In the PPCME2, collective nouns (FOLK, HORS, PEOPLE, etc.) are tagged as N. In early texts, before the generalization of plural -S, it can be quite difficult to distinguish reliably between singular and plural. For texts from the Middle English period M1, we have therefore tried to follow the translation that accompanies the text, or when this is lacking, a separate translation. For details, consult the information for the individual texts. See Singular, collective, or plural noun for further discussion.
In the later corpora, PEOPLE is tagged as singular (N) after
an unambiguously singular determiner (A, THAT, THIS), and as plural
(NS) otherwise.
Comparative or superlative quantifier (LESS, LEAST; MUCH, MORE, MOST)
In the PPCME2, LESS, LEAST and MUCH, MORE, MOST are generally tagged as
adjectives (ADJ, ADJR, ADJS), rather than as quantifiers
(Q, QR, QS), under the conditions
described below. The
distinction between the adjectival use and the pure quantifier use is
not always easy to make in a consistent way and becomes more difficult
over time. In the later corpora, these items are therefore uniformly
tagged as quantifiers (Q, QR, QS).
See Comparative adjective as
head of ADJP
and Superlative adjective as
head of ADJP for further discussion.
The items under discussion are tagged as adjectives:
a/D michel/ADJ lust ← ADJ (with preceding determiner) fram +te/D michel/ADJ conseil of +te vntrew ouer +tat/D michele/ADJ water his/PRO$ michele/ADJ wisdom of mani mann +de is on michele/Q dwele/N on him seluen ← Q (no determiner) and +te/D more/ADJR fysches/NS swolwen +te lesse/ADJR ← ADJ (elided head noun) ' and I shall ensure you ye shall have the/D more/ADJR ← ADJ precedes noun worship than ever ye had . ' And hem thinketh +tat the/D more/ADJR peyne & the/D more/ADJR tribulacioun +tat +tei suffren for loue of here god , the/Dmore/ADJR ioye/N +tei schull haue in another world for he shal ben michel/ADJ bifore gode ← predicate of ordinary clause Ne dowte we not how byleue may now be lesse/ADJR and now be more/ADJR and maki+t his myracle more/ADJ ← predicate of small clause
In the PPCME2, ALL BE IT (THAT) clauses, like SO BE IT (THAT) clauses, are treated similarly to V1 conditionals. ALL is tagged Q, surrounded by ADVP brackets, and treated as a daughter of CP-ADV. This is not intended as the correct analysis of the construction, but rather to fit in with the annotation of V1 conditionals.
( (CP-ADV (ADVP (Q all)) ← ALL BE IT
(IP-SUB (BEP be)
(NP-SBJ-1 (PRO it))
(CP-THT-1 (C that)
(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PRO it))
(BEP was)
(ADJP-PRD (FP but)
(ADJ litel))))))
(ID CMASTRO-M3,673.C1.362))
( (CP-ADV (ADVP (Q al)) ← ALL BE IT
(IP-SUB (BED were)
(NP-SBJ-1 (PRO it))
(ADVP (ADV so))
(CP-THT-1 (C that)
(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PRO she))
(ADVP-TMP (ADV right) (ADV now))
(BED were)
(ADJP-PRD (ADJ deed))))))
(ID CMCTMELI-M3,217.C1b.19))
In the later corpora, ALBEIT (like HOWBEIT) is treated as a unitary adverb (when used absolutely) or as a unitary preposition (when introducing a subordinate clause).
(ADVP (ADV Al_be_it)) ( (PP-LFD (P albeit) ← ALBEIT (CP-ADV (C 0) (IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PRO he)) (BED was) (ADJP-PRD (ADV sore) (ADJ ennamored) (PP (P vpon) (NP (PRO her))))))) (ID MORERIC-1513-E1-H,55.117))
In the PPCME2, HOW BE IT (THAT) clauses are treated as adverbial free relatives.
( (ADVP (CP-FRL (WADVP-1 (WADV how)) ← HOW BE IT (C 0) (IP-SUB (ADVP *T*-1) (BEP be) (NP-SBJ-2 (PRO it)) (CP-THT-2 (C 0) (IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PRO thou)) (HVP hast) (ADVP-TMP (ADV often)) (ADVP-TMP (ADV before)) (PP (P in) (NP (PRO$ thy) (ADJ yonge) (N age) (CONJP (CONJ and) (NX (ADJ myddell) (N age))))) (VBN dyvydyd) (NP-OB1 (PRO$ thy) (N lyfe))))))) (ID CMINNOCE-M4,11.189))
In the later corpora, HOWBEIT (like ALBEIT) is treated as a unitary adverb (when used absolutely) or as a unitary preposition (when introducing a subordinate clause).
(ADVP (ADV How_be_it))
( (PP (P Howbeit) ← HOWBEIT
(CP-ADV (C 0)
(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ=2 (EX there))
(VBD came)
(NP-2 (OTHER other)
(NS boats))
(PP (P from)
(NP (NPR Tiberias))))))
(ID AUTHNEW-1611-E2-H,6,20J.699))
In the PPCME2, SO BE IT (THAT) clauses, like ALL BE IT (THAT) clauses, are treated similarly to V1 conditionals. SO is tagged ADV, surrounded by ADVP brackets, and treated as a daughter of CP-ADV. Again, this is not intended as the correct analysis of the construction, but rather to fit in with the annotation of V1 conditionals.
( (CP-ADV (ADVP (ADV so)) ← SO BE IT
(IP-SUB (BEP be)
(NP-SBJ-1 (PRO hit))
(CP-THT-1 (C that)
(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PRO thou))
(BEP be)
(NEG nat)
(NP-PRD (NPR sir) (NPR Launcelot))))))
(ID CMMALORY-M4,191.2805))
In the later corpora, SO BE IT is a word order variant of IT BE SO and tagged accordingly.
( (PP-LFD (P IF) (CP-ADV (C 0) (IP-SUB (ADVP (ADV SO)) ← SO BE IT (BEP BE) (NP-SBJ=1 (PRO IT)) (, ,) (CP-THT-1 (C THAT) (IP-SUB (PP (P IN) (NP (Q ANY) (N TRIANGLE))) (, ,) (NP-SBJ (D THE) (N SQUARE) (PP (P OF) (NP (D THE) (ONE ONE) (N SYDE)))) (BEP BE) (ADJP-PRD (ADJ =L) (PP (P TO) (NP (D THE) (NUM .IJ.) (NS SQUARES) (PP (P OF) (NP (D THE) (OTHER OTHER) (NUM IJ.) (NS SIDES))))))))))) (ID RECORD-1551-E1-H,2.E4V.275))
( (IP-IMP (VBI Thynk) (ALSO eek) (CP-THT (C that) (IP-SUB (PP-LFD (P of) (NP (SUCH swich) (N seed) (PP (P as) (CP-CMP (WPP-1 0) (C 0) (IP-SUB (PP *T*-1) (NP-SBJ (NS cherles)) (VBP spryngen)))))) (, ,) (PP-RSP (P of) (NP (SUCH swich) (N seed))) (NP-SBJ=2 *exp*) (VBP spryngen) (NP-2 (NS lordes)))) (. .)) (ID CMCTPARS-M3,314.C1.1103))
In the later corpora, the use of the -LFD dash tag is extended beyond such cases to indicate a relationship between a pre-subject PP and any more broadly resumptive PP or ADVP.
( (IP-MAT-SPE (PP-LFD (P Though) (CP-ADV-SPE (C 0) (IP-SUB-SPE (NP-SBJ (PRO I)) (VBP beare) (NP-OB1 (N record)) (PP (P of) (NP (PRO$ my) (N selfe)))))) (, ,) (ADVP-RSP (ADV yet)) (NP-SBJ (PRO$ my) (N record)) (BEP is) (ADJP-PRD (ADJ true)) (. :)) (ID AUTHNEW-1611-E2-H,8,1J.1028))
| PPCME2 | Later corpora |
|---|---|
(NP-ADV (N needs)) | (ADVP (ADV needs)) |