List of Tags in the BNC Enriched Tagset

The BNC Enriched Tagset has been used for the tagging of the Core Corpus of 2 million words of spoken and written English. The symbols representing tags in this Tagset are similar to those employed in other well known corpora, such as the Brown Corpus and the LOB Corpus.

The complete list of the BNC Enriched Tagset (also known as the C7 Tagset) is given below, with brief definitions and exemplifications of the categories represented by each tag.

The list is extracted from a larger document, A users guide to the Grammatical Tagging of the BNC, a draft of which is also available.

APPGE Possessive determiner, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, her, his, their)

AT Article, neutral for number (e.g. the, no) [N.B. no is included among articles, which are defiined here as determiner words which typically begin a noun phrase, but which cannot occur as the head of a noun phrase. A word which is neutral for number is one that can cooccur with either singular or plural forms: e.g. the house, the houses; no brother, no brothers.]

AT1 Singular article (e.g. a, an, every)

BCS "Before-conjunction" (e.g. in order preceding that, even preceding if)

BTO "Before-infinitive-marker" (e.g. in order or so as preceding to)

CC Coordinating conjunction, general (e.g. and, or)

CCB Coordinating conjunction but

CS Subordinating conjunction, general (e.g. if, when, while, because)

CSA As as conjunction

CSN Than as conjunction

CST That as conjunction [N.B. that is tagged CST when it introduces not only a nominal clause, but also a relative clause, as 'the day that follows Christmas'.]

CSW The conjunction whether, or if when it is equivalent in function to whether.

DA "After-determiner" (or postdeterminer), neutral for number, e.g. such, former, same. [Where determiners occur in a sequence, postdeterminers tend to occur after other determiners or articles: e.g. 'all such friends', 'this same problem'. N.B.a determiner in this tagset, like the Basic Tagset, is defined as a word which typically occurs either as the first word of a noun phrase, or as the head of a noun phrase. E.g same is tagged DA in both the following contexts: 'This is the same tune'; 'This tune is the same.]

DA1 Singular "after-determiner" (or postdeterminer), e.g. little, much

DA2 Plural "after-determiner" (or postdeterminer), e.g. few, many, several

DA2R Plural "after-determiner", comparative form (e.g. fewer)

DA2T Plural "after-determiner", superlative form (e.g. fewest)

DAR Comparative "after-determiner", neutral for number (e.g. more, less)

DAT Superlative "after-determiner", neutral for number (e.g. most, least)

DB "Before-determiner" (or predeterminer), neutral for number (e.g. all, half) [N.B. where there is a sequence of determiners, predeterminers occur before other determiners or articles (e.g. 'all those years').]

DB2 Plural "before-determiner" (or predeterminer), e.g. both

DD Central determiner, neutral for number (e.g. some, any, enough) [N.B. central determiners are the most unmarked category, which in a sequence precedes predeterminers or follows postdeterminers.]

DD1 Singular central determiner (e.g. this, that, another)

DD2 Plural central determiner (e.g. these, those)

DDQ Wh-determiner (e.g. which, what)

DDQGE Wh-determiner, possessive (e.g. whose)

DDQV Wh-ever determiner (e.g. whichever, whatever)

EX Existential there

IF For as a preposition

II Preposition (general class: e.g. at, by, in, to, instead of)

IO Of as a preposition

IW With and without as prepositions

JJ Adjective (general or positive) (e.g. good, old, beautiful)

JJR General comparative adjective (e.g. better, older)

JJT General superlative adjectives (e.g. best, oldest)

JK Catenative adjective (with a quasi-auxiliary function, e.g. able in 'be able to'; willing in 'be willing to')

LE "Leading coordinator": a word introducing correlative coordination (e.g. both in both ... and, either in either ... or)

MC Cardinal number, neutral for number (e.g. two, three, four, 98, 1066) [Although numbers like two and three may be considered basically plural, the fact that they have singular agreement in uses such as 'Two's company, three's a crowd' assigns them to this number-neutral category.]

MC-MC Two numbers linked by a hyphen or dash (e.g. 40-50, 1770-1827)

MC1 Singular cardinal number (e.g. one, 1)

MC2 Plural cardinal number (e.g. tens, twenties, 1900s)

MD Ordinal number (e.g. first, sixth, 77th, last) [N.B. The MD tag is used whether these words are used in a nominal or in an adverbial role. Next and last, as "general ordinals", are also assigned to this category.]

MF Fractional number, neutral for number (e.g. quarter, three-fourths, two-thirds) [Again, these are treated as number-neutral because their ability to agree with singulars and with plurals: 'A quarter was/were eaten'.]

ND1 Singular noun of direction (e.g. north, east, southwest, NNW)

NN Common noun, neutral for number (e.g. sheep, cod, group, people). [N.B. Singular collective nouns, such as team, are tagged NN, on the grounds that they are capable of taking singular or plural agreement e.g. 'Our team has/have lost'.]

NN1 Singular common noun (e.g. bath, powder, disgrace, sister)

NN2 Plural common noun (e.g. baths, powders, sisters)

NNJ Human organization noun (e.g. council, orchestra, corporation, Company) [N.B. these are typically collective nouns (see NN above), and therefore are left unspecified for number. They often occur, with an initial capital, in names of private or public organizations, as in 'the Ford Motor Company'.]

NNJ2 Plural human organization noun (e.g. councils, orchestras, corporations)

NNL Locative noun, neutral for number (e.g. Is. as an abbreviation for Island(s))

NNL1 Singular locative noun (e.g. island, street). [They are often abbreviated as part of the names of places, as in Mt. Aconcagua, Wall St, Belsize Pk.]

NNL2 Plural locative noun (e.g. islands, streets) [Again, they can occur with an initial capital as part of a complex place name: e.g. 'the Grampian Mountains'.]

NNO Numeral noun, neutral for number (cf. MC above): e.g. hundred, thousand, dozen

NNO2 Plural numeral noun (e.g. hundreds, thousands, dozens)

NNSA Noun of style or title, following a name (e.g. PhD, J.P., Bart when following a person's name)

NNSB Noun of style or title, preceding a name (e.g. Sir, Queen, Ms, Mr when occurring as the first part of a person's name) [These are often in the form of abbreviations.]

NNT1 Singular temporal noun (e.g. day, week, year, Easter)

NNT2 Plural temporal nouns (e.g. days, weeks, years)

NNU Unit-of-measurement noun, neutral for number (e.g. the abbreviations in., ft, cc)

NNU1 Singular unit-of-measurement noun (e.g. inch, litre, hectare)

NNU2 Plural unit-of-measurement noun (e.g. inches, litres, hectares)

NP Proper noun, neutral for number (e.g. acronymic names of companies and organizations, such as IBM, NATO, BBC). [This tag also occurs widely in the pre-final parts of complex names, such as 'the Pacific Ocean', 'Cambridge University', 'North Germany'.]

NP1 Singular proper noun (e.g. Vivian, Clinton, Mexico)

NP2 Plural proper noun (e.g. Kennedys, Pyrenees, Cyclades)

NPD1 Singular weekday noun (e.g. Saturday, Wednesday)

NPD2 Plural weekday noun (e.g. Sundays, Fridays)

NPM1 Singular month noun (e.g. April, October)

NPM2 Plural month noun (e.g. Junes, Januaries)

PN Indefinite pronoun, neutral for number (e.g. noun) [N.B. pronoun tags always apply to words which function as [heads of] noun phrases. Words like some and any, which can also occur in the position of an article/determiner, are treated as determiners (see DA above) in both the following contexts: 'Did you get any beans?' 'No, I couldn't find any.']

PN1 Singular indefinite pronoun (e.g. one [as pronoun, not numeral], somebody, no one, everything)

PNQO Wh-pronoun, objective case (whom)

PNQS Wh-pronoun, subjective case (who)

PNQVS Wh-ever pronoun, subjective case (whoever)

PNX1 Reflexive indefinite pronoun, singular (oneself)

PP$ Nominal possessive pronoun (e.g. mine, yours, his, ours)

PPH1 Singular personal pronoun, third person (it)

PPHO1 Singular personal pronoun, third person, objective case (him, her)

PPHO2 Plural personal pronoun, third person, objective case (them)

PPHS1 Singular personal pronoun, third person, subjective case (he, she)

PPHS2 Plural personal pronoun, third person, subjective case (they)

PPIO1 Singular personal pronoun, first person, objective case (me)

PPIO2 Plural personal pronoun, first person, objective case (us)

PPIS1 Singular personal pronoun, first person, subjective case (I)

PPIS2 Plural personal pronoun, first person, subjective case (we)

PPX1 Singular reflexive pronoun (e.g. myself, yourself, herself)

PPX2 Plural reflexive pronoun (ourselves, yourselves, themselves)

PPY Second person personal pronoun (you)

RA Adverb, after nominal head (e.g. else, galore)

REX Adverb introducing appositional constructions (e.g. i.e., e.g., viz)

RG Positive degree adverb (e.g. very, so, too)

RGA Post-modifying positive degree adverb (e.g. enough, indeed)

RGQ Wh- degree adverb (e.g. how when modifying a gradable adjective, adverb, etc.)

RGQV Wh-ever degree adverb (however when modifying a gradable adjective, adverb etc.)

RGR Comparative degree adverb (e.g. more, less)

RGT Superlative degree adverb (e.g. most, least)

RL Locative adverb (e.g. forward, alongside, there)

RP Adverbial particle (e.g. about, in, out, up)

RPK Catenative adverbial particle (about in be about to) [Compare JK above.]

RR General positive adverb (e.g. often, well, long, easily)

RRQ Wh- general adverb (e.g. how, when, where, why)

RRQV Wh-ever general adverb (e.g. however, whenever, wherever)

RRR Comparative general adverb (e.g. more, oftener, longer, further)

RRT Superlative general adverb (e.g. most, oftenest, longest, furthest)

RT Nominal adverb of time (e.g. now, tomorrow, yesterday)

TO The infinitive marker to

UH Interjection, or other isolate (e.g. oh, yes, wow)

VB0 be as a finite form (in declarative and imperative clauses)

VBDR were

VBDZ was

VBG being

VBI be as an infinitive form

VBM am, 'm

VBN been

VBR are, 're

VBZ is, 's

VD0 do as a finite form (in declarative and imperative clauses)

VDD did

VDG doing

VDI do as an infinitive form

VDN done

VDZ does, 's

VH0 have, 've as a finite form (in declarative and imperative clauses)

VHD had, 'd as a past tense form

VHG doing

VHI have as an infinitive form

VHN had as a past participle

VHZ has, 's

VM Modal auxiliary verb (e.g. can, could, will, would, must)

VMK Catenative modal auxiliary (i.e. ought and used when followed by the infinitive marker to)

VV0 The base form of the lexical verb as a finite form (in declarative and imperative clauses) (e.g. give, find, look, receive)

VVD The past tense form of the lexical verb (e.g. gave, found, looked, received)

VVG The -ing form of the lexical verb (e.g. giving, finding, looking, receiving)

VVGK The -ing form as a catenative verb (e.g. going in be going to)

VVI The base form of the lexical verb as an infinitive (e.g. give, find, look, receive)

VVN The past participle form of the lexical verb (e.g. given, found, looked, received)

VVNK The past participle as a catenative verb (e.g. bound in be bound to)

VVZ The -s form of the lexical verb (e.g. gives, finds, looks, receives)

XX not, -n't

ZZ1 Singular letter of the alphabet (a, b, S, etc.)

ZZ2 Plural letter of the alphabet (a's, b's, Ss etc.)