3083 total Who questions General: Who may indicate singular/plural, person (specific or class), list of persons, organization (company, agency), or group-of-people (sports team, religious organization) 1,444 Who is/was/are/were = 45% of "who" questions 872 Who was 433 Who is 97 Who's 73 Who were 66 Who are 73% (=314) Answer is NAME of person/character/organization Of these: 53% (=165) define a clear relationship in an NP with a clear, objective answer ("Who is Bill Clinton's White House counsel?") 45% (=140) use complex sentences to describe the name sought, or the answer may be quite subjective. ("Who is / was the fastest guitarist?") 27% (=113) seek description (why is the person famous?) (Who is "Machiavelli"?) Who VERBE+ed/s questions = rest of who questions *Some of the "Who VERB+ed X" questions may be alternatively phrased as "Who is/was the VERB+er of X" (inventor, author, etc.) *Many of these can be grouped by predicate type: { wrote, said, sings/sang, composed, coined } all behave very similarly. Other possible groups are { invented, created, patented }; { won, received }; {killed, shot, murdered} We might use a) SENSUS or b) Levin's verb classes to supplement the contex ontology for this. Within groups, there are clear patterns/templates: [] = optional material, CAPS= some literal string () = some variable Who wrote [the novel/song/...] TITLE Who wrote [of (some subject)/these words/the line] EPIGRAM Who wrote [a novel/song/...] about/of (some subject) Who wrote N (novels/songs) ... Who wrote the TITLE novels/series/... Fortunately, most of the HF verbs are semantically distinct, and the answer would be found in an identical or slightly transformed structure (nominalized/passivized/topicalized) 199 Who invented 135 Who wrote 97 Who played 92 Who said 72 Who did 60 Who portrayed 47 Who won 46 Who created 38 Who sang/sings 31 Who made 26 Who has 20 Who founded 20 Who discovered 16 Who makes 16 Who killed 15 Who or 14 Who succeeded 14 Who led 14 Who first 13 Who gave 12 Who painted 12 Who does 11 Who told 11 Who starred 11 Who directed 9 Who declared: 8 Who composed 8 Who commanded 8 Who built 7 Who took 7 Who lived 7 Who had 7 Who came 7 Who called 6 Who used 6 Who turned 6 Who taught 6 Who started 6 Who shot 6 Who owns 6 Who designed 6 Who coined 6 Who claimed 6 Who asked 5 Who would 5 Who received 5 Who ran 5 Who preceded 5 Who leads 5 Who holds 5 Who hit 4 Who will 4 Who was 4 Who thought 4 Who rode 4 Who replaced 4 Who recorded 4 Who published 4 Who originated 4 Who married 4 Who lives 4 Who hosted 4 Who gained 4 Who do 4 Who defended 4 Who became 3 Who stopped 3 Who runs 3 Who rules 3 Who ruled 3 Who reached 3 Who put 3 Who produced 3 Who plays 3 Who owned 3 Who often 3 Who met 3 Who flew 3 Who finished 3 Who established 3 Who died 3 Who delivered 3 Who defeated 3 Who can 3 Who brought 3 Who beat 3 Who accompanied 2 Who wore 2 Who wielded 2 Who tells 2 Who stole 2 Who spoke 2 Who slammed 2 Who signed 2 Who set 2 Who served 2 Who sent 2 Who sells 2 Who seized 2 Who says, 2 Who receives 2 Who raised 2 Who puts 2 Who provided 2 Who proved 2 Who popularized 2 Who penned 2 Who pays 2 Who oversaw 2 Who ordered 2 Who once 2 Who named 2 Who murdered 2 Who managed 2 Who left 2 Who launched 2 Who laid 2 Who kept 2 Who is 2 Who invented 2 Who introduced 2 Who insures 2 Who immortalized 2 Who headed 2 Who framed 2 Who fought 2 Who followed 2 Who filed 2 Who else 2 Who edits 2 Who decided 2 Who danced 2 Who co-starred 2 Who claims 2 Who captured 2 Who captained 2 Who bets 2 Who betrayed 2 Who began 2 Who appeared 2 Who always 2 Who allegedly 1 Who yelled, 1 Who yelled 1 Who wrote, 1 Who worked 1 Who wished 1 Who went 1 Who welcomed 1 Who wears 1 Who warned: 1 Who wants 1 Who wandered 1 Who walked 1 Who wa 1 Who visited 1 Who usurped 1 Who uses 1 Who urged 1 Who unified 1 Who tried 1 Who tricked 1 Who transmitted 1 Who tramped 1 Who threw 1 Who tends 1 Who takes 1 Who swept 1 Who swapped 1 Who supplies 1 Who supplied 1 Who suggested: 1 Who suggested 1 Who sued 1 Who succeeds 1 Who stood 1 Who spoiled 1 Who sought 1 Who solves 1 Who sold 1 Who snapped 1 Who should 1 Who shoplifts? 1 Who shoplifts 1 Who shocked 1 Who shaved 1 Who shared 1 Who sewed 1 Who serves 1 Who sculpted 1 Who scored 1 Who sailed 1 Who rides 1 Who retired 1 Who resigned 1 Who represented 1 Who reportedly 1 Who replies 1 Who refused 1 Who reared 1 Who razed 1 Who pushes 1 Who purchased 1 Who publishes 1 Who protects 1 Who promoted 1 Who prepared 1 Who predicted 1 Who pitched 1 Who pined: 1 Who phoned 1 Who performs 1 Who performed 1 Who perfected 1 Who penned: 1 Who patented 1 Who passed 1 Who parlayed 1 Who panicked 1 Who originally 1 Who oportrayed 1 Who observed: 1 Who notes 1 Who noted: 1 Who nominated 1 Who navigated 1 Who narrates 1 Who narrated 1 Who moves 1 Who moderated 1 Who moaned 1 Who might 1 Who meets 1 Who markets 1 Who manufacturers 1 Who manufactured 1 Who make 1 Who loved 1 Who lit 1 Who lies 1 Who liberated 1 Who leaked 1 Who knows? 1 Who knelt 1 Who kills 1 Who kayoed 1 Who jumped 1 Who joined 1 Who issues 1 Who issued 1 Who is/was 1 Who inherited 1 Who incubates 1 Who in 1 Who improved 1 Who illustrated 1 Who hid 1 Who held 1 Who have 1 Who grouched: 1 Who graced 1 Who goes 1 Who gives 1 Who give 1 Who galloped 1 Who found 1 Who foretold 1 Who fooled 1 Who flopped 1 Who flies 1 Who fished 1 Who filmed 1 Who figured 1 Who fed 1 Who famously 1 Who exclaimed: 1 Who exclaimed, 1 Who evolved 1 Who envisioned 1 Who enters 1 Who ended 1 Who emerged 1 Who emceed 1 Who eloped 1 Who earns 1 Who dubbed 1 Who drowned 1 Who dropped 1 Who drew 1 Who domesticated 1 Who discovered 1 Who digs 1 Who devoured 1 Who devised 1 Who developed 1 Who described 1 Who derived 1 Who delivers 1 Who defined 1 Who defied 1 Who defected 1 Who declared 1 Who crowned 1 Who cries: 1 Who created, 1 Who coveted 1 Who coupled 1 Who counted 1 Who controls 1 Who conquered 1 Who confronted 1 Who conducted 1 Who comprised 1 Who compiled 1 Who committed 1 Who commissioned 1 Who collected 1 Who coached 1 Who co-anchored 1 Who chases 1 Who chased 1 Who challenged 1 Who carved 1 Who buy 1 Who bought 1 Who bombed 1 Who blundered 1 Who bestowed 1 Who battled 1 Who baptized 1 Who banned 1 Who backed 1 Who awarded 1 Who ate 1 Who assured 1 Who assassinated 1 Who asked, 1 Who argued 1 Who appointed 1 Who answers 1 Who announced 1 Who and 1 Who and 1 Who among 1 Who am 1 Who advised 1 Who addressed 1 Who actively 1 Who acted 1 Who (or 1 Who "haunts" 1 Who "does 1 Who "builds