What is Words R Us?

Overview

The Words R US system consists of word files, code to convert these files into a database, and search routines and interfaces that display information from the database. The files organize nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs into groups of synonyms, and describe relations between synonym groups. WordNet ¹, a lexical database for English, can be thought of as a large electronic dictionary. It contains information about some 155,000 nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, including simplex words like put, phrasal verbs like put up, and idioms like put out the dog. Its digital format frees WordNet from the constraints of traditional paper dictionaries, whose entries have to be arranged according to their spelling (and thus, to some extent, their pronunciation). But since an important function of dictionaries is to inform users about word meanings, entries in WordNet are organized in terms of their semantics. Specifically, words in WordNet that are similar in meaning are interlinked by means of pointers that stand for a semantic relation. Formally, WordNet is a semantic network, an acyclic graph.

Note that the original Wordnet did not include Proper Nouns, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The most recent iteration of the database introduced a large body of Proper Nouns as well as many terms from the field of natural science. Our edition of Words R Us incorporates the missing pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections as well as a glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations.

noun - A noun is a type of word that represents a person, thing, or place, like mother, apple, or valley.

verb - A verb is a type of word that describes an action or a state of being, like wiggle, walk, run, jump, be, do, have, or think.

adjective - An adjective is a word that describes something (a noun). Some adjectives are: big, cold, blue, and silly. One special type of adjective is an article, a word that introduces a noun and also limits or clarifies it; in English, the indefinite articles are a and an, the definite article is the.

adverb - An adverb is a word that tells "how," "when," "where," or "how much". Some adverbs are: easily, warmly, quickly, mainly, freely, often, and unfortunately.

Sources: 1. Miller, Beckwith, Fellbaum, Gross, & Miller 1990; Miller & Fellbaum, 1991; Miller, 1995; Fellbaum, 1998
Wordnet - wordnet.princeton.edu/wordnet/man/wngloss.7WN.html
Enchanted learning - www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/partsofspeech/
WordNet. Christiane Fellbaum, Published Online: 5 NOV 2012