SYSTEM FOR CORRECTING IMPROPER DETERMINERS

In a grammar checking system which includes first tagging a sentence as to parts of speech, an improper determiner correction module detects improper referents of a noun phrase and suggests insertion of a determiner should one be necessary or the deletion of an improper determiner. To detect improper use of a determiner, parts of speech tags are utilized to characterize a sentence, thus to identify noun phrases by maximally matching a pattern that defines which sequences of parts of speech tags constitute valid noun phrases. This is accomplished by identifying the start of the noun phrase and its end to permit checking for either missing determiners, extraneous determiners, or lack of agreement in number for the constituents of the noun phrase. Once a noun phrase is found, the system tests to see if the noun is a head noun and thereafter if the head noun is a singular non-proper noun, whether the noun phrase contains a determiner, whether the noun phrase is a title, whether the head noun is a mass noun or whether the noun phrase is part of an idiom. The system also checks to see if the head noun is a proper noun and if so whether the noun phrase contains a determiner. Finally, if the noun phrase contains a determiner the system checks if the determiner agrees in number with the head noun. In this manner, both missing determiners, extraneous determiners and determiner noun number disagreement are detected and reported.