Infinitive(3)

NAME
`Lingua::EN::Infinitive' - Determine the infinitive form of a conjugated word

SYNOPSIS
        use Lingua::EN::Infinitive;
        my($spell) = Lingua::EN::Infinitive -> new();
        my($word)  = 'rove';
        # Method 1:
        my($word1, $word2, $suffix, $rule) = $spell -> stem($word);
        # Method 2:
        $spell -> stem($word);
        my($word1, $word2, $suffix, $rule) =
        (
                $spell -> {'word1'},  # A possibility.
                $spell -> {'word2'},  # A possibility, or ''.
                $spell -> {'suffix'},
                $spell -> {'rule'},
        );
        print "Conjugated: $word. Infinitive: $word1. \n";

DESCRIPTION
Determine the infinitive form of a conjugated word. Also, determine the suffix used to identify which rule to apply to transform the conjugated word into the infinitive form.

Either 1 or 2 possible infinitives are returned. You must check that the first is really an English word. If it is, then it is the result. If it is not valid, then check the second.

Failure to deconjugate is indicated by $word1 eq ''.

In general, you can ignore the 3rd and 4th values returned from stem().

The algorithm is based on McIlroy's article (see below), after first checking for irregular words.

In the hash 'suffix2Rule', you'll see the key 'order'. This specifies the sort order in which to check McIlroy's rules. I've changed his ordering in a number of places.

INSTALLATION
You install `Lingua::EN::Infinitive', as you would install any perl module library, by running these commands:

        perl Makefile.PL
        make
        make test
        make install
If you want to install a private copy of `Lingua::EN::Infinitive' in your home directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with something like this command:

        perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/perl
                or
        perl Makefile.PL LIB=C:/Perl/Site/Lib
If, like me, you don't have permission to write man pages into unix system directories, use:

        make pure_install
instead of make install. This option is secreted in the middle of p 414 of the second edition of the dromedary book.

WARNING
Don't make the false assumption that

        "$word1$suffix" eq $word
                or
        "$word2$suffix" eq $word

REFERENCE
        Title:   Development of a Spelling List
        Author:  M. Douglas McIlroy
        Journal: IEEE Transactions on Communications
        Issue:   Vol COM-30, No 1, January 1982

AUTHOR
`Lingua::EN::Infinitive' was written by Ron Savage <ron@savage.net.au> in 1998.

LICENCE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.