/he/they worked): -ed for regular verbs, vowel change or other means for irregular ones (went, sang, kept). The PTB tag is VBD. Only be distinguishes number in the past (was vs were).

Conditions and exceptions. Where past and participle coincide (worked, kept, made), function decides: VBD without an auxiliary, VBN after have or in the passive (see verb-vbn-participle). Were in unreal conditions (if I were rich) is still VBD but Mood=Sub. 'd is had (VBD) or would (MD). In non-standard text a past form can stand for a participle (I have went), and EWT then tags VBN by function. UD: VERB or AUX, VBD, Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin (or Mood=Sub), and in EWT 2.18 also Number and Person from the subject (he wanted: Number=Sing|Person=3). The lemma is the infinitive.

Examples. She went home. We were late. I*'d** already left* ('d = had). If I were you…

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Tense.md, feat/VerbForm.md, feat/Mood.md, feat/Number.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Sweet NEG I §1290; Jespersen MEG VI 5.6; Kruisinga II.1 §28.

Rules. en.morph.vbd-feats (error): VBD has Tense=Past, VerbForm=Fin, Mood=Ind|Sub. en.morph.vbd-agreement-feats (warn): VBD has Number and Person (EWT practice).

verb-vbg-ing

The -ing form: VBG — participle and gerund

Gist. The -ing form has one shape and several functions. It can be a participle (she is reading, a sleeping child), a gerund that keeps verbal structure (I enjoy reading books) or an ordinary deverbal noun (the reading of the will, buildings). PTB gives every verbal use the tag VBG; UD separates participle and gerund with VerbForm, and -ing nouns are NOUN.

Conditions and exceptions. Verb vs noun: with a direct object or adverb (closing the plant, cooking well) it is VBG; with an of-phrase, adjective, article or plural (the closing of the plant, good cooking, buildings) it is NN/NNS. Verb vs adjective: if it accepts very, degree or un- (very interesting, uninteresting), or follows seem, become, it is JJ. VerbForm=Part with Tense=Pres is used in the progressive with an auxiliary (is going), in participial clauses (…, saying there were…) and as a modifier. VerbForm=Ger (no Tense) is used in nominal positions without an auxiliary: subject, object, after a preposition (I enjoyed working with you). Spelling follows spell-silent-e and spell-consonant-doubling (making, seeing, dyeing, singeing, lying, running). Colloquial goin', walkin and gon (from gonna) are also VBG with the full lemma. UD: VERB or AUX (being), VBG, no person, number or mood, lemma = infinitive (lying → lie). An -ing noun is NOUN with its own lemma (building) and no VerbForm.

Examples. He is sleeping (Part). Swimming is fun (Ger). a sleeping bag (NN in a compound). The meeting starts at five (NN).

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§101, 324–329, 335, 1600; Whitney §§237–238, 447, 455; Santorini 1990 §4.1; UD docs/_en/feat/VerbForm.md; Jespersen MEG VI 21.9; Kruisinga II.1 §§139–151, I §§567, 569, 573; Mätzner I p. 453.

Rules. en.morph.vbg-verbform (error): verbal VBG has VerbForm=Part|Ger and no Mood, Person, Number. en.morph.vbg-participle-tense (error): VBG Part has Tense=Pres. en.morph.vbg-gerund-no-tense (error): VBG Ger has no Tense. en.morph.vbg-form-ing (warn): a VBG form ends in -ing (or colloquial -in, -in').

verb-vbn-participle

Past participle: VBN

Gist. The past participle (worked, taken, gone) is non-finite, with no person, number or mood. It is used in the perfect (have taken), the passive (was taken) and as a modifier (a broken cup, while still verbal). The PTB tag is VBN.

Conditions and exceptions. For regular verbs VBN equals VBD (worked), and syntax alone decides: VBN after have and in the passive, VBD as a predicate without an auxiliary. Many strong verbs have a separate -en/-n or vowel-changed form (taken, written, known, sung, begun), which is VBN only (see verb-strong-ablaut). A participle that has become an adjective (a very interested reader, broken glass as a state) is ADJ/JJ; the adjective tests are very, degree and un- (unbroken). UD: VERB or AUX (been), VBN, Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part, plus Voice=Pass in the passive; lemma = infinitive (taken → take).

Examples. It has been done. The cup was broken by the cat. Written in 1914, the book…

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Tense.md, feat/VerbForm.md, feat/Voice.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §335; Whitney §§302–303, 309; Kruisinga II.1 §§64–69.

Rules. en.morph.vbn-feats (error): VBN has Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part and no Mood, Person, Number.

verb-vbp-present-non3sg

Present tense without -s: VBP

Gist. In the present tense a verb has only two forms: -s for the 3rd person singular (she works) and the bare stem for everyone else (I/you/we/they work). The PTB tag for the bare present is VBP. So VBP is always a finite present indicative and never 3rd person singular.

Conditions and exceptions. The same bare stem is also the infinitive, imperative and subjunctive, which are tagged VB (see verb-vb-base-form). Be has am and are (and 'm, 're) as VBP, while is is VBZ. Modals have no endings but are MD, not VBP. Non-standard he don't, it taste good keeps the form's tag (VBP) and takes features from the subject; this is a text error, not an annotation error, and the rule here does not flag it because it looks only at the word's own features. UD: VERB or AUX, VBP, Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin plus Number and Person from the subject (I know: Sing|1; you know: Sing|2 or Plur; they know: Plur|3). Person=3|Number=Sing on VBP is impossible.

Examples. I know. They are here. We have time. I*'m** late.*

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Tense.md, feat/VerbForm.md, feat/Person.md, feat/Number.md; Santorini 1990 §§2, 4.1; Sweet NEG I §1290; Whitney §§229–230.

Rules. en.morph.vbp-feats (error): VBP has Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Fin, Mood=Ind. en.morph.vbp-not-3sg (error): VBP is not Person=3 + Number=Sing.

verb-vbz-3sg

Verb in -s: 3rd person singular present (VBZ)

Gist. The present tense has a single personal ending, -s, for the 3rd person singular (he works, she goes, it has); the PTB tag is VBZ. It sounds and is spelled like the noun plural (works is both verb and noun), so syntax decides the part of speech.

Conditions and exceptions. Pronunciation: [ɪz] after sibilants (kisses, judges), [s] after voiceless sounds (hopes), [z] otherwise (loves, plays). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh (passes, fixes, watches); consonant + y → -ies (tries), vowel + y → -ys (plays); some -o verbs take -oes (goes, does, echoes). The irregular forms are is (be) and has (have); does and says are spelled regularly but pronounced differently. Modals and modal need, dare take no -s (they are MD). Archaic -th/-eth is also 3rd singular (see verb-archaic-endings), and non-standard I says, they says spreads -s to all persons. Contracted 's (is/has) is VBZ, and colloquial ai (from ain't) is VBZ with lemma be in EWT. UD: VERB or AUX, VBZ, Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin; lemma = infinitive.

Examples. She works here. It goes well. He has left. It*'s** fine.*

Sources. Sweet NEG I §§1290, 1293, 1478, 1487, 1492–1493; Whitney §243; UD docs/_en/feat/Person.md, feat/Number.md, feat/Tense.md; Santorini 1990 §2; Jespersen MEG VI 3.1, 3.8–3.9; Kruisinga II.1 §§5, 19–23; Mätzner I p. 331.

Rules. en.morph.vbz-feats (error): VBZ has Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Fin, Mood=Ind. en.morph.vbz-form-s (warn): a VBZ form ends in -s (exception: ai).

wf-adj-suffixes

Adjective suffixes: -ous, -ful, -less, -able, -ic, -ish, -y, -en

Gist. Adjectives are most often derived from nouns and verbs with suffixes: famous, careful/careless, readable, economic, childish, noisy, wooden, troublesome. -ous yields only adjectives; the other suffixes can be ambiguous, because nouns share some endings (handful, animal, native). The lemma is the adjective itself (ADJ, JJ/JJR/JJS).

Conditions and exceptions. -ous (famous, dangerous, various) is always an adjective, and -ously forms the adverb. -ful makes adjectives (careful, forgetful) but also measure nouns (handful, spoonful; plural handfuls). -less attaches to nouns (careless) and verbs (countless), but unless (conjunction) and bless (verb) do not contain it. -able/-ible attaches to almost any verb (readable, even get-at-able; -ible in Latin loans such as audible), though table, cable, vegetable, variable are nouns. -ic/-ical pairs differ in meaning (economic/economical, historic/historical, comic/comical), and -ical is used where there is a noun in -ic(s) (statistical). -ish forms nationalities (English), "like" (childish), "somewhat" (reddish) and sixish, but in finish, publish, punish, establish it is a different, borrowed -ish. Others: -y (noisy); -en for material (wooden, golden; colloquially a noun modifier is more common: gold watch); -some (troublesome); -like (childlike); -ly from nouns (friendly, see adv-ly); -ed from nouns (talented, see wf-ed-adjectives).

Examples. a famous writer; a careful driver; readable text; an economic crisis; a childish joke.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 13.3, 19.6, 19.7, 20.4, 22.3, 22.6, 23.1–23.3, 25.2; Sweet NEG I §§1606–1614, 1719–1755; Kruisinga II.3 §§1682–1705; Mätzner I pp. 436–438; Whitney §§91, 193.

Rules. en.morph.suffix-ous-adj (warn): a word ending in -ous is ADJ (or PROPN/X).

wf-compounds

Compounds: blackbird, gas-mask, tear gas

Gist. A compound joins two stems into one word with its own meaning: blackbird (a species), not black bird (any black bird). English writes compounds solid (blackbird, toothbrush), hyphenated (gas-mask, well-known) or open (tear gas, bus stop); Jespersen calls the spelling "little short of chaotic". Better criteria are stress (usually one strong stress on the first part) and semantic isolation.

Conditions and exceptions. Types: noun + noun (sunrise, bookseller, the largest group); adjective + noun (blackboard, greenhouse); verb + noun (pickpocket); particle + noun (outcry, bystander); bahuvrihi, naming the bearer of a feature (redcoat, paleface); compound adjectives (blue-eyed, heart-breaking, God-given, man-made, colour-blind, light-green); compound verbs, often by back-formation (housekeep, henpeck, browbeat). The first part is usually singular even with plural meaning (toothbrush, a five-pound note), but it stays plural when that has its own meaning (clothes-brush, newspaper, goods train) and in official names (the Aliens Act). The plural goes on the head (see noun-plural-compounds). Hyphenated compounds are usually one token in EWT (well-known, long-term); PTB tags a hyphenated prenominal modifier JJ (income-tax/JJ return) and open parts separately (income/NN tax/NN return). Open compounds are two words in UD, the first a NOUN attached by compound. The lemma of a solid compound is the whole word (toothbrushes → toothbrush).

Examples. a blackbird; a toothbrush; a well-known writer; the bus stop (compound).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 8.1, 8.7–8.9, 9.1–9.7; Sweet NEG I §§63–68, 900–915, 1551–1556; Whitney §§102–105, 119, 194, 226; Santorini 1990 §4.1; UD docs/_en/dep/compound.md.

Rules. None (descriptive seed).

wf-conversion

Conversion: one word — different parts of speech (a walk, to bottle)

Gist. An English word easily moves to another part of speech without a suffix: a walk (from to walk), to bottle (from a bottle), to clean (from clean), to up the price. Jespersen calls this a zero-suffix derivative. The converted word takes all formal marks of its new class: a noun takes articles and plurals (three walks), a verb takes -s, -ed, -ing (bottles, bottled, bottling). So syntax and inflection in the actual sentence decide the part of speech, not the dictionary.

Conditions and exceptions. Directions: noun → verb (to bottle, to pigeon-hole, to short-circuit); verb → noun (have a look, give a push, three tries); adjective → verb (to calm, to dry, to empty, even to best); adverb → verb (to down, to out); proper name → noun or verb (a Plato, to boycott). Some pairs differ in stress ('record/re'cord, 'object/ob'ject, 'present/pre'sent, 'import/im'port), voicing (use [s]/[z], house, belief/believe, proof/prove, bath/bathe, advice/advise) or vowel (food/feed, blood/bleed, full/fill, song/sing). Verbs are formed from the singular noun (exception to dice). The lemma follows the new part of speech (walks → walk as NOUN or VERB; bottled → bottle). An article signals a noun, so a word with a/an/the cannot be a finite or base verb (VB, VBP, VBZ, VBD). Participles with an article (the following, the attached) are borderline cases that EWT tags VBG/VBN.

Examples. Let's take a walk (NOUN). They walk daily (VERB). She bottled the wine (VERB, lemma bottle). Prices upped (VERB, lemma up).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 6.1, 6.8, 6.9, 7.1–7.2, 11.2–11.9, 12.1–12.5; Sweet NEG I §§105–106, 164, 887, 914–915; Whitney §§98–99, 225d.

Rules. en.morph.article-not-on-finite-verb (error): an article (det, PronType=Art) never attaches to a VERB/AUX tagged VB, VBP, VBZ or VBD.

wf-ed-adjectives

Adjectives in -ed from nouns: talented, blue-eyed

Gist. -ed added to a noun makes an adjective meaning "having X": talented, bearded, moneyed. With a modifier it forms a whole group: blue-eyed, long-legged, bad-tempered, open-minded. It looks like the participle ending, but there is no verb behind it (to talent does not exist), so these words are adjectives, not VBN. UD: ADJ, JJ, Degree=Pos, lemma = form, no VerbForm or Tense.

Conditions and exceptions. Some old words are pronounced [ɪd] (talented, landed, wicked, wretched, rugged, ragged, crooked, naked), while compounds have [d] (blue-eyed). be-…-ed forms (bespectacled, bewigged, bemedalled) are also adjectives. In borderline cases a verb does exist (gifted, skilled, armed, winged); then meaning decides, and a state or property reading is JJ. Spelling: ivied, propertied, honeyed.

Examples. a talented singer; a blue-eyed boy; an open-minded person; a bearded man.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.2, 24.1, 28.1; Sweet NEG I §§907, 1606; Whitney §194; Santorini 1990 §4.1.

Rules. en.morph.ed-compound-adjective (warn): words ending in -eyed, -haired, -legged, -minded, -hearted, -handed, -sided, -shaped, -faced, -headed, -footed, -tongued, -skinned, -coloured/-colored, -tempered, -natured are ADJ. en.morph.ed-denominal-adjective (warn): talented, moneyed, salaried, wooded, bigoted, wicked, wretched, naked, rugged, ragged, jagged, sacred, bespectacled (and variants) are ADJ.

wf-negative-prefixes

Negative prefixes: un-, in-/im-/il-/ir-, dis-, non-

Gist. Negative prefixes turn a word (usually an adjective) into its opposite: unhappy, impossible, dishonest, non-smoker. The prefix does not change the part of speech. The negation is lexical, so in UD such words get no Polarity=Neg; only grammatical words (not, n't, nor, interjection no) do.

Conditions and exceptions. Un- is native and the most productive. It combines with adjectives and adverbs (unkind, unfortunately), their nouns (unkindness, untruth) and participles (unfinished, unwilling). With verbs it means "reverse the action" (untie, undo, unlock, unpack), so unlocked is ambiguous. In- goes with Latin stems and assimilates: il- before l, im- before b, m, p, ir- before r (illegal, impossible, irregular); compare unable/inability, unjust/injustice. Some forms are lexicalized (infamous, invaluable "priceless", impertinent, indifferent). Others: dis- (dishonest, disagree), non- (nonsense, non-profit), Greek a- (amoral, atypical), mis- "wrongly" (misread). A prefix written separately or split at a hyphen is sometimes a separate token with XPOS AFX in EWT (non profit, mid 90s), with inconsistent UPOS. The lemma keeps the prefix (unhappy, not happy).

Examples. an unhappy child; it's impossible; a dishonest man; non-profit organisations.

Sources. UD docs/_en/feat/Polarity.md, docs/_en/pos/X.md; Jespersen MEG VI 26.1–26.6; Sweet NEG I §§1584, 1587, 1642, 1652, 1658; Whitney §§100, 193d.

Rules. en.morph.no-polarity-on-lexical-words (error): ADJ, ADV, NOUN, PROPN and VERB tokens have no Polarity.

wf-noun-suffixes

Noun suffixes: -ness, -ity, -ism, -hood, -tion, -ment, -er

Gist. Unlike a prefix, a derivational suffix usually changes the part of speech and determines it: kindness, reality, socialism, childhood, creation, government, teacher. So the word ending is a strong tagging cue: words in -ness, -ity, -ism, -hood are almost always nouns, and -nesses, -ities, -isms, -tions, -ments are plural nouns. The lemma is the singular derived word (kindnesses → kindness), not the base.

Conditions and exceptions. -ness is the most productive suffix: it attaches to any adjective or participle (readiness, preparedness), even to phrases (up-to-dateness), but is not used where a noun already exists (possibility). Special cases: business (not busyness), wilderness, and witness, harness, which are also verbs. -ity goes with Latin stems (reality, ability); pity can be a verb, and quality before a noun is sometimes JJ in EWT. -ism/-ist pair with -ize (socialism, socialist, socialize), and -ist can be an adjective (racist). -hood, -ship, -dom: childhood, friendship, freedom (worship is also a verb; random, seldom do not contain the suffix). -tion/-sion/-ation, -ment, -ance/-ence, -al name actions and results, and many have become verbs by conversion (to question, to mention, to function, to comment). Personal and diminutive suffixes: -er/-or, -ee, -ess, -ist, -ant/-ent; -let, -ling, -ette. -th from adjectives: warmth, length, strength, depth, width, truth.

Examples. his kindness; the reality; racism; in my childhood; two creations.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 13.6, 14.1, 19.1, 19.3, 19.4, 19.9, 21.8, 22.2, 23.4–23.5, 24.4, 25.3; Sweet NEG I §§1597–1605, 1682–1718, 1733; Kruisinga II.3 §§1634–1681; Mätzner I p. 450; Whitney §§90–96, 118.

Rules. en.morph.suffix-ness-noun (warn): -ness(es) words are NOUN (or PROPN/X; VERB for witness, harness). en.morph.suffix-ity-ism-hood-noun (warn): -ity, -ism, -hood (and plurals) are NOUN, PROPN or X. en.morph.suffix-tion-noun (warn): -tion/-sion words are NOUN (or VERB by conversion, PROPN, X). en.morph.derived-plural-noun (warn): nouns in -nesses, -ities, -isms, -tions, -sions, -ments, -ships, -hoods are NNS, Plur|Ptan.

wf-prefixes-class-changing

Prefixes that change the part of speech: a- (asleep), be- (befriend), en- (enlarge)

Gist. Most English prefixes keep the part of speech, but three old ones change it. A- (from on) turns nouns and verbs into predicative adjectives or adverbs: asleep, afloat, alive, ahead. Be- makes verbs from nouns or adjectives (befriend, belittle, becalm) and be-…-ed adjectives (bespectacled). En-/em- makes verbs meaning "make so": enlarge, enrich, empower, enable.

Conditions and exceptions. A- adjectives (asleep, afraid, alive, awake, aware, alike, alone, ablaze, afloat, adrift, aglow, ashamed) appear only after a noun or as predicates (the child is asleep, the people asleep, not an asleep child). Before a noun another word is used: a live broadcast, a sleeping child. They form no -ly adverbs (afraidly is impossible). Alone, alike, ahead, away, aside, apart are often ADV. Em- is used before b, p (embody, empower), with the same meaning as the verbal suffix -en (enrich ~ sweeten). In UD the a- adjectives are ADJ (JJ) and, as noun modifiers, amod placed after the noun. Be- and en- derivatives are ordinary VERBs whose lemma includes the prefix (befriend, enlarge).

Examples. The baby is asleep (ADJ, predicate). Children asleep in the car (ADJ after the noun). They befriended him (VERB). We need to enlarge it (VERB).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 20.5, 22.9, 27.3, 27.4, 28.1; Sweet NEG I §§1506, 1572, 1588, 1653; Whitney §225b.

Rules. en.morph.a-adjective-postposed (warn): asleep, afraid, alive, aware, awake, ashamed, ablaze, afloat, adrift, aglow, akin, averse, alike as amod come after their noun.

wf-prefixes-neutral

Prefixes that keep the part of speech: re-, pre-, over-, mis-, co-, anti-

Gist. Most English prefixes only refine meaning and do not change the part of speech: rewrite (verb), overconfident (adjective), co-pilot (noun). So a derived word usually has the same tag as its base, and the lemma is the whole word including the prefix.

Conditions and exceptions. Productive native prefixes: un-, mis- (misread), over-, under-, out- (overestimate, underpay, outrun), fore- (foresee). Productive borrowed prefixes: re- (reconsider, re-enter), pre-, post-, ante-, co-, anti-, counter-, sub-, super-, ultra-, hyper-, semi-, demi-, mini-, multi-, mono-, poly-, inter-, trans-, ex- "former" (ex-wife), vice-, pseudo-, neo-, auto-. A hyphen is used where the word would otherwise clash with an older loan (re-form/reform, re-sign/resign, re-cover/recover, re-mark/remark). Stressed re- [riː] is productive, while unstressed [rɪ] in old words (receive, repeat) is no longer a separable prefix. Pre-war, anti-war, post-2000 before a noun are modifiers (JJ), even though the base is a noun. A prefix written as a separate token gets XPOS AFX in EWT (see wf-negative-prefixes).

Examples. I rewrote it (VBD, lemma rewrite). pre-war Europe (JJ). an overconfident player (JJ). the co-author (NN).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI ch. XXVII–XXVIII, 28.2; Sweet NEG I §§1584–1588, 1620–1680, 1668; Whitney §101; Santorini 1990 §4.1.

Rules. None (descriptive seed).

wf-reduplication

Reduplication: zigzag, ping-pong, hip-hop, so-so

Gist. A small group of words is formed by repeating a stem: unchanged (pooh-pooh, goody-goody, so-so, bye-bye), with a vowel change (zigzag, chit-chat, ping-pong, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, tip-top, sing-song, willy-nilly, riff-raff) or with rhyme on a changed first consonant (hanky-panky, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hip-hop). They express sound imitation, repeated action, contempt or playfulness. Usage decides the part of speech: zigzag is noun and verb, so-so adjective and adverb, willy-nilly adverb.

Conditions and exceptions. They are written solid (zigzag) or hyphenated (ping-pong); a hyphenated word is one token in EWT. The lemma is the whole word (zigzagged → zigzag), and reduplicated verbs inflect regularly (shilly-shallied). Emphatic repetition in speech (very very good, a big big house) is not word formation but two separate words. Tags and lemmas are those of an ordinary word of that class, with no special features.

Examples. The path zigzags up the hill (VERB). a so-so film (ADJ). They play ping-pong (NOUN).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI ch. X, 10.2–10.4; Kruisinga II.3 §§1913–1918; Whitney §334.

Rules. None (descriptive seed).

wf-shortening

Shortening of words: phone, exam, lab; back-formation: edit, burgle

Gist. English readily shortens long words. Clipping usually keeps the beginning: phone, exam, lab, ad, photo, bike, pub, vet, flu, maths/math. Clipped words become ordinary nouns with their own plurals (phones, exams). Back-formation removes an imagined suffix to create a new word: editor → edit, burglar → burgle, enthusiasm → enthuse, television → televise, housekeeper → housekeep, pease → pea.

Conditions and exceptions. A clipped word is a separate lexeme whose lemma is the clipped form (phones → phone, not telephone). UD's Abbr=Yes is for written abbreviations (Mr., govt, e.g., u for you), not for clippings that have become ordinary words: phone, exam, info have no Abbr in EWT. Sometimes the end (phone, bus from omnibus) or middle (flu) survives. Losing unstressed initial syllables gives separate words (mend < amend, fence < defence, sport < disport). Initialisms (M.P., a.m., BBC) are a separate type, tagged by function (NNP for names), and EWT marks them with Abbr=Yes inconsistently. Back-formation often changes the part of speech, typically noun → verb (edit, burgle, babysit).

Examples. My phone died. Two exams left. She edits the paper (VERB, lemma edit).

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.4, 29.2–29.9; Kruisinga II.3 §§1904–1911; Mätzner I pp. 173, 177; Sweet NEG I §§998, 1001; UD EWT 2.18 practice.

Rules. en.morph.clipping-lemma (error): nouns phone(s), exam(s), lab(s), ad(s), photo(s), flu, bike(s) … have the clipped form as lemma. en.morph.clipping-not-abbr (warn): such established clippings have no Abbr.

wf-verb-suffixes

Verb suffixes: -ize/-ise, -ify, -en, -ate

Gist. Verbs are derived from adjectives and nouns with a few suffixes meaning "make so, turn into": realize, modernize, clarify, justify, widen, shorten, activate. There are few productive verb suffixes, because English easily makes verbs without one (conversion: to dry, to empty; see wf-conversion).

Conditions and exceptions. -ize/-ise: -ize is American and Oxford spelling, -ise common British, and lemmas follow the spelling of the text. Some verbs are spelled only -ise (advertise, advise, comprise, despise, devise, exercise, supervise, surprise), and size, prize, seize, wise, precise do not contain the suffix. -ify/-fy (clarify, justify, testify, intensify; -efy in liquefy, stupefy) always marks a verb. -en (widen, redden, sharpen, soften, darken, fasten) attaches only after consonants that allow syllabic n (no smallen); lengthen, strengthen exist because there are no verbs long, strong; in frighten, listen, happen the suffix adds nothing. -ate comes from Latin participles (separate, dedicate); adjective separate is pronounced [-ɪt], the verb [-eɪt]. -ish in verbs (finish, punish, publish, establish) is borrowed and unproductive. UD: VERB in all forms; lemma = stem with suffix (clarified → clarify, widening → widen).

Examples. We need to realize it. Please clarify. The road will widen. They activated the account.

Sources. Jespersen MEG VI 4.4, 19.4, 19.5, 20.5, 24.8, 25.1; Sweet NEG I §§1616, 1754–1758; Kruisinga II.3 §§1627–1633, I §584; Mätzner I pp. 439, 473–474; Whitney §§95, 225a.

Rules. en.morph.suffix-ify-verb (warn): a word ending in -ify is VERB (or PROPN/X).

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