home edit page issue tracker

This page pertains to UD version 2.

nsubj:outer: outer clause nominal subject

This relation specifies a nominal subject of a copular clause whose predicate is itself a clause, to signal that it is not the subject of the nested clause. See discussion of Predicate Clauses.

-ROOT- The problem is that this has never been tried .
nsubj:outer(tried, problem)
cop(tried, is)
mark(tried, that)
nsubj:pass(tried, this)
aux(tried, has)
advmod(tried, never)
aux:pass(tried, been)
root(-ROOT-, tried)
The title is Some Like It Hot .
nsubj:outer(Like, title)
cop(Like, is)
nsubj(Like, Some)
obj(Like, It)
xcomp(Like, Hot)
It was because Bill is honest
nsubj:outer(honest, It)
mark(honest, because)
cop(honest, was)
nsubj(honest, Bill)
cop(honest, is)
My question is : was that really true ?
nsubj:outer(true, question)
cop(true, is)
cop(true, was)
nsubj(true, that)
advmod(true, really)

There may be an outer subject with no inner subject:

The important thing is to keep calm .
nsubj:outer(keep, thing)
cop(keep, is)
mark(keep, to)
xcomp(keep, calm)
This is to inform you of our decision
nsubj:outer(inform, This)
cop(inform, is)
mark(inform, to)
obj(inform, you)
obl(inform, decision)
case(decision, of)
nmod:poss(decision, our)

The clausal counterpart of this relation is csubj:outer.

Only subjects are required to be distinguished in this way. There may, for example, be inner and outer copulas, both attaching as cop:

The important thing is to be calm .
nsubj:outer(calm, thing)
cop(calm, is)
mark(calm, to)
cop(calm, be)

The :outer subtype is not intended for most nominal subjects of copular clauses—only those where the predicate is itself a clause. Plain nsubj (or another subtype) will be appropriate if the copular clause predicate is a nominal, adjective, etc.:

That book is very good .
nsubj(good, book)
The title is Green Eggs and Ham .
nsubj(Eggs, title)

nsubj:outer in other languages: [el] [en] [gd] [it] [ru] [sv] [u]