NAME

Lingua::EN::Inflexion - Inflect English nouns, verbs, adjectives, and articles

VERSION

This document describes Lingua::EN::Inflexion version 0.002009

SYNOPSIS

use Lingua::EN::Inflexion qw< noun inflect wordlist >;

# Request a search term, and treat it as a noun object...
my $search_term   = prompt("Enter something to search for");
my $search_target = noun($search_term);

# Search number-insensitively (as a qr/PLURAL|SINGULAR/ regex)...
my @matches = search($search_target->as_regex);

# Inflect it to correct English...
#    "0 indexes were found"
#    "1 index was found"
#    "99 indexes were found"
my $search_result
    = inflect("<#i:$#matches> <N:indexes> <V:were> found");

# Inflect it to even better English...
#    "no index was found"
#    "one index was found"
#    "99 indices were found"
my $search_outcome
    = inflect("<#wnci:$#matches> <Nc:index> <V:was> found");

# Generate properly formatted lists of words and phrases...
my $list = wordlist(@words);

DESCRIPTION

Lingua::EN::Inflexion allows you to correctly inflect all English nouns and verbs, as well as the small number of adjectives and articles that still decline in modern English.

By default, the module follows the conventions of modern formal British English (i.e. OED and Fowler's), but also attempts to support other dialects as far as possible. The rules of inflexion it uses are almost entirely table-driven (see "CONFIGURATION"), so they can easily be adapted for local requirements if necessary.

Where an English noun has both a modern and a classical/unassimilated plural form (e.g. "maximums" and "maxima", "indexes" and "indices", "librettos" and "libretti"), the module favours the modern inflexion, unless the older form is specifically requested (see "classical() and unassimilated()").

In the few cases where a word has two or more singular inflexions (e.g. plural "bases" to singular "base" or "basis") or is otherwise ambiguous (e.g. plural "opera" to singular "opus" vs singular "opera" to plural "operas"), the module provides a best guess about the more common usage. These guesses can be changed by rearranging the source tables (see "Rebuilding the module").

INTERFACE

By default, the module exports five subroutines: noun(), verb(), adj(), wordlist(), and inflect().

The first three are constructors for objects representing nouns, verbs, or adjectives respectively. These "inflexion objects" then provide a selection of methods allowing each term to be appropriately inflected.

The wordlist() subroutine takes a list of words or phrases, and some optional configuration arguments, and formats the list into a single English phrase, with commas between the elements and a conjunction before the last.

The inflect() subroutine is a general tool for constructing correctly inflected sentences from uninflected components, using string interpolation and a simple mark-up language.

As usual, you can also explicitly import a subset of these subroutines:

use Lingua::EN::Inflexion qw( noun verb );

or you can import (some of) them under different names, by specifying the name mappings in one or more hashes:

use Lingua::EN::Inflexion
    'inflect',                     # imported as: inflect()
    {
      'noun' => 'substantive',     # imported as: substantive()
      'verb' => 'doing_word',      # imported as: doing_word()
    },
    { 'adj'  => 'descriptive' }    # imported as: descriptive()

Common methods shared by all inflexion objects

The noun(), verb(), and adj() methods each return an object representing an instance of that part of speech. In addition to their type-specific interfaces, all those inflexion objects share the following set of common methods, none of which takes an argument:

is_noun()

is_verb()

is_adj()

Returns true if the inflexion object represents the corresponding part of speech. Shorter and quicker than calling:

$term->isa('Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Noun')
$term->isa('Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Verb')
$term->isa('Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Adjective')

is_singular()

is_plural()

Returns true if the invocant represents a term of the corresponding grammatical number.

Note that the same inflexion object may return true for both of these calls, if the term it represents is uninflected. For example:

noun('fish')->is_singular     # true
noun('fish')->is_plural       # true

verb('can')->is_singular      # true
verb('can')->is_plural        # true

adj('typical')->is_singular   # true
adj('typical')->is_plural     # true

singular( $optional_person )

plural( $optional_person )

Returns a string representing the corresponding inflexion of the term represented by the invocant. For example:

say noun('feet')->singular;    # "foot"

say verb('is')->plural;        # "are"

say adj("our")->singular;      # "my"

If the optional argument is provided, it must be an integer between 1 and 3, which specifies the grammatical "person" (1st , 2nd, or 3rd) that is wanted. Very few English nouns and adjectives are inflected by person, so this option only affects personal and possessive pronouns, possessive adjectives, and verbs:

say noun('she')->singular;      # "she"
say noun('she')->singular(1);   # "I"
say noun('she')->singular(2);   # "you"
say noun('she')->singular(3);   # "she"

say verb('am')->singular;       # "am"
say verb('am')->singular(1);    # "am"
say verb('am')->singular(2);    # "are"
say verb('am')->singular(3);    # "is"

say adj("my")->plural;       # "our"
say adj("my")->plural(1);    # "our"
say adj("my")->plural(2);    # "your"
say adj("my")->plural(3);    # "their"

Note that, without the argument, the method always attempts to preserve the original person of the term:

say verb('am')->singular;       # "am"
say verb('are')->singular;      # "are"
say verb('is')->singular;       # "is"

Also note that, where a plural noun or adjective has multiple 3rd-person singular forms, the method always prefers the gender neutral form:

say noun("they")->singular;     # "it"  (not "she" or "he")
say adj("our")->singular(3);    # "its" (not "hers" or "his")

Note that these methods all all attempt to preserve the original typographical casing of the initial word:

say noun("dog")->plural;        # "dogs"
say noun("Dog")->plural;        # "Dogs"
say noun("DOG")->plural;        # "DOGS"

say verb("sits")->plural;       # "sit"
say verb("Sits")->plural;       # "Sit"
say verb("SITS")->plural;       # "SIT"

This can occasionally lead to anomalous (or unintentionally humorous) results:

"I got a B on my test"  --> "We got some BS on our tests"

classical() or unassimilated()

This is a single method with two alternative names. It returns an inflexion object representing the term, but which thereafter always inflects in the classical/unassimilated maner. For example:

say noun('brother')->plural;             # "brothers"
say noun('brother')->classical->plural;  # "brethren"

Note that most terms have only a single plural form, in which case the resulting classical inflexion object will just return the single plural form anyway. In fact, in such cases, the module may choose to have classical() return the same object as it was called on.

as_regex()

Returns a qr'd regex object which would match (case-insensitively) any inflected form of the word. For example:

$word =~ noun('cherub')->as_regex   # qr/cherubs|cherubim|cherub/i

$word =~ verb('eat')->as_regex      # qr/eats|eating|eaten|eat|ate/i

Regex and string coercions

In Perl 5.12 or later, the as_regex() method is called automatically if an inflexion object is used anywhere a regex is expected. So the previous example could also have been written as:

$word =~ noun('cherub')             # qr/cherubs|cherubim|cherub/i

If an inflexion object is used as a string, it is coerced back to the original string from which the object was built:

say noun("indices");                # prints: "indices"
say verb("explains");               # prints: "explains"

If you want a particular inflexion of the original word, ask for it explicitly:

say noun("indices")->singular;      # prints: "index"
say verb("explains")->plural;       # prints: "explain"

Smartmatching inflexion objects

If two inflexion objects are smartmatched, the operation compares the two objects' singular, plural, and classical plural inflexions, and returns true if any one pair of inflexions matches (case-insensitively).

That is:

noun($word1) ~~ noun($word2)

is just a shorthand for:

   lc(noun($word1)->singular)          eq lc(noun($word2)->singular)
|| lc(noun($word1)->plural)            eq lc(noun($word2)->plural)
|| lc(noun($word1)->classical->plural) eq lc(noun($word2)->classical->plural)

If an inflexion object is smartmatched against anything else, the inflexion object is converted to a regex, which is then smartmatched against the other argument.

That is:

$something_else ~~ noun($word1)
   noun($word1) ~~ $something_else

are just slightly shorter (and less order-specific) ways of writing:

$something_else =~ noun($word1)->as_regex;

Note that the behaviour of smartmatched inflexion objects, together with the regex and string coercions described earlier, collectively means that there are significant differences between:

$word1 =~ noun($word2)         # $word1 matches any inflexion of $word2
$word1 ~~ noun($word2)         # (ditto)

noun($word1) =~ $word2         # $word1 matches $word2 exactly

noun($word1) ~~ $word2         # any inflexion of $word1 matches $word2

noun($word1) ~~ noun($word2)   # $word1 and $word2 match in at least
                               # one of their inflexions

Choose the appropriate form of matching for the type and degree of number-insensitivity you need.

Other coercions on inflexion objects

All other attempts to coerce an inflexion object to a value (i.e. to a boolean or a number) fall back to the normal built-in behaviour for Perl objects. That is: inflexion objects are always true, and always numerify to their own memory address.

Any attempt to coerce an inflexion object to a reference produces an exception.

The `noun()` constructor and associated methods

The noun() subroutine takes a single argument: a string containing a noun or noun phrase. It returns an inflexion object representing that noun:

my $noun_obj = noun($string);

The subroutine is just a convenient wrapper around a constructor, which you can call directly if you prefer:

my $noun_obj = Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Noun->new($string);

Noun objects provide six extra methods in addition to the common methods described above...

`indef_article()`

This method takes a no argument and returns either the string 'a' or the string 'an', depending on which form of indefinite article the singular inflexion of that particular word requires.

Thus:

noun("uncle")->indef_article();    # "an"
noun("union")->indef_article();    # "a"
noun("house")->indef_article();    # "a"
noun("hours")->indef_article();    # "an"

`indefinite($count = 1)`

This method takes a single argument: an optional integer count (which defaults to 1).

If the count value is 1, the method returns a string containing the singular form of the noun with the appropriate indefinite article (either "a" or "an") prepended.

If the count is not 1, the method returns a string containing the plural form of the noun with the count value itself prepended.

Thus:

                                #   $N = 0      $N = 1      $N = 2
                                #
noun("uncle")->indefinite($N);  # "0 uncles", "an uncle", "2 uncles"
noun("union")->indefinite($N);  # "0 unions",  "a union", "2 unions"
noun("house")->indefinite($N);  # "0 houses",  "a house", "2 houses"
noun("hours")->indefinite($N);  # "0 hours",  "an hour",  "2 hours"

`cardinal()` and `cardinal($threshold)`

Convert the word into the English word for a cardinal number, using the Lingua::EN::Nums2Words module (which must be installed or an exception is thrown). If the $threshold argument is supplied and the word represents a number greater than or equal to that value, then word is converted to digits instead.

For example:

noun( 1)->cardinal;      # "one"
noun(10)->cardinal;      # "ten"
noun(11)->cardinal(20);  # "eleven"
noun(21)->cardinal(20);  # "21"

The word is also converted if it is an English phrase representing a valid number (via the Lingua::EN::Words2Nums module, which must be installed or an exception is thrown):

noun("one")->cardinal;                             # "one"
noun("ten")->cardinal;                             # "ten"
noun("eleven")->cardinal(20);                      # "eleven"
noun("one hundred and twenty-one")->cardinal(20);  # "121"

Words that are ordinal numbers are also correctly converted:

noun("first")->cardinal;  # "one"
noun("142nd")->cardinal;  # "one hundred and forty-two"

Words that cannot be interpreted as numbers are treated as zero:

noun("eon")->cardinal;    # "zero"
noun("elven")->cardinal;  # "zero"

`ordinal()` and `ordinal($threshold)`

Convert the word into the English word for an ordinal number, using the Lingua::EN::Nums2Words module (which must be installed or an exception is thrown). If the $threshold argument is supplied and the word represents a number greater than or equal to that value, then word is converted to digits instead.

For example:

noun( 1)->ordinal;      # "first"
noun(10)->ordinal;      # "tenth"
noun(11)->ordinal(20);  # "eleventh"
noun(21)->ordinal(20);  # "21st"

The word is also converted if it is an English phrase representing a valid number (via the Lingua::EN::Words2Nums module, which must be installed or an exception is thrown):

noun("one")->ordinal;                             # "first"
noun("ten")->ordinal;                             # "tenth"
noun("eleven")->ordinal(20);                      # "eleventh"
noun("one hundred and twenty-one")->ordinal(20);  # "121st"

Words that are ordinal numbers are also correctly converted:

noun("first")->ordinal;     # "first"
noun("142nd")->ordinal;     # "one hundred and forty-second"
noun("first")->ordinal(0);  # "1st"
noun("142nd")->ordinal(0);  # "142nd"

Words that cannot be interpreted as numbers are treated as zero:

noun("eon")->ordinal;       # "zeroth"
noun("elven")->ordinal;     # "zeroth"

The `verb()` constructor and associated methods

The verb() subroutine takes a single argument: a string containing a simple verb in the present tense (singular or plural). It returns an inflexion object representing that verb.

my $verb_obj = verb($string);

Like noun(), it's just a convenient shorthand for:

my $verb_obj = Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Verb->new($string);

Verb objects provide eight extra methods (in addition to the common methods described earlier)...

`past()`

This method takes no arguments. It returns a string containing the simple past tense (preterite) inflexion of the verb.

For example:

say verb("bat")->past;   # "batted"
say verb("sit")->past;   # "sat"
say verb("eat")->past;   # "ate"

`pres_part()`

This method takes no arguments. It returns a string containing the present participle of the verb.

For example:

say verb("bat")->pres_part;   # "batting"
say verb("sit")->pres_part;   # "sitting"
say verb("eat")->pres_part;   # "eating"

`past_part()`

This method takes no arguments. It returns a string containing the past participle of the verb.

For example:

say verb("bat")->past;   # "batted"
say verb("sit")->past;   # "sat"
say verb("eat")->past;   # "eaten"

`is_present()`

`is_past()`

`is_pres_part()`

`is_past_part()`

These methods return true when the original verb from which the inflexion object was constructed is in the appropriate tense (present or simple past) or is the appropriate participle.

For example

if (verb("sat")->is_present)   {...}   # false
if (verb("sat")->is_past)      {...}   # true
if (verb("sat")->is_pres_part) {...}   # false
if (verb("sat")->is_past_part) {...}   # true

`indefinite($count = 1)`

This method takes a single argument: an optional integer count (which defaults to 1).

If the count value is 1, it returns the singular inflexion of the verb. If the count is any other numeric value, it returns the plural inflexion.

The `adj()` constructor and associated methods

The adj() subroutine takes a single argument: a string containing a simple adjective. It returns an inflexion object representing that adjective:

my $adj_obj = adj($string);

Like noun() and verb(), it's just an abbreviation for:

my $adj_obj = Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Adjective->new($string);

Adjective objects provide no methods except the common methods described previously.

Sentence inflexions via the `inflect()` subroutine

The OO nature of the Lingua::EN::Inflexion API makes it clean, extensible, and robust. But does not make it easy to use in the most common case:

# Do the search...
my $target = noun($word);
my @results = search_for($target->as_regex);

# Do some grammar...
my $target_s = @results==1 ? $target->singular : $target->plural;
my $was_were = @results==1 ? 'was'             : 'were';

# Report the results...
say @results . " $target_s $was_were found";

So Lingua::EN::Inflexion also provides a single subroutine that implements a basic markup language to simplify the task:

# Do the search...
my @results = search_for( noun($word)->as_regex );

# Report the results...
say inflect "<#i:$#results> <N:$word> <V:was> found";

The inflect() subroutine takes a single string argument and replaces any nested markups (in angle brackets) with the appropriate inflexions of their contents. It then returns the inflected string.

The markup notation always takes the form: <Xopts:content> where X is a command (either N or V or A or #), opts represents zero or more options for the command, and content is the data on which to apply the command (normally a word or phrase to be inflected).

The four commands currently supported are:

`<#: integer >`

This markup sets the current count, which is used by which subsequent markups in the string to chose whether to inflect their contents in the singular (if the count is 1) or the plural (otherwise). The markup itself is normally replaced with the integer specified or with something equivalent, depending on the particular options used.

The options for this command are:

n

If the count equals zero, interpolate "no" into the string instead of the actual count. For example:

say inflect "<#n:$count> <N:results>";
          # "no results"   if $count == 0
          # "7 results"    if $count == 7

Mnemonic: n for "no" or "nil's not numeric".

s

If the count equals zero, interpolate "no" into the string instead of the actual count...and also inflect any subsequent nouns and verbs in the singular. That is, the same word replacement as for the n option, but treating zero as singular, not plural:

say inflect "<#n:$count> <N:item> <V:were> found";
          # "no items were found"

say inflect "<#s:$count> <N:item> <V:were> found";
          # "no item was found"

Mnemonic: s for "singular" or "sophisticated" or "snooty".

a

If the count equals one, interpolate "a" or "an" into the string instead of the actual count. For example:

say inflect "<#a:$count> <N:results>";
          # "a result"    if $count == 1
          # "3 results"   if $count == 3

say inflect "<#a:$count> <N:outcomes>";
          # "an outcome"  if $count == 1
          # "3 outcomes"  if $count == 3

Mnemonic: a for "a" and "an", or "article".

w

If the count is small (between zero and ten), interpolate the appropriate English word instead of the number:

say inflect "<#w:$count> <N:results>";
          # "six results"  if $count == 6
          # "ten results"  if $count == 10
          # "11 results"   if $count == 11

Note that this option is overridden by the special case behaviours of both the n and a options, if either is also specified.

Mnemonic: w for "wordy" or "written-out".

wN

The w option can also be followed by one or more digits, in which case if the count is less than that number, the appropriate English word is interpolated instead of the number:

say inflect "<#w20:$count> <N:results>";
          # "six results"      if $count == 6
          # "nineteen results" if $count == 19
          # "20 results"       if $count == 20

In all other respects this variant behaves exactly like a regular w option, as described in the previous item.

o

Display the count as an ordinal:

say inflect "<#o:$count> <N:results>";
          # "1st result"   if $count == 6
          # "11th result"  if $count == 11
          # "22nd result"  if $count == 22

Note that, in keeping with English usage, under the o option, the effective count is set to 1, rather than the actual number provided.

When this option is combined with the w option, the ordinal is converted to words:

say inflect "<#ow:$count> <N:results>";
          # "first result"  if $count == 6
          # "tenth result"  if $count == 10
          # "11th result"   if $count == 11

Note that this option is overridden by the special case behaviours of both the n and a options, if either is also specified.

Mnemonic: o for "ordinal" or "ordered".

f

Set the count, but instead of interpolating the number, interpolate a phrase summarizing the general amount represented by that number.

For example:

say inflect "Found <#f:$count> <N:matches>";
          # "Found no matches"           if $count == 0
          # "Found one match"            if $count == 1
          # "Found a couple of matches"  if $count == 2
          # "Found a few matches"        if $count ~~ 3..5;
          # "Found several matches"      if $count ~~ 6..9;
          # "Found many matches"         if $count >= 10

If the # markup is at the end of the string (i.e. is not followed by an alphabetic character), the phrases used are slightly different:

say inflect "Searching for <Np:$target>.....found <#f:$count>.";
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found none."
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found one."
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found a couple."
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found a few."
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found several."
          # "Searching for 'items'.....found many."

The s and a options override the wording for counts of zero or one:

say inflect "Found <#fs:$count> <N:matches>";
          # "Found no match"             if $count == 0
          # "Found several matches"      if $count == 7

say inflect "Found <#fa:$count> <N:matches>";
          # "Found a match"              if $count == 1
          # "Found several matches"      if $count == 7

Mnemonic: f for "fuzzy" or "friendly" or "few".

e

You can combine multiple count options to obtain more sophisticated effects. A particularly elegant combination is:

say inflect "<#asw:$count> <N:matches> <V:were> found";
          # "no match was found"      if $count == 0
          # "a match was found"       if $count == 1
          # "ten matches were found"  if $count == 10
          # "12 matches were found"   if $count == 12

This set of options is useful, but bordering on ponderous, so there is an abbreviation for it:

say inflect "<#e:$count> <N:matches> <V:were> found";

Mnemonic: e for "eloquent" or "editorial expansion" or "erudite" (or possibly: "elitist").

i

Increment the supplied integer before setting it as the current count or interpolating it back into the string. This is useful if you have an array of results and would like to interpolate its size as the current count.

For example, instead of:

my $count = scalar(@results);
say inflect "<#:$count> <N:matches> <V:were> retrieved";

or (even more hideously):

say inflect "<#:${\(@results)}> <N:matches> <V:were> retrieved";

you can just use:

say inflect "<#i:$#results> <N:matches> <V:were> retrieved";

Mnemonic: i for "increment" or "its intrinsic index is insufficient; increase it".

d

Set the current count definition, without displaying anything in place of the markup.

This is useful for constructions that either do not mention the count explicitly:

say inflect "<#d:$count> <N:Match> found";
          # "Match found"           if $count == 1
          # "Matches found"         if $count > 1

or in constructions where the count has to appear after something whose inflexion it controls:

say inflect "There <#d:$count> <V:were> $count <N:matches>";
          # "There was 1 match"     if $count == 1
          # "There were 7 matches"  if $count > 1

The a, n, and c options override d, so you can still be specific when the count is less than two:

say inflect "<#asd:$count> <N:matches> <V:were> found";
          # "no match was found"    if $count == 0
          # "a match was found"     if $count == 1
          # "matches were found"    if $count > 1

Mnemonic: d for "don't display" or "disguised definition" or "delete".

`<N: contents >`

This markup inflects its contents as a noun. That is, the markup is replaced with noun('contents')->singular or noun('contents')->plural depending on the value specified by the most recent preceding <#:...> markup.

This command takes three options:

c

Cause the noun inflexion to use noun('contents')->classical:

say inflect "<#:$count> <N:$target> found";
          # "7 maximums found"
          # "7 formulas found"
          # "7 corpuses found"
          # "7 brothers found"

say inflect "<#:$count> <Nc:$target> found";
          # "7 maxima found"
          # "7 formulae found"
          # "7 corpora found"
          # "7 brethren found"

Mnemonic: c for "classical" or "cultured" or "conformatio Caesaris cascus".

p

Causes the noun to inflect to the plural, regardless of the currently active count (i.e. regardless of the actual value specified in any preceding <#:...>.

This is sometimes useful for constructions such as:

say inflect "Searching for <Np:$target>.....found $count";
          # "Searching for walruses...found 1"
          # "Searching for appendixes...found 4"
          # "Searching for denarii...found 12742"

Mnemonic: p for "plural" or "plentiful" or "plethora".

s

Causes the noun to inflect to the singular, regardless of the currently active count (i.e. regardless of the value in any preceding <#:...>.

This is sometimes useful for constructions such as:

say inflect "Searching for <#a:> <Ns:$target>.....found $count";
          # "Searching for a walrus...found 1"
          # "Searching for an appendix...found 4"
          # "Searching for a denarius...found 12742"

Mnemonic: s for "singular" or "solitary" or "solo".

`<V: contents >`

This markup inflects its contents as a verb. That is, the markup is replaced with verb('contents')->singular or verb('contents')->plural depending on the value specified by the most recent preceding <#:...> markup.

This command has no options.

`<A: contents >`

This markup inflects its contents as an adjective. That is, the markup is replaced with adj('contents')->singular or adj('contents')->plural depending on the value specified by the most recent preceding <#:...> markup.

This command has no options.

Long-form markup notation

Every command in the inflect() markup language is a single uppercase letter. Every option is a single lowercase letter. That's useful because it keeps markup relatively concise:

say inflect "<#anw:$count> <Nc:$target> <V:were> found";

but it's also a problem because it makes the meaning of each markup hard to remember six months later. So inflect() also allows you to specify options with complete words, like so:

say inflect "<#AnNoWords:$count> <NounClassical:$target> <Verb:were> found";

That is: inflect() allows the words Noun, Verb, and Adj as synonyms for the commands N, V, and A respectively.

And if inflect() encounters a markup where the options section contains any uppercase letters, it ignores any lowercase letters within the options, and then converts the uppercase letters to lowercase and uses those as its options. Thus:

say inflect "<#AnNoWords:$count> <NounClassical:$target> <Verb:were> found";

first maps the full command names back to the one-letter versions:

say inflect "<#AnNoWords:$count> <N   Classical:$target> <V   :were> found";

then removes the lowercase letters from the options:

say inflect "<#A N W    :$count> <N   C        :$target> <V   :were> found";

and finally converts what's left to lowercase:

say inflect "<#a n w    :$count> <N   c        :$target> <V   :were> found";

Converting lists of words to phrases

When creating a list of words, commas are used between adjacent items, except if the items contain commas, in which case semicolons are used. But if there are less than three items, the commas/semicolons are omitted entirely. The final item also has a conjunction (usually "and" or "or") before it. And although it's often misleading , some people prefer to omit the comma before that final conjunction, even when there are more than two items.

That's complicated enough to warrant its own subroutine: wordlist(). This subroutine expects a list of words, possibly with one or more hash references containing options. It returns a string that joins the list together in the normal English usage. For example:

print "You chose ", wordlist(@selected_items), "\n";
# You chose barley soup, roast beef, and Yorkshire pudding

print "You chose ", wordlist(@selected_items, {final_sep=>""}), "\n";
# You chose barley soup, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

print "Please choose ", wordlist(@side_orders, {conj=>"or"}), "\n";
# Please choose salad, vegetables, or ice-cream

The available options are:

Option named    Specifies                Default value

conj            Final conjunction        "and"
sep             Inter-item separator     "," or ";"
final_sep       Final separator          value of 'sep' option

CONVERTING FROM LINGUA::EN::INFLECT

This module is the successor to the original Lingua::EN::Inflect module. The following tables summarize how to convert code from the old interface to the new.

Lingua::EN::Inflect subroutines         Lingua::EN::Inflexion code
====================================================================
PL($word)                               # No equivalent
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PL_N($word)                             noun($word)->plural
PL_V($word)                             verb($word)->plural
PL_ADJ($word)                           adj($word)->plural
--------------------------------------------------------------------
NO($word)                               # No equivalent
NUM($word)                              # No equivalent
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A($word)                                noun($word)->indefinite
AN($word)                               noun($word)->indefinite
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PL_eq($word1, $word2)                   # No equivalent
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PL_N_eq($word1, $word2)                 noun($word1) ~~ noun($word2)
PL_V_eq($word1, $word2)                 verb($word1) ~~ verb($word2)
PL_ADJ_eq($word1, $word2)               adj($word1) ~~ adj($word2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PART_PRES($word)                        verb( $word )->pres_part
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ORD($word)                              noun( $word )->ordinal
NUMWORDS($word)                         noun( $word )->cardinal
--------------------------------------------------------------------
WORDLIST(@words, \%opts)                wordlist( @words, \%opts)


Lingua::EN::Inflect::inflect()          Lingua::EN::Inflexion::inflect()
========================================================================
"PL($word)"                             # No equivalent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PL_N($word)"                           "<N:$word>"
"PL_V($word)"                           "<V:$word>"
"PL_ADJ($word)"                         "<A:$word>"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"NUM($num)"                             "<#:$num>"
"NO($word)"                             "<#n:$num>"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A($word)"                              "<#a:$num> N<$word>"
"AN($word)"                             "<#a:$num> N<$word>"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PART_PRES($word)"                      # No equivalent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"ORD($word)"                            "<No:$word>"
"NUMWORDS($word)"                       "<Nw:$word>"

LINGUISTIC ABYSSES

No further correspondence will be entered into on the topics of...

"octopi"

Yes, many people use it. No, it isn't correct English...nor correct Latin...nor correct Greek. Yes, there actually is a classical Latin precedent for the inflexion. No, that precedent isn't relevant to English, because "octopus" didn't come from classical Latin, or even via classical Latin. Yes, this module recognizes the word and will correctly inflect it back to "octopus" in the singular. No, the module will never inflect "octopus" to "octopi".

"octopodes"

Yes, very few people use it (and almost only ever when raging against "octopi"). No, it isn't correct English...nor was it ever used in classical Latin. Yes, there certainly is a ancient Greek precedent for the inflexion. No, that precedent isn't relevant to English, because "octopus" didn't come from ancient Greek either. Yes, this module recognizes the word and will correctly inflect it back to "octopus" in the singular. No, the module will never inflect "octopus" to "octopodes".

"octopuses"

For a thorough, erudite, and eminently satisfying explanation of why it's only ever been "octopuses", I can sincerely recommend: http://web.archive.org/web/20170112234148/http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=240

"viri" and "virii"

The noun "virus" had no plural in its original Latin (probably because it was a mass noun). So the only plural in English is the natural one: "viruses".

Nevertheless, this module will do the right thing when asked to inflect "viri" and "virii" back to the singular (unless you happen to think that the right thing would be to beat them to death with a stick).

Singular "they", "them", "their", and "theirs"

...were good enough for Auden, Austen, Byron, Carroll, Caxton, Chaucer, Defoe, Dickens, Eliot, Fitzgerald, Gaskell, Kipling, Orwell, Ruskin, Scott, Shakespeare, Shaw, Shelley, Sheridan, Spenser, Stevenson, Swift, Thackeray, Trollope, Wells, Wharton, and Wilde...so they're good enough for this module.

In fact, it wasn't until the 19th Century that maniacal neo-Latinizing prescriptive grammarians started pillorying the use of gender-neutral singular "they" etc. in English.

Meanwhile, real people have kept right on using it for the past two hundred years, just as they did for the preceding five hundred. And the OED now actually prefers "they" to "he" for gender-nonspecific usages.

So if someone wants to complain about this module supporting--and even favouring--the usage, they are most welcome to write their own module as best suits them.

Singular "themself"

Despite the fact that "themself" has been in use for nearly 500 years, and actually predates "themselves", the word is not considered acceptable in modern English, and certainly not as a singular form.

Eventually it may garner the same general acceptance as singular "they", "them", and "their"...but not yet. Although one may encounter such gender-nonspecific constructions as:

"Anyone might find themself contemplating their own mortality."

the correct formulation is still:

"Anyone might find themselves contemplating their own mortality."

The module does recognize "themself" as a reflexive pronoun, but converts it to the currently accepted form ("themselves") for both singular and plural inflexions.

"inflexion"

It's exactly the same thing as "inflection". I simply find the classical spelling more elegant.

DIAGNOSTICS

Missing arg to %s

You passed an undef as the single argument to noun(), verb(), or adj(). They require a string instead.

Can't coerce %s object to %s reference

Inflexion objects can convert themselves to strings, or numbers, or booleans, or regexes, but not to references.

You didn't accidentally write something like:

$inflexion_obj->{plural}   # Should be: $inflexion_obj->plural

...did you?

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

Lingua::EN::Inflexion has no run-time configuration files or environment variables.

However, the module itself is largely created from two tables of inflexions (for nouns and verbs respectively).

The nouns.lei file

All the noun inflexions that Lingua::EN::Inflexion provides are generated from a single file: nouns.lei.

File format

The format of each entry in this file is as follows:

SINGULAR NOUN   =>   MODERN PLURAL FORM  |  CLASSICAL FORM

Either the modern plural or the classical plural--but not both--may be omitted. If the classical plural is omitted, the | is not required (but is still allowed).

Normal Perl comments (introduced by a #) may also be included, and will be ignored.

Each singular or plural form can consist of any number of words.

For example:

man             =>   men
minimum         =>   minimums        | minima
mitochondrian   =>                   | mitochondria
malum in se     =>                   | mala in se
mother-in-law   =>   mothers-in-law  |

Inflexions of hyphenated terms

Terms that contain hyphens are automatically expanded to include the non-hyphenated version of the term as well. So the final example above also implies:

mother in law   =>   mothers in law  |

However, the reverse is not true, so the second last example above does not imply:

malum-in-se     =>                   | mala-in-se

Non-suffix-based inflexions

Terms like "mother-in-law" and "malum in se" are unusual in English, because the component that is inflected is not the final word (as it is in terms like "major general" and "mill pond").

"Mother-in-law" is a particular problem because there are an endless set of other related terms: "father-in-law", "sister-in-law", "uncle-in-law", "niece-in-law", "cousin-in-law", etc.

There are other similar patterns of non-terminal inflexion, such as "passer-by"/"hanger-on"/"fender-off" (which become: "passers-by"/"hangers-on"/"fenders-off" in the plural), or "son of a gun"/"son of a bitch"/"son of a motherless goat" (which become: "sons of guns"/"sons of bitches"/"sons of motherless goats").

To simplify specifying these kinds of inflexions, you can use three special placeholders within any rule in the nouns.lei file:

(SING)     # Any other singular word defined in the file

(PL)       # Any other plural word defined in the file

(PREP)     # Any preposition

For example, to cover the various cases mentioned above (and many others as well):

son-of-a-(SING)  =>  sons-of-(PL)   # son-of-a-gun   --> sons-of-guns
                                    # son of a camel --> sons of camels

(SING)-(PREP)-*  =>  (PL)-(PREP)-*  # mother-in-law  --> mothers-in-law
                                    # man of peace   --> men of peace

(SING)-(PREP)    =>  (PL)-(PREP)    # passer-by      --> passers-by
                                    # hanger-on      --> hangers-on

Suffix-based inflexions

You can specify the inflexion of a general suffix in either of two ways:

*mouse  =>  *mice
-men    =>  -mens  | -mina

A leading asterisk indicates that the suffix is itself a complete word, so the *mouse specification is shorthand for:

mouse         =>  mice
dormouse      =>  dormice
flittermouse  =>  flittermice
shrewmouse    =>  shrewmice
titmouse      =>  titmice
# etc.

A leading hyphen indicates that the suffix is not itself a complete word, so the -men specification is shorthand for:

foramen       =>  foramens  |  foramina
lumen         =>  lumens    |  lumina
numen         =>  numens    |  numina
stamen        =>  stamens   |  stamina
# etc.

but not for:

men           =>  mens      |  mina

Conflicting inflexions

English noun inflexions are (unfortunately) not always one-to-one.

If two or more inflexions specify the same plural form, the module always defaults to the first one to appear in the file. Hence, given:

base   =>  bases
basis  =>  bases

the following behaviour has been specified:

                ->singular    ->plural

noun('bases')     "base"       "bases"

That is, it will always use the first specification for any plural-to-singular inflexion of "bases", and so never produce "basis".

Likewise, if two or more inflexions specify the same singular form, the first of them will be used as the module's default. For example, given:

octopus  =>  octopuses  |
octopus  =>             |  octopi
octopus  =>             |  octopodes

then the following behaviour has been specified:

                             ->singular    ->plural

noun('octopus')               "octopus"    "octopuses"
noun('octopus')->classical    "octopus"    "octopuses"

That is, the module will always use the first specification for any singular-to-plural inflexion of "octopus" (see the preceding discussion for an explanation of why this is the only appropriate behaviour for this particular word.)

Non-indicative inflexions

A small number of suffix inflexions can present problems for the is_singular() and is_plural() methods of inflexion objects.

For example, the most general rule for inflecting nouns in English is:

-    =>  -s        # Form the plural by adding "-s"

But is_plural() uses the specified plural form to determine the number of a word, by matching it against a pattern built from the inflexion specification. So, given the previous rule, it will cause is_plural() to identify as plural any word that matches /.+s/.

And that's a problem. Words like "rainbows" and "kittens" and "kisses" are indeed plural. But words like "basis" and "atlas" and "yes" aren't.

So it's possible to specify an inflexion rule that can be used to inflect words, but which is not used to identify the words' intrinsic number. To do that, use the special marker: <nonindicative>.

For example:

<nonindicative>  -  =>  -s

This marker should not often be required, except for very general inflexions. In fact, the standard noun.lei that ships with the module uses it only three times within 2500 inflexions

The verbs.lei file

The vast majority of the verb inflexions provided by Lingua::EN::Inflexion are also autogenerated, from the file verbs.lei

File format

Each entry in this file consists of five words on a single line, summarizing the inflexion of one verb. The order must be:

PRESENT       PRESENT     SIMPLE      PRESENT         PAST
SINGULAR      PLURAL       PAST      PARTICIPLE    PARTICIPLE

For example:

bides         bide        bided       biding         bided
bills         bill        billed      billing        billed
binds         bind        bound       binding        bound
bites         bite        bit         biting         bitten

Suffix-based inflexions

General suffix inflexions can be specified the same way as for nouns: using either an asterisk (for complete words) or a hyphen (for incomplete suffixes).

You can also use character classes to consolidate two or more similar inflective patterns.

For example:

# Handle "underbids" and "disbelieves" as well...
*bids          *bid          *bade          *bidding        *bidden
*believes      *believe      *believed      *believing      *believed

# Handle "hisses" and "kisses"...
-sses          -ss           -ssed          -ssing          -ssed

# Handle "accrues" and "fetes", but not "sees"...
-[^e]es        -[^e]e            -[^e]ed           -[^e]ing          -[^e]ed

Defective verbs

Entries for defective verbs still require all five columns to be supplied. Use a single underscore to mark a column without supplying an inflexion for that column. For example:

may           may           _           _          _
might         might         _           _          _
must          must          _           _          _

-n't          -n't          -n't        _          _

-[^s]s        -[^s]         _           _          _

Rebuilding the module

The noun.lei file is used to autogenerate the following components of the module:

lib/Lingua/EN/Inflexion/Noun.pm

t/noun_is_singular.t
t/noun_is_plural.t
t/noun_plural.t
t/noun_classical_plural.t
t/noun_singular.t

If you change nouns.lei, you can rebuild these files by running the application bin/generate_nouns from your command-line. Remember to then reinstall the Noun.pm module for your changes to take effect.

The verb.lei file is used to autogenerate the following components of the module:

lib/Lingua/EN/Inflexion/Verb.pm

t/verb_is_singular.t
t/verb_is_plural.t
t/verb_plural.t
t/verb_singular.t
t/verb_past.t
t/verb_pres_part.t
t/verb_past_part.t

If you change verbs.lei, you can rebuild these files by running the application bin/generate_verbs and then reinstalling the Verb.pm module.

DEPENDENCIES

The implementation of this module depends on several other modules that are distributed with it (none of which has its own API, none of which contains any user-servicable parts, and most of which are entirely computer-generated).

Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Term: Internals of the various methods for the three types of inflexion objects.
Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Nouns: Internal hash tables and regex-based suffix patterns for nouns. Autogenerated from the file nouns.lei.
Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Verbs: Internal hash tables and regex-based suffix patterns for verbs. Autogenerated from the file verbs.lei.
Lingua::EN::Inflexion::Indefinite: Internal hash tables and regex logic for working out whether a noun takes "a" or "an".

INCOMPATIBILITIES

None reported.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

Not only is real English more complicated than we imagine, it is probably more complicated than we can imagine. It is certainly more complicated than we can reasonably code.

Hence it is very likely that this module will get something wrong...though no bugs are currently outstanding.

Please report any bugs or make feature requests to bug-lingua-en-inflexion@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org.

AUTHOR

Damian Conway <DCONWAY@CPAN.org>

LICENCE AND COPYRIGHT

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

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

BECAUSE THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SOFTWARE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE AS PERMITTED BY THE ABOVE LICENCE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

To install Lingua::EN::Inflexion, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Lingua::EN::Inflexion

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Lingua::EN::Inflexion

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

VERSION

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

INTERFACE

Common methods shared by all inflexion objects

Regex and string coercions

Smartmatching inflexion objects

Other coercions on inflexion objects

The noun() constructor and associated methods

indef_article()

indefinite($count = 1)

cardinal() and cardinal($threshold)

ordinal() and ordinal($threshold)

The verb() constructor and associated methods

past()

pres_part()

past_part()

is_present()

is_past()

is_pres_part()

is_past_part()

indefinite($count = 1)

The adj() constructor and associated methods

Sentence inflexions via the inflect() subroutine

<#: integer >

<N: contents >

<V: contents >

<A: contents >

Long-form markup notation

Converting lists of words to phrases

CONVERTING FROM LINGUA::EN::INFLECT

LINGUISTIC ABYSSES

"octopi"

"octopodes"

"octopuses"

"viri" and "virii"

Singular "they", "them", "their", and "theirs"

Singular "themself"

"inflexion"

DIAGNOSTICS

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

The nouns.lei file

File format

Inflexions of hyphenated terms

Non-suffix-based inflexions

Suffix-based inflexions

Conflicting inflexions

Non-indicative inflexions

The verbs.lei file

File format

Suffix-based inflexions

Defective verbs

Rebuilding the module

DEPENDENCIES

INCOMPATIBILITIES

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

AUTHOR

LICENCE AND COPYRIGHT

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

Module Install Instructions

The `noun()` constructor and associated methods

`indef_article()`

`indefinite($count = 1)`

`cardinal()` and `cardinal($threshold)`

`ordinal()` and `ordinal($threshold)`

The `verb()` constructor and associated methods

`past()`

`pres_part()`

`past_part()`

`is_present()`

`is_past()`

`is_pres_part()`

`is_past_part()`

`indefinite($count = 1)`

The `adj()` constructor and associated methods

Sentence inflexions via the `inflect()` subroutine

`<#: integer >`

`<N: contents >`

`<V: contents >`

`<A: contents >`