Synonym of Single Relation
“Kicked out” can be seen as an invocation of ToReject and, as a possible meaning of ToKickOut,
we could use the relation structures of ToReject to verify
that this meaning was meant – ToReject
“The cow kicked out”
would be rejected, and a
prepositional map would need to be found.
The structure, with change of meaning from parent to collocated verb:
We find ToKick, then find its
collocations, and find the common element with the known preposition, in this case ToKickOut. ToKickOut itself can have
relation structures, or it can acquire them from its different meanings, if it has them.
This structure aids searching, as the search structure can use ToReject, ToKickOut, or any other
synonym or false antonym - a false ToAccept will do as a synonym for ToReject– all
will be resolved to the same ToReject relation.
The use of simpler forms – ToReject
for ToKickOut or ToDiscard for ToThrowOut – serves to formalise the built structure –
making search faster.
Sometimes the appropriate relation is not a direct one to one
mapping – a 2-place relation should turn into a 3-place, or an active use turn into a
passive use, as
John came up against an obstacle -> An obstacle blocked John
A simple mapping operator can be interposed, to allow for
remapping of the parameters. See Synonym Map.
Matching
We will often need to match the symbols we are given, as
The accident came about as a result of carelessness.
The package came about 3 o’clock.
I have come about the rug.
The ship came about in the gale.
There are two levels of matching - multiple independent tests
and the use of an Active Map.
1) Operators connected to the collocation provide tests - is the
relation expressed as a noun, is it in a passive grammatical context, is the object a
person. An example is the collocations for ToAgree.
Note the inherited collocation - InTime - which applies to all
actions. A specific collocation has tests.
The collocation AgreeWithFred requires the object of the preposition
to be a person - the checked test in the bottom left hand corner of the window. The action
to be taken on matching is to create an ObjectGroup on the subject connection of the
relation, as
If the statement had been "I agree with the decision", then
a different structure would have been built -
The collocation structure in the network looks like
The collocation is found as a common object between ToAgree and With,
a check is run (MustBePerson) and then the network construction command is executed.
2) A PREPOSITION1 operator attached to the Collocated Verb is an
indication that a test using an Active Map must be run to determine if the synonym is
valid - the map allows much more precise testing than can separate independent tests on
the relation and the object.
Some collocated verbs have no exact single word relation
synonym, and for those we would need relation structures hung
off the collocated verb node. We will also have the case where several collocated verb
forms have the same meaning, with no single word relation as a synonym. In these cases,
the other forms will point to a more formal collocated form, such as
“to ease out” ->
“to remove from”
The method needs to work successfully for different forms of
the relation
They kicked out the application.
They kicked the application out.
The application was kicked out.
John suggested kicking out the application.
The kicking out of the application came as a surprise.
Collocations Requiring Additional Relation
John worked on through the night.
The rope was cut with a knife.
He voted for many reasons.
Multiple Collocations
We also need to handle cases where there are two prepositions
together:
Why do I have to put up with that?
John doesn’t get on with Fred.
Fred and John don’t get on.
He should stop messing about and get on with it. (two different
meanings, depending whether the object is a person or not)
Keeping up with the Joneses.
I want to find out about whales.
He came up against a problem.
We can handle these using an extension of the method for a
single preposition - ToFindOut is connected through another MEANING2 operator to
ToFindOutAbout.
Direct Build Instruction
For simple collocations (the bulk of them), a build instruction is
sufficient. It might be "take the left hand object, make it a relation, make the
right hand object the subject of that relation. The "by" in "a man was hit
by a truck" would use such an instruction, after checking that the left hand object
was in passive form and the right hand object was not a time value.
Indexing into Prepositional Maps
Some prepositions have many potential meanings, and it is more
efficient to index into a specific meaning characteristic of the relation.
He voted for the candidate.
He voted for many different reasons.
He voted for the first time.
The other uses of ‘for’ can be determined by
searching through different maps to find a match – the ‘vote for a
candidate’ is sufficiently distinctive to provide an index to it.
The indexed map can be on a different preposition to the one
which locates the collocated verb.
The conditions for the map still have to be satisfied – if not,
and all maps indexed from the collocated verb fail, the search will restart using the
preposition only.
See
Prepositional Maps
Synonym Map
Communication
Relations
