Formal definition of English grammar

Question

I saw on a related question some mentions of a formal grammar definition for English. It is mentioning there a definition called English Resource Grammar. Perhaps anyone here would know about loosely equivalent sources that like this one are fit for direct use by software.

Otherwise, questions relating to that single resource called English Resource Grammar : The download archive of it has a readme that is only a change log / release notes. How should the content of this huge archive be interpreted? what ontology does it use for its production rules? in what ways does one use it with the related software LKB and/or PET?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Perhaps anyone here would know about loosely equivalent sources that like this one are fit for direct use by software.

I have also been pursuing this question for years, and I believe this is the first usable, organized, clear, and general-purpose such project:

https://www.grammaticalframework.org/

They have explicitly written controlled versions of various natural language grammars, which can be used for translation, constructing grammatical sentences, and presumably else.

…English Resource Grammar : The download archive of it has a readme that is only a change log / release notes. How should the content of this huge archive be interpreted? what ontology does it use for its production rules

I have also found that website unusable even though it’s often been recommended to me. The website is too slow to load, and it is difficult to find any active support from whoever’s behind it. I think it’s more of a research project inside academia than a user-friendly tool.