ALTERNATIVES

This operator has two uses:

Word Structure

Allows a symbol to be a synonym for many other symbols. An example is BeforeNounPhrase, where all of the symbols that can occur before a noun phrase are listed.

Physical Structure

Allows a petrol or a diesel engine to be alternative engines for a car.

An example for Word Structure:

ALTERNATIVES(BeforeNounPhrase, {Conjunction, StartClause, EndPossessive, LeftBracket, MiddleParticipialPhrase, Comma, SemiColon, DoubleQuote, Pronominal, RelativePronoun})

The symbol BeforeNounPhrase can then be used to build structure, as

STRUCTURE1(StartNounPhrase,{BeforeNounPhrase, BeginNounPhrase})

When symbols are being matched, their alternatives are found first - ALTERNATIVES may nest, so a symbol may have 50 synonyms.

The operators

    ANDWITH
and
    NOTWITH

can be used to control which alternatives are reached, depending on the alternatives a symbol may currently have.

Related Parse Operators

BRIDGE

PARSE

STRUCTURE1

Related Hierarchy Operators

INVOCATIONS
MEANING1
MEMBERS