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# Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2): English-specific pages

**Authors:** Universal Dependencies contributors · **Year:** 2026 (snapshot 15 October 2026) · **Venue:** Universal Dependencies documentation (universaldependencies.org) **Link:** [universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html](https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html) · **Licence:** Apache-2.0

manual[licence](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)

- [Publisher's page](https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html)

**Authors (1)**

1. Universal Dependencies contributors

Citations and author metrics from OpenAlex (); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The UD guidelines are the annotation rules for the universal treebanks. Volume 2 holds the English-specific pages. The parts read were: relative clauses (the notable properties, with a chain of `acl:relcl` and `xcomp` arcs that gives unbounded dependency, and the note that the specifying/ascriptive distinction does not change the UD analysis); clefts and pseudo-clefts (a free relative as the copula's complement, with `nsubj` on the relative word); `fixed` expressions (for example "as well" and "as well as", with `advmod` on the head and `fixed` inside the expression); and personal names (a title such as "Mr." as `nmod:desc`, with a note that English treebanks tag such titles as PROPN). The text is a markdown export with examples in `sdparse` blocks. No counts are given; these are rules, not measurements.

## Ideas

- I1. Put the guideline examples of relative clauses, pseudo-clefts and `fixed` expressions into a test file for `en/src/parse.rs`. Score the parser on them and report which arcs differ from the documented ones. Add a shuffled-word negative control so that a passing score cannot be an accident.
- I2. Build a lexicon of English `fixed` expressions (as well, as well as, in spite of and similar) and a rule that attaches the later words as `fixed` to the first, in `en/src/dict.rs`. Measure the `fixed` arc accuracy on EWT dev before and after, run twice.
- I3. Pseudo-clefts ("X is who we want to help") are a foregrounding pattern. Add a rule in `prag/src/frames.rs` that marks the subject of such a copular sentence as the foregrounded element, and log each case so the rule can be checked by hand.
- I4. Titles before names ("Mr.", "Professor") are tagged NOUN in some schemes and PROPN in English treebanks. Make the tag rule in `en/src/tag.rs` explicit and test it on the personal-name examples, so that the choice is recorded and not silent.

## For Mova

The chapters are [22. Phrases: noun, adjective, adverb and prepositional phrases](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/22-phrases/), [25. Relative clauses](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/25-relative-clauses/), [29. Ellipsis, word order and information structure](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/29-ellipsis-word-order-information-structure/) and [19. The lexicon: vocabulary, multiword expressions and register](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/19-lexicon-mwe-register/). The code is `en/src/parse.rs` (arcs), `en/src/dict.rs` (fixed expressions), `en/src/tag.rs` (titles) and `prag/src/frames.rs` (clefts). The measure is the arc accuracy on the guideline examples and on EWT dev, run twice and compared with the negative control.

Topics: [Universal Dependencies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/universal-dependencies/) · [Treebanks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/treebanks/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```
@book{contributors2026universal,
  title = {{Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2): English-specific pages}},
  author = {contributors, Universal Dependencies},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html}
}
```

- [← previous Old English (Wikibooks, fetched 2026-10-17)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/contributors-2026-old-english/)
- [next → Raising and resolving issues with scalar modifiers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/coppock-2013-raising-resolving-issues-scalar-modifiers/)
- [↑ back to English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/en/)

## References

4 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. [Loos, Eugene E., et al. 2003. Glossary of linguistic terms: What is an auxiliary verb?]([http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm)) - [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb) [↗](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm)
2. For _subordinating conjunctions,_ see [SCONJ](). [↗](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsACoordinatingConjunction.htm)
3. English Web Treebank [LDC2012T13]([https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13)). [↗](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13)
4. Justin Mott, Ann Bies, John Laury, and Colin Warner. 2012. [Bracketing Webtext: An Addendum to Penn Treebank II Guidelines]([https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf)). MS, LDC. # Migration Guidelines (from SD to UD) [↗](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf)
