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wnb - WordNet window-based browser interface
Contents
Bugs
Please reports bugs to wordnet@princeton.edu.
WordNet 3.0 Dec 2006 WNB(1WN)
Description
wnb() provides a window-based interface for browsing the WordNet database, allowing synsets and relations
to be displayed as formatted text. For each search word, different searches are available based on
syntactic category and information available in the database.
wnb is written in Tcl/Tk, which is available for Unix and Windows platforms. This allows the same code
to work on all supported WordNet platforms without modification.
Diagnostics
If the WordNet database files cannot be opened, error messages are displayed. This is usually corrected
by setting the environment variables described below to the proper location of the WordNet database for
your installation.
Environment Variables (Unix)
WNHOME Base directory for WordNet. Default is /usr/local/WordNet-3.0.
WNSEARCHDIR Directory in which the WordNet database has been installed. Default is WNHOME/dict.
Files
index.pos database index files
data.pos database data files
*.vrb files of sentences illustrating the use of verbs
pos.exc morphology exception lists
Name
wnb - WordNet window-based browser interface
Registry (Windows)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WordNet\3.0\WNHome
Base directory for WordNet. Default is C:\ProgramFiles\WordNet\3.0.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\WordNet\3.0\wnres
User's default browser options.
Search Results
The results of a search of the WordNet database are displayed in the Results Window. Horizontal and
vertical scroll bars are present for scrolling through the search results.
All searches other than the Overview list all senses matching the search results in the following general
format. Items enclosed in italicized square brackets ([...]) may not be present.
If a search cannot be performed on some senses of searchstr, the search results are headed by a string of
the form:
X of Y senses of searchstr
One line listing the number of senses matching the search selected.
Each sense matching the search selected displayed as follows:
Sensen[{synset_offset}][<lex_filename>]word1[#sense_number][,word2...]
Where n is the sense number of the search word, synset_offset is the byte offset of the synset in
the data.pos file corresponding to the syntactic category, lex_filename is the name of the
lexicographer file that the synset comes from, word1 is the first word in the synset (note that
this is not necessarily the search word) and sense_number is the WordNet sense number assigned to
the preceding word. synset_offset, lex_filename, and sense_number are generated if the
appropriate Options are specified.
The synsets matching the search selected are printed below each sense's synset output described
above. Each line of output is preceded by a marker (usually =>), then a synset, formatted as
described above. If a search traverses more one level of the tree, then successive lines are
indented by spaces corresponding to its level in the hierarchy. Glosses are displayed in
parentheses at the end of each synset if the appropriate Option is set. Each synset is printed on
one line.
Senses are ordered from most to least frequently used, with the most common sense numbered 1.
Frequency of use is determined by the number of times a sense is tagged in the various semantic
concordance texts. Senses that are not semantically tagged follow the ordered senses. Note that
this ordering is only an estimate based on usage in a small corpus.
Verb senses can be grouped by similarity of meaning, rather than ordered by frequency of use.
When the "Synonyms,groupedbysimilarity" search is selected, senses that are close in meaning
are printed together, with a line of dashes indicating the end of a group. See wngroups(7WN) for
a discussion how senses are grouped.
The output of the "DerivationallyRelatedForms" search shows word forms that are morphologically
related to searchstr. Each word form pointed to from searchstr is displayed, preceded by RELATEDTO-> and the syntactic category of the link, followed, on the next line, by its synset. Printed
after the word form is #n where n indicates the WordNet sense number of the term pointed to.
The "Domain" and "DomainTerms" searches show the domain that a synset has been classified in and,
conversely, all of the terms that have been assigned to a specific domain. A domain is either a
TOPIC,REGION or USAGE, as reflected in the specific pointer character stored in the database, and
displayed in the output. A Domain search on a term shows the domain, if any, that each synset
containing searchstr has been classified in. The output display shows the domain type (TOPIC,REGION or USAGE), followed by the syntactic category of the domain synset and the terms in the
synset. Each term is followed by #n where n indicates the WordNet sense number of the term. The
converse search, DomainTerms, shows all of the synsets that have been placed into the domain
searchstr, with analogous markers.
When the "SentenceFrames" search is specified, sample illustrative sentences and generic sentence
frames are displayed. If a sample sentence is found, the base form of the search word is
substituted into the sentence, and it is printed below the synset, preceded with the EX: marker.
When no sample sentences are found, the generic sentence frames are displayed. Sentence frames
that are acceptable for all words in a synset are preceded by the marker *>. If a frame is
acceptable for the search word only, it is preceded by the marker =>.
Search results for adjectives are slightly different from those for other parts of speech. When
an adjective is printed, its direct antonym, if it has one, is also printed in parentheses. When
the search word is in a head synset, all of the head synset's satellites are also displayed. The
position of an adjective in relation to the noun may be restricted to the prenominal, postnominal
or predicative position. Where present, these restrictions are noted in parentheses.
When an adjective is a participle of a verb, the output indicates the verb and displays its
synset.
When an adverb is derived from an adjective, the specific adjectival sense on which it is based is
indicated.
The morphological transformations performed by the search code may result in more than one word to
search for. wnb() automatically performs the requested search on all of the strings and returns
the results grouped by word. For example, the verb saw is both the present tense of saw and the
past tense of see. When there is more than one word to search for, search results are grouped by
word.
Searching The Database
The WordNet browser navigates through WordNet in two steps. First a search word is entered and an
overview of all the senses of the word in all syntactic categories is displayed in the Results Window.
The senses are grouped by syntactic category, and each synset is annotated as described above with
synset_offset, lex_filename, and sense_number as dictated by the advanced search options set. The
overview search also indicates how many of the senses in each syntactic category are represented in the
tagged texts. This is a way for the user to determine whether a sense's sense number is based on
semantic tagging data, or was arbitrarily assigned. For each sense that has appeared in such texts, the
number of semantic tags to that sense are indicated in parentheses after the sense number.
Then, within a syntactic category, a specific search is selected. The desired search is performed and
the search results are displayed in the Results Window. Additional searches on the same word can be
performed, or a new search word can be entered.
To enter a search word, click the mouse in the horizontal box labeled SearchWord, type a single word,
hyphenated string, or collocation and press RETURN.wnb() responds by making a set of Part of Speech buttons appear in the Search Selection line. Each
button corresponds to a syntactic category in which the search string is defined in WordNet. At the same
time, an Overview of the synsets for all senses of the search word is displayed in the Results Window.
The Overview includes the gloss for each synset and also indicates which of the senses have appeared in
the semantically tagged texts. For each sense that has appeared in such texts, the number of semantic
tags to that sense are indicated in parentheses after the sense number.
The pulldown menus in the Search Selection line list all of the WordNet searches that can be performed
for the search word in that part of speech. To select a search, highlight it by dragging the mouse to
it, and release the mouse while it is highlighted. Drag the mouse outside of the pulldown list and
release to hide the menu without making a selection. Dragging the mouse across the Part of Speech
buttons displays the available searches for each syntactic category.
To restrict a search to one or more senses within a syntactic category, enter a comma or space separated
list of sense numbers in the Senses box before selecting a search.
After a search is selected, wnb() performs the search on the WordNet database and displays the formatted
results in the Results Window. Whenever search results are displayed, a button entitled RedisplayOverview is present at the right edge of the Search Word Entry line. Clicking on this button redisplays
the Overview of all synsets for the search word in the Results Window.
ChangingtheSearchWord
A new search word can be entered at any time by moving to the Search Word Entry box, if necessary
highlighting it by clicking, erasing the old string, typing a new one and pressing RETURN. The Senses
box is cleared if necessary, the Part of Speech buttons applicable to the new search word appear, and the
Overview for the new search word is displayed.
The middle mouse button can also be used to select a new search word by placing the mouse over any word
in the Results Window and clicking. The selected word will replace the text in the Search Word Entry
box, and the overview for that word will automatically be displayed.
To select a new search string collocation from text in the Results Window, highlight the text with the
mouse and press CONTROL-S.InterruptingaSearch
When a search is in progress the message "Searching...(pressescapetoabort)" is displayed in the Status
Line. Note that most searches return very quickly, so this message isn't noticeable. As indicated,
pressing the ESCAPE key will interrupt the search. The results of the search obtained before the time
the search was interrupted are displayed in the Results Window.
See Also
wnintro(1WN), wn(1WN), wnintro(3WN), lexnames(5WN), senseidx(5WN), wndb(5WN), wninput(5WN), morphy(7WN), wngloss(7WN), wngroups(7WN).
Shorcuts
Clicking on any word in the Results Window while holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard causes the
browser to replace SearchWord with the word and display its Overview and available searches. Clicking
on any word in the Results Window with the middle mouse button does the same thing.
Pressing the CONTROL-S keys causes the browser to do as above on the text that is currently highlighted.
Under Unix, this will work even if the highlighted text is in another window. This works on hyphenated
strings and collocations, as well as individual words.
Pressing the CONTROL-G keys displays the Substring Search Window.
Synopsis
wnb
Wnb Windows
wnb() was developed with the philosophy that only those searches and buttons that are applicable at the
current time are displayed. As a result, the appearance of the interface changes as it is used. Use the
standard windowing system mouse functions to open and close the WordNet Browser Window, move the window,
and change its size.
The WordNet Browser Window contains the following areas, from top to bottom:
Menubar A menubar runs along the top of the browser window with pulldown menus and button
entitled File, History, Options, and Help.
Search Word Entry Below the Menubar is a line for entering the search word. A search word can be a
single word, hyphenated string, or a collocation. Case is ignored. Although only
uninflected forms of words are usually stored in WordNet, users may search for
inflected forms. WordNet's morphological processor finds the base form
automatically.
Search Selection Below the Search Word Entry line is an area for selecting the search type and senses
to search. Until a search word is entered this area is blank. After a search word
is entered, buttons appear corresponding to each syntactic category (Noun, Verb,
Adjective, Adverb) in which the search string is defined in WordNet.
At the right edge of the Search Selection line is a box for entering sense numbers.
When this box is empty, search results for all senses of the search word that match
the search type are displayed. The search may be restricted to one or more specific
senses by entering a comma or space separated list of sense numbers in the Senses
box. These sense numbers remain in effect until either the user changes or deletes
them, or a new search word is entered.
Results Window Most of the browser window consists of a large text buffer for displaying the results
of WordNet searches. Horizontal and vertical scroll bars are present for scrolling
through the output.
Status Line A status line is at the bottom of the browser window. When search results are
displayed in the Results Window, this status line reflects the type of search
selected. When there is no search word entered, your are prompted to "Entersearchwordandpressreturn." If the search word entered is not in WordNet, the message
"Sorry,nomatchesfound." is displayed.
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