com.articulate.sigma.nlg

Interface VerbProperties

All Known Implementing Classes:

VerbPropertiesSimpleImpl

public interface VerbProperties

An interface for obtaining verb behavior in specific situations, e.g. what case roles operate in a subject position for a particular verb? We expect multiple experimental implementations of this, coming from VerbNet, FrameNet, etc. FIXME: perhaps rename to "VerbBehavior"?

Nested Class Summary

Nested Classes

Modifier and Type	Interface and Description
static class	VerbProperties.Polarity

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
List<CaseRole>	getCaseRolesForGrammarRole(String verb, SVOElement.SVOGrammarPosition grammarRole) Return a list of case roles for the given verb and the given grammar role.
List<String>	getPrepositionForCaseRole(String verb, CaseRole caseRole) Return a list of prepositions for the given verb and the given case role.

Method Detail

getCaseRolesForGrammarRole

List<CaseRole> getCaseRolesForGrammarRole(String verb,
                                          SVOElement.SVOGrammarPosition grammarRole)

Return a list of case roles for the given verb and the given grammar role. The list consists of the case roles which, for this verb, are most likely to fill the given grammar role. The list will be in order of likelihood, from most likely to less likely. For example ("give", SUBJECT) will return [CaseRole.AGENT]; ("give", DIRECT_OBJECT) will return [CaseRole.PATIENT]; ("give", INDIRECT_OBJECT) will return [CaseRole.DESTINATION].

Parameters:

verb - the verb in infinitive form

grammarRole -

Returns:

getPrepositionForCaseRole

List<String> getPrepositionForCaseRole(String verb,
                                       CaseRole caseRole)

Return a list of prepositions for the given verb and the given case role. The list consists of the prepositions which, for this verb, are most likely to precede the entity filling the given case role. An empty string means "no preposition". The list will be in order of likelihood, from most likely to less likely. For example ("give", Patient) will return "" because for this verb the Patient role does not take a preposition. But ("give", DESTINATION) will return "to".

Parameters:

verb - the verb in infinitive form

caseRole -

Returns:

the strings most likely to be used for this verb and case role, where empty string means "no preposition"