[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/simmons-1975-semantically-analyzing-english-subset-clowns/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [docs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/) / [papers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/en/) / Semantically Analyzing an English Subset for the Clowns Microworld # Semantically Analyzing an English Subset for the Clowns Microworld **Authors:** Robert F. Simmons and Gordon Bennett-Novak · **Year:** 1975 · **Venue:** Computational Linguistics (American Journal of Computational Linguistics), ACL J75-2007 **Link:** [aclanthology.org/J75-2007](https://aclanthology.org/J75-2007/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) (ACL Anthology, before 2016) — summary only [**7** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W3088744007) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[Computational Linguistics](https://aclanthology.org/volumes/J75-2/)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://aclanthology.org/J75-2007/) - [PDF](https://aclanthology.org/J75-2007.pdf) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W3088744007) **Authors (2)** 1. [Robert F. Simmons](https://openalex.org/A5032849684) h 21 · 1616 citations · 115 works 2. Gordon Bennett-Novak Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about CLOWNS is a microworld in which English sentences about a clown, a pedestal, a boat and a dock are turned into pictures. Nouns are small drawing programs, prepositions and verbs define spatial relations and process models, and an ATN grammar parses the input. A sentence becomes a semantic network of objects linked by attach and support relations, and then a scene; a sentence takes under a second. Verbs of state get one diagram, while change-of-state verbs such as "sail" get a sequence of pictures from a process model. The authors argue that a subset of about a hundred words, a few dozen grammar rules and a dozen semantic functions is enough for a teaching system, and that the pictures are a measuring instrument for the parser's interpretation. The paper reports no evaluation figures. The scan is OCR-noisy; this card rests on the introduction, background and conclusion, and the grammar and semantics sections were read only in outline. ## Ideas - I1. Picture as a check: render a lesson's world as a table or diagram of objects and relations, so that the interpretation can be inspected by eye, as the paper uses its pictures. Output from `world/src/story.rs`. - I2. A process model per change-of-state verb (fill, empty, open, sail): a sequence of world states in `world/src/events.rs`, to answer "what happened first" questions. - I3. A microworld test set: take a vocabulary of about a hundred words from one lesson, and measure the exact-match tree rate of `en parse-eval` on sentences over that subset before widening the vocabulary. - I4. The paper's own next example, "one of the first plants to appear", needs ordinals and "new". List such items as a failure set for `en/src/morph.rs` and `en/src/dict.rs`. ## For Mova Chapters: [21. The simple clause](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/21-clause-structure/), [15. Adjectives and adverbs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/15-adjectives-adverbs/) (size and angle words), [22. Phrases: noun, adjective, adverb and prepositional phrases](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/22-phrases/). Code: `en/src/parse.rs`, `world/src/story.rs`, `world/src/events.rs`. Measure: exact-match tree rate on a closed-vocabulary subset, run twice. ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ``` @article{simmons1975semantically, title = {{Semantically Analyzing an English Subset for the Clowns Microworld}}, author = {Simmons, Robert F. and Bennett-Novak, Gordon}, journal = {Computational Linguistics}, year = {1975}, url = {https://aclanthology.org/J75-2007/} } ``` - [← previous A Massive Scale Semantic Similarity Dataset of Historical English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/silcock-2023-massive-scale-semantic-similarity-dataset/) - [next → A New English Grammar based on the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Grammatical Terminology, Parts I–III; The Soul of Grammar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/sonnenschein-1916-new-english-grammar-based/) - [↑ back to English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/en/) ## References 7 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Gridhman, R . , Sager, Raze, C. and Bookchin, B., "The Linguistic S t r i n g P a r s e r . " AFIPS, Conference Proceedings Vol. 42; M I P S P r e s s , Muatvale, N . J . 1973, pp. 427-434. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Gridhman%2C+R+%2E+%2C+Sager%2C+Raze%2C+C%2E+and+Bookchin%2C+B%2E%2C+%22The+Linguistic+S+t+r+i+n+g+P+a+r+s+e+r+%2E+%22+AFIPS%2C+Conference+Proceedings+Vol%2E+42%3B+M+I+P+S+P+r+e+s+s+%2C+Muatvale%2C+N+%2E+J+%2E+1973%2C+pp%2E+427%2D434%2E) 2. Harris, L a r r y R . , "A Model f o r d a p t i v e Problem Solving A p p l i e d to N a t u r a l Language A c q u i s i t i o n . " Thesis MSS, Department of Computer Science, dornell University Ithaca, N.Y. 1972. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Harris%2C+L+a+r+r+y+R+%2E+%2C+%22A+Model+f+o+r+d+a+p+t+i+v+e+Problem+Solving+A+p+p+l+i+e+d+to+N+a+t+u+r+a+l+Language+A+c+q+u+i+s+i+t+i+o+n+%2E+%22+Thesis+MSS%2C+Department+of+Computer+Science%2C+dornell+University+It) 3. 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