:degree inconsistency

[nschneid]

[sentence numbers are w.r.t. consensus search for :degree]

• comparative/superlative adj/adv: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 sooner, ...
• degree modifier: intensifier/downtowner other than ‘more’ or ‘most’ before adj stem: 5 too, 7 very, 10 extreme(ly), 14 very, 29 less(er), 36 very, 37 much, 39 dead
• hedge: 35 large(ly)
• epistemic hedge?: 33 we may well see
• anti-hedge?: 43 anything remote(ly) resembling
• extent: 9 further, 20 further
• quantity/intensity: 40 the least stress, 41 maximum use, 42 more places, 44 heavy demands
  • isi_0002.144 more police officers: :quant more
  • nw.wsj_0003.19 most schools: :quant most
  • wb.eng_0003.10 more money: :mod more
  • wb.eng_0003.49 more money: :quant more
  • wb.eng_0003.61 more of our transportation bill: [bill-01 :quant more]
  • wb.eng_0003.61 more travel: [travel-01 :mod more]
  • wb.eng_0003.77 more places: :quant more
  • (I think :quant seems most straightforward for these cases.)
• treat more like X than Y: 28

45 “police are facing more rowdy behavior”—ambiguous! the AMR has :manner [rowdy :degree more] suggesting “rowdier”. But “greater amount of rowdy behavior” should be :quant?

NB: “more than” is consistently more-than

[nschneid]

The editor help pages for :degree and :extent are minimal, and in postediting there seems to be some disagreement. Here's a proposal:

• Limit :extent to spatial distances (or idioms that use these metaphorically, like a long way).
• Specify that :degree also applies to degree modifiers (intensifiers/downtoners):

(s / sad
  :degree (k / kind-of)
  :domain (h / he))

He is kind of sad.

(s / sad
  :degree (t / too :degree (m / much))
  :domain (h / he))

He is much too sad.

• Give an example with degree of event completion/success:

(d / destroy-01 
  :degree (u / utter))

utterly destroyed

• Clarify that :quant is appropriate for more, less, etc. modifying a noun:

(s / school
  :quant (m / most))

most schools

[uhermjakob]

Thanks. I greatly expanded the help page for :degree (as well its tooltip on the roles page).

[nschneid]

Great. One question—you have

(e / expensive
           :domain (c / car)
           :degree (t / too
                 :quant (m / much)))

The car is much too expensive.

I'm not sure I understand the argument for :quant. What if it were "far too expensive" or "vastly too expensive"?

[uhermjakob]

It's in analogy to what we have for "decades later" and "a week earlier", a quantification of degree/comparative. The car costs $5,000 too much for me. But I'll think about some more.

[nschneid]

As suggested in the original post, I think a few consensus sentences need revising:

• :mod more should be :quant more:
  • wb.eng_0003.10 more money: :mod more
  • wb.eng_0003.61 more travel: [travel-01 :mod more]
  • wb.eng_0003.77 more places: [place :mod more]
• :degree further: should this be :extent further (metaphorical distance)?
  • isi_0002.102 supply will rise further: [rise-01 :degree further]
  • nw.wsj_0004.1 further declines: [decline-01 :degree further]
• :degree should be :quant (I think):
  • wb.eng_0003.61 put the least stress on the system: [stress :degree least]
  • wb.eng_0003.76 get maximum use out of our investment: [use-01 :degree maximum]
  • wb.eng_0003.83 heavy demands: [demand-01 :degree heavy]
  • msnbc_0001.2 police are facing more rowdy behavior: [rowdy :degree more]
  • i.e., rowdier behavior; I think the more likely reading is a greater amount of rowdy behavior, so [behave-01 :quant rowdy]