Searching for clauses that do not contain a particular grammatical feature.

[cralford]

Recently in Greek class we discussed clauses that do not have a verb. Is it possible to find a list of these by setting the scope in NA 28 to clause and searching for clauses that do not contain verbs? 

 

Attempts to accomplish this in the construct window by dragging in the "verb" block and then the "not" overlay generated warning messages. 

 

Perhaps I am not understanding the search logic well enough.

Edited August 17, 2021 by cralford

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hi cralford,

 

  There are constraints against having an initial element be a NOT. That hinders finding some of this. However the syntax does note missing constituents (NULLs). You can hunt for predicate phrases with NULLs. Now, I couldn't say I understand 100% how this search works. I tried it because I wanted to find NULLs in predicate phrases  which were not VERBs. That of course means that they could be any other omitted constituent which is not what you would want. However it appears this search is finding a lot of ellipses of verbs. In theory removing the not VERB element would have a similar result and it does, but it also includes other things. So like I said I am not sure how this really works.

 

 

For cases where the ellipsis because the verb appears in another related clause you can do this:

 

 

I doubt these find everything but they might give you a place to start.

 

Also note the use of Search both directions.

 

Thx

D

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Λύχνις Δαν

[cralford]

Λύχνις Δαν

 

Thank you for your help. I do not own the syntax module for the NT. Your input though makes a really good case for that changing. You make some good points about data validation. Specifically why there is no verb in a clause can have different reasons. I hadn't thought of that. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by cralford

[JonathanHuber]

I think the null’s are usually implied words. Jack rolled down the hill but Jill did not [roll down the hill]. In order to tag Jill as a subject, there is an implied/null predicate.