modification
Let an agent analyse grammatical modification, identify modifiers and heads, explain restrictive versus non-restrictive uses and punctuation, and separate the general sense of modification.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Analyse Finding modifiers.
Identify
Which modifies which.
Identify
Identification.
- Which word or phrase modifies which in this sentence? definition
- Is it adjectival or adverbial? definition
Scope
Attachment ambiguity.
Scope
Attachment.
- Is the modifier attachment ambiguous? boundary
- How can the sentence be rewritten to be clear? action
Restrictive Meaning and punctuation.
Type
Restrictive or not.
Type
Restrictive versus non-restrictive.
- Is this modifier restrictive or non-restrictive, and how does that change meaning? definition
- Which punctuation does the style guide require? provenance
Apposition
Appositives.
Apposition
Apposition.
- Is this an appositive, and is it restrictive? definition
- How should it be punctuated? provenance
Errors Fixing problems.
Misplaced
Misplaced modifiers.
Misplaced
Misplaced modifiers.
- Is a modifier misplaced or dangling in this sentence? boundary
- How should it be fixed? action
Stacking
Stacked modifiers.
Stacking
Stacked modifiers.
- Are too many modifiers stacked before the noun? boundary
- How can the phrase be unpacked? action
Senses Disambiguation.
General
Changing things.
General
General sense.
- Is modification meant as changing or altering something? boundary
- Which entry fits? action
Languages
Other languages.
Languages
Other languages.
- How does modification work in this language, such as adjective agreement or order? provenance
- Which resources describe it? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Cross-cutting context
- Entry kind
- noun.relation
- Plane
- XCT
- Domain
- XCT.REL
- Facets: substance
- abstract
- Facets: origin
- conceptual
- Facets: agency
- inert
- Facets: mobility
- not-applicable
- Facets: scale
- not-applicable
- Facets: affordances
- observable
- Other names and narrower kinds
- qualifying, limiting, restrictiveness, apposition
What it is Filled
In grammar, the relation in which one word or phrase qualifies, limits or restricts the meaning of another, as when an adjective modifies a noun or an adverb modifies a verb, including restrictive and non-restrictive modification and apposition; the term also denotes changing something in general, treated as a separate sense.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent analyse grammatical modification, identify modifiers and heads, explain restrictive versus non-restrictive uses and punctuation, and separate the general sense of modification.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Head and modifier
- Restrictive or non-restrictive
- Signalled by order and punctuation
- Language-specific rules
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Rewrite a legal or medical text in a way that changes what a modifier limits.
- Present a contested grammatical analysis as the only correct one.
- Mark speakers' dialects as wrong merely because they differ from a standard.
Only with a human decision
- Resolving modifier ambiguity in a contract or law that binds people.
May
- Analyse modifiers in sentences and explain their grammatical role.
- Point out when a modifier makes a sentence ambiguous.
Moral aspects Filled
- A misplaced modifier can change the meaning of a law, contract or instruction.
- Language judgements can be used to belittle speakers of other varieties.
Who is affected
- Readers and writers
- Parties to documents
- Language learners
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns grammar; it belongs to its speakers.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- oewn-13818991-n - registry parent class
related
- grammatical relation - category
- apposition - kind of modification
- theorem - other named abstract entity
- syntax - field
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.modification
- Open English WordNet: oewn-13823013-n
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane XCT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Adjectives before nouns, adverbs near verbs
- Commas around non-restrictive clauses
- Complements complete rather than modify
- Not physical; relations between words in sentences.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- identify modifiers and what they modify
- distinguish restrictive and non-restrictive modification
- fix misplaced and dangling modifiers
- separate the general sense of change
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Ambiguity from misplaced modifiers
- Wrong comma use
- Confusing senses
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Style guides on punctuation of modifiers
Context of use required Filled
- Grammar analysis, writing and language teaching.
- adjectival modification
- adverbial modification
- relative clause modification
- apposition
- compound modification
Sources Filled
- Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-13823013-n - sense and gloss of the concept
- Wiktionary: modification - word senses and usage
Open questions
- Should each modifier type be a separate entry?
- How should language-specific rules be linked?
- How should the general sense be split?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-modification/spec.json