Intransitive Action (Triple Extraction - Part 2)Intransitive VerbsThe sentence may be a truncated three words or include a lengthy description, but the action never moves beyond the subject. To use the old riddle, there is no one else in the sentence to hear if the lone tree falling in the forest makes a sound. ![]() An intransitive verb can be used to end the sentence.
Intransitive verbs may be followed by an adverb (something that adds to a verb):
Don't let these examples fool you. An intransitive verb may also end with an adverb phrase
Triple Extraction:
Adverbs can be used to give us specific types of these objects:
![]() Now we can ask a question:
How can we represent more complex adverb phrases? Adverbs simply “add” to the verb. They tell us more about the verb. Given the complex adverb phrases above, we know that a plane and a transcontinental flight are related. We likewise know that a volcano and a destructive force are likewise related.
We could leave the extraction at that, or add further semantic precision, without the loss of use, by incorporating reification into the extracted triples:
likewise,
Template:
This gives us the ability to relate these facts by way of context. The concepts of plane, disappearance and transcontinental flight form a semantic chain. This allows us to answer such questions as:
The question could also be phrased “When is an entity most likely to perform an action”?
Based on the triples that are extracted from the unstructured text, and any statistical weights that might be applied, the system might come back with the same answer, or a different one. The likelihood (or probability) of this answer could also be returned. Fortunately, for the frequent fliers among us, the likelihood of this answer is low. |