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UniversalDependencies / UD_English-EWT

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"dare" and "need" as modal auxes #494

Closed nschneid closed 7 months ago

nschneid commented 7 months ago

Usually these are verbs, but in some sentences they act like modals. For example, "he need not do that"—"need" is not inflected for 3sg agreement as the subject would suggest. They can be inverted with the main verb in questions ("Need I remind you that...?"). "Need" and "dare" even license clitic negations ("needn't", "daren't"), though these are rare in American English.

Should these be added to the validator's AUX list?

As for PTB tags, it appears OntoNotes is inconsistent. Before the word "not", here's "need":

image

And "dare":

image
nschneid commented 7 months ago

@amir-zeldes Any objection to adding these as AUXes?

nschneid commented 7 months ago

(Note also that "ought" is included as an AUX per #411, along with the straightforward modal auxes—"will", "can", "may", etc.)

nschneid commented 7 months ago

@amir-zeldes has verbally assented to adding these as modal auxiliaries, so I'll update the validator.