Critiquing clitic pronoun ordering in french

• US 20050267735A1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kharrat, Alma
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,541 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique

Abstract

A grammar checker configured to correctly order pronouns. By analyzing the inflection of marker words in a textual input, the grammar checker is able to identify errors of pronoun ordering in the textual input. The grammar checker parses the textual input to identify the case of each of the pronouns in the textual input. A list of ordering rules is provided to the grammar checker based on the inflected marker word, and used to generate suggested corrections to the user. A French grammar checker corrects these errors based on whether the marker word is an imperative verb or a non-imperative verb.

Claims

1. A method of determining if a word in a textual input is positioned incorrectly in the textual input, comprising:

identifying a phrase in the textual input;

identifying a marker word in the phrase;

determining an inflection of the marker word;

selecting an ordering rule from a plurality of ordering rules based on the determined inflection of the marker word; and

checking if any of the words in the textual input are in an incorrect position based on the selected ordering rule.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the marker word identifies a verb in the phrase.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein checking comprises,

identifying at least one pronoun in the phrase;

determining the case of each of the at least one identified pronoun in the phrase;

obtaining case ordering rules from the selected ordering rule; and

applying the case ordering rules to the at least one pronoun.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

ordering the at least one pronoun in the phrase according to the case ordering rules.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

following ordering, determining if a word prior to or following the word is subject to a combination rule;

if the word is subject to the combination rule, combining the word with the other word; and

modifying the spelling of the combined word.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein if the first word ends in a vowel and the second word begins with a vowel, performing elision on the combined word.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprises following ordering, determining if a first pronoun is elided and the second pronoun does not require elision;

restoring the first pronoun to a non-elided form.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein if the inflection of the verb is imperative, the method selects a first ordering rule from the plurality of ordering rules.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the first ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a dative case; and

ordering the pronoun having the accusative case first and the pronoun having the dative case second.

10. The method of claim 3 wherein if the inflection of the verb is non-imperative, the method selects a second ordering rule from the plurality of ordering rules.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein applying the second ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a dative case; and

ordering the pronoun having the dative case first and the pronoun having the accusative case second.

12. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

applying a hyphen between the verb and the at least one identified pronoun.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein if the verb ends in a vowel and the at least one identified pronoun begins with a vowel or a semi vowel, adding an additional character to the verb.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an indication to a user that the identified word order is incorrect; and

providing the user at least one correction for the error.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein applying the second ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a pre-dative case indication;

identifying a pronoun having a post-dative case indication; and

ordering the pronouns pre-dative, accusative, and post-dative.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein applying the second ordering rule further comprises:

identifying a pronoun having a locative case;

and

ordering the locative pronoun after the accusative.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein applying the second ordering rule further comprises:

identifying a pronoun having a locative case; and

ordering the locative pronoun after the post-dative pronoun.

23. The grammar checker of claim 2 wherein the first ordering rule instructs the grammar rule interpreter to order pronouns in the textual input accusative case first, dative case second and locative case third.

18. A grammar checker configured to correct incorrect placement of words in a textual input, comprising:

an ordering rule component containing a plurality of ordering rules; and

a grammar rule interpreter configured to determine if the words in the textual input are in a correct grammatical order, by requesting an ordering rule from the ordering rule component based on an identified marker word in the textual input.

19. The grammar checker of claim 18 further comprising:

a parser configured to parse the textual input to identify the marker word in the textual input.

20. The grammar checker of claim 19 wherein the identified marker word is a verb.

21. The grammar checker of claim 20 wherein the grammar rule interpreter is configured to determine the inflection of the verb.

22. The grammar checker of claim 21 wherein if the inflection of the verb is imperative, the grammar rule interpreter is configured to request a first ordering rule from the ordering rule component.

24. The grammar checker of claim 21 wherein if the inflection of the verb is non-imperative the grammar rule interpreter is configured to request a second ordering rule from the ordering rule component.

25. The grammar checker of claim 24 wherein the grammar rule interpreter is configured to identify pronouns in the textual input as pre-dative, post-dative, accusative, and locative cases.

26. The grammar checker of claim 25 wherein the. second ordering rule instructs the grammar rule interpreter to order pronouns in the textual input pre-dative case first, accusative case second, post-dative case third, and locative case fourth.

27. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the steps of:

A method of determining if a word in a textual input is positioned incorrectly in the textual input, comprising;

identifying a phrase in the textual input;

identifying a marker word in the phrase;

determining an inflection of the marker word;

selecting an ordering rule from a plurality of ordering rules based on the determined inflection of the marker word; and

checking if any of the words in the textual input are in an incorrect position based on the selected ordering rule.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27 wherein identifying the marker word identifies a verb in the phrase.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28 wherein checking comprises,

identifying at least one pronoun in the phrase;

determining the case of each of the at least one identified pronoun in the phrase;

obtaining case ordering rules from the selected ordering rule; and

applying the case ordering rules to the at least one pronoun.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29 further comprising:

ordering the at least one pronoun in the phrase according to the case ordering rules;

following ordering, determining if a word prior to or following the word is subject to a combination rule;

if the word is subject to the combination rule, combining the word with the other word; and

modifying the spelling of the combined word.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30 wherein if the inflection of the verb is imperative, the method selects a first ordering rule from the plurality of ordering rules.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 31 wherein the first ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a dative case; and

ordering the pronoun having the accusative case first and the pronoun having the dative case second.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 30 wherein if the inflection of the verb is non-imperative, the method selects a second ordering rule from the plurality of ordering rules.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 33 wherein applying the second ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a dative case; and

ordering the pronoun having the dative case first and the pronoun having the accusative case second.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 27 further comprising:

providing an indication to a user that the identified word order is incorrect; and

providing the user at least one correction for the error.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 34 wherein applying the second ordering rule comprises:

identifying a pronoun having an accusative case;

identifying a pronoun having a pre-dative case indication;

identifying a pronoun having a post-dative case indication; and

ordering the pronouns pre-dative, accusative, and post-dative.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36 wherein applying the second ordering rule further comprises:

identifying a pronoun having a locative case; and

ordering the locative pronoun after the accusative.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 36 wherein applying the second ordering rule further comprises:

identifying a pronoun having a locative case; and

ordering the locative pronoun after the post-dative pronoun.