What modifies what?
May 29, 2008 4:38 AM Subscribe
I think that a thesaurus that was organized in terms of which adjectives typically go with which nouns would be really useful. Like, the adjectives that modify the verb "urge" (as in deep or unfulfilled, say). Same thing could be done for adverbs, e.g., ones that modify "talk" (relentlessly, incessantly, insightfully).
I am aware of WordNet and many other on-line lexical databases like the BNC. I'm looking for something like a compiled list, based on actual usage, of what modifies what.
thanks.
A collocations dictionary! Designed for English-language learners, it helps them find things like this:
strong/weak coffee
strong/light winds
Especially useful for writing practice. However, the one I have linked here has only 9,000 headwords. Consign, for example, wasn't in there, so I couldn't show my students why one would say "consign to the dustbin of history", which, while cliched, is worth knowing because it's in things they might read, like a textbook.
Paperback!
posted by mdonley at 5:48 AM on May 29, 2008
strong/weak coffee
strong/light winds
Especially useful for writing practice. However, the one I have linked here has only 9,000 headwords. Consign, for example, wasn't in there, so I couldn't show my students why one would say "consign to the dustbin of history", which, while cliched, is worth knowing because it's in things they might read, like a textbook.
Paperback!
posted by mdonley at 5:48 AM on May 29, 2008
What you're looking for is an old copy of The Word Finder. Not only will it give you adjectives and adverbs, but verbs too (when I stumbled across it on a shelf and flipped it open, the entry for "knife" included things like "glisten" and "slash" in the verb section). The copy I found is from 1947, but I think they published new editions until 1984.
Check your local library, it's worth it, even if you can only find the 1947 edition.
posted by Partial Law at 6:54 AM on May 29, 2008
Check your local library, it's worth it, even if you can only find the 1947 edition.
posted by Partial Law at 6:54 AM on May 29, 2008
You could always search through the English language corpora available on the internet.
This is one of the easier ones to work with...just type a word and it'll give you collocations sorted by frequency of use and by part of speech.
posted by FunGus at 7:21 AM on May 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
This is one of the easier ones to work with...just type a word and it'll give you collocations sorted by frequency of use and by part of speech.
posted by FunGus at 7:21 AM on May 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
Yeah, a collocations dictionary is what you're looking for. You might post a comment at Language Log or write one of the linguists who post there; those guys are into this kind of thing and will know about whatever online resources are available besides those already mentioned.
posted by languagehat at 7:45 AM on May 29, 2008
posted by languagehat at 7:45 AM on May 29, 2008
The Myles Na gCopaleen Catechism of Cliche is, alas, out of print.
posted by holgate at 1:06 PM on May 29, 2008
posted by holgate at 1:06 PM on May 29, 2008
Try this. I haven't used it (yet) but it may be what you are looking for.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:35 AM on May 30, 2008
posted by bluesky43 at 7:35 AM on May 30, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
Obviously you can restrict the second term to one you're interested in. for example 'urge' seems to only give you: posted by unSane at 5:13 AM on May 29, 2008 [4 favorites]