Parsing Exercises | Part 2

Date: 2020-06-24

Ex1: I work hard and I play hard.
Ex2: Farting or belching is mildly impolite.
Ex3: I went to a fancy university, yet I’m still quite ignorant.
Ex4: I write because I like good ideas.
Ex5: The bully hit my buddy and me pretty hard.
Ex6: I seriously think that Ayn Rand was wise.
Ex7: Don’t chew quickly while your mouth is open.
Ex8: My daughter likes big dogs, but my son likes adorable cats.
Ex9: If universities are full of uncurious professors, don’t attend one.
Ex10: After you throw a small, red ball, while you sing, you should stamp your feet loudly, and you should clap your hands energetically, if it’s still daytime.
1. ET’s structure (Max’s conjecture of a principle: Conjunctions always have one non-conjunction child)

notation:

A » B, B « A (conjunctions): the conjunction A has higher precedence than B
if1, and2, you4, etc.: when a word appears more than once we name them by appending a number, starting at 1 in the order of appearance.
3-7 (clauses / phrases): if a sentence is broken down into clauses or phrases, a refernce in the form M-N (M to N) means the verbatim chunk of the sentence starting at clause M and ending at N. e.g., in if A then B otherwise C A-C would not include the if

also:

These notes haven’t been cleaned up (or the cleanup is minimal).
In the code blocks (s-expressions) I use -- for comments.
those comments often get crossed out, which looks ~crossed out~ like this. they don’t actually show being crossed out tho.

Ex1: I work hard and I play hard.

(and :: conj
    (work :: verb
        I :: noun
        hard :: adj
        )
    (play :: verb
        I :: noun
        hard :: adj)
)

graph TD
  and --- work
  work --- i1
  work --- h1
  h1[hard]
  i1[I]
  
  and --- play
  play --- i2[I]
  play --- h2[hard]

Ex2: Farting or belching is mildly impolite.

(is :: verb
    (or :: conj
        Farting :: ~noun - gerund~ no, adjective? - participle
        belching :: ~noun~ adj/participle
    )
    (impolite :: noun? no, adjective
        mildly :: adverb | -ly -> (adjective -> verbal adverb? )
    )
)

to re-cover again: adjectives appling to adjectives

note: fart is a noun. so as a verbal it doens’t make sense to be an adjective.
sounds like a good trick for remembering

Ex3: I went to a fancy university, yet I’m still quite ignorant.

(yet :: conj
    (went :: verb
        (to university :: infinitive version of university :: noun
            a :: mod (adj? determinate)
            fancy :: adj
        )
    )
    (am I (ignorant::adj still::adv quite::adv)))

    -- wrong, initial answer below
    (am :: verb (tricky one)
        (I :: noun -- does still go here?
            still :: adj
        )
        (ignorant :: adj
            quite :: adverb
        )
    )
)

Ex4: I write because I like good ideas.

(because :: conj
    (write :: verb 
        I :: noun)
    (like :: verb
        I
        (ideas :: noun
            good :: adj))
)

Ex5: The bully hit my buddy and me pretty hard.

(hit :: verb
    (bully the)
    (and (buddy my) me)
    (hard pretty))

Ex6: I seriously think that Ayn Rand was wise.

(that :: conj
    (think :: v
        I :: noun
        seriously :: adverb)
    (was :: v
        Ayn Rand :: n
        wise :: n)
)

that – what is that? can be tonnes
I can’t tell the difference between the sentences (with and without ‘that’)
complementizer? https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/177128/necessity-of-that-as-a-conjunction
introduces tensed clause – so the whole clause is ni the past, not the state of rand being wise i.e. she’d still be wise if she were alive.
using emphasis trick (emphasising was in each option) doesn’t make it clearer :/
heh from xmasthat.html: “I’ll attempt, though, to set out a succinct set of guidelines, but you needn’t implant them. Implants are notorious for falling out when you need them.”

moving on

Ex7: Don’t chew quickly while your mouth is open.

(while :: conj,subordinating 
    (do :: v
        (chew :: v
            quickly :: adverb,participle) (?)
        not :: adverb
    )
    (is :: v
        (mouth :: n
            your :: mod,det)
        open :: n
        )
    )

Ex8: My daughter likes big dogs, but my son likes adorable cats.

(but :: conj,coordidnating
    (likes
        (daughter my::reference.adjective)
        (dogs big))
    (likes
        (son my)
        (cats adorable))
)

Ex9: If universities are full of uncurious professors, don’t attend one.

(if :: conj
    (do :: verb
        (attend :: v -- is 'do' or attend as root of verbphrase?
        -- attend - aux/helper verb
            one :: noun)
        not :: mod
    )
    (are :: v
        universities :: noun
        (full :: adj
            (of :: preposition
                (professors :: noun
                    uncurious :: adj)
            )
        )
    )
)

only here for convenience: (proper version at top)
notation:
- `A` >> `B` | `B` << `A` (conjunctions): the conjunction `A` has higher precedence than `B`

Ex10: After you throw a small, red ball, while you sing, you should stamp your feet loudly, and you should clap your hands energetically, if it’s still daytime.

Note: this is not how ET structured it - see Tutorial 4

(after :: conj.subordinating
    (while :: conj.subordinating
        (throw :: v
            you :: n
            (ball :: n
                a :: adj,determiner
                small :: adj
                red :: adj
            )
        ) :: clause
        (sing::v
            you::n
        )
    )
    (if :: conj,subordinating
        (is :: v
            it :: n
            daytime :: noun
            still :: adverb  -- putting adverb here
                             -- makes compilation easier
        ) :: clause
        (and :: conj,coordinating
            (should :: v
                you :: n,pronoun
                (stamp :: v
                    your :: adj,det
                    feet :: n
                    loudly :: adverb
                ))
            (should :: v
                (clap :: v
                    your :: adj,det
                    hands :: n
                    energetically :: adv
                    ))
            )
    )
)

After you throw a small, red ball, while you sing, you should stamp your feet loudly, and you should clap your hands energetically, if it’s still daytime.

clauses:

you throw a small, red ball,
you sing,
you should stamp your feet loudly,
you should clap your hands energetically,
it’s still daytime.

in this sentence if » and. consider 3, and 4, if 5: The comma before if makes it more specific: ((3 and 4) if 5).

consider 3, and 4 if 5, then (3 and (4 if 5)), thus if « and in this case, and not in the prior case.

Note: I’m really not sure about this anymore, it’s a deep rabbit hole.

ET’s structure (Max’s conjecture of a principle: Conjunctions always have one non-conjunction child)

(after :: conj.subordinating
    (while :: conj.subordinating
        (if :: conj,subordinating
            (and :: conj,coordinating
                (should :: v
                    you :: n,pronoun
                    (stamp :: v
                        your :: adj,det
                        feet :: n
                        loudly :: adverb
                    )
                )
                (should :: v
                    [you] :: pronoun
                    (clap :: v
                        your :: adj,det
                        hands :: n
                        energetically :: adv
                    )
                )
            )
            (is :: v
                it :: n
                daytime :: noun
                still :: adverb  -- putting adverb here
                                 -- makes compilation easier
            ) :: clause
        )
        (sing::v
            you::n
        )
    )
    (throw :: v
        you :: n
        (ball :: n
            a :: adj,determiner
            small :: adj
            red :: adj
        )
    ) :: clause
)

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