@mastersthesis{Ali1,
  author = "Yawar Ali",
  title = "Understanding adjectives",
  school = "Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto",
  month = "January",
  year = "1985",
  note = "Published as technical report CSRI-167",
  abstract = "<P>
              The first problem is to determine exactly what each adjective modifies. In 
              general, this can only be done by taking account of the semantic properties of 
              the adjective in question, as well as those of other adjectives to its right, 
              and of the noun itself. ``Real-world'' knowledge and contextual factors also 
              play a role in this process.  This is addressed by developing a classification 
              scheme for adjectives which allows us to substantially reduce the number of 
              candidate interpretations, in some cases to a single one.  A system is 
              presented which takes account of the disparate semantic behaviour of different 
              classes of adjectives, word order, punctuation in the noun phrase, and a 
              frame-based store of real-world knowledge, in order to determine the scope 
              of adjectives within a noun phrase.</p>
              <P>
                 The second problem is to construct a representation of the description 
              embodied in such a noun phrase.  Here, it is desirable that the structure of 
              the representation correspond to the structure of modification within the 
              phrase.  Particular adjectives are taken to indicate restrictions on the 
              values that objects may take on for associated properties.  These properties 
              may be featural, dimensional, or functional in nature.  Frame-like structures 
              are used to represent the generic concepts that are taken to be associated 
              with noun phrases.</p>
}