[Jprogramming] Parsing trains

[Sherlock, Ric]

---Raul Miller wrote:
> Sherlock, Ric wrote:
> >  "Conjunctions and adverbs apply to noun or verb arguments;
> a conjunction
> >   may produce as many as four distinct classes of results."
> >
> > These tells me that an adverb can apply to a noun as well
> as a verb, but don't tell me what the result is.
> >
> > Can anyone confirm or correct my interpretation?

Thank you for the examples Raul. They are interesting in themselves but I don't think they answer my basic question which got a bit lost in my post. I'll add comments below to try and explain better.

> Yes.  An adverb can produce a result that is a noun, a verb, an adverb
> or a conjunction.
>
> Here are some examples:
>   anoun=: 0 :
>   averb=: 3 :
>   anadverb=: 1 :
>   aconjunction=: 2 :

These are all adverbs formed from a noun and an conjuntion.

> And here are some example uses:
>    'abc' anoun
>    # 'abc' anoun
>    '1+y' averb
>    '1+y' averb 1 2
>    'u/y' anadverb
>    + 'u/y' anadverb 1 2
>    'u :v' aconjunction
>    # 0 'u :v' aconjunction 'def'
>    # 0 'u :v' aconjunction 0
> ghi
> )

I think these are all examples of an adverb acting on a noun to its left to form a new verb? The result of that new verb depends on the adverb and the noun and, as you state, can be a noun, verb, adverb or conjuntion.

> > Can you point me to a dictionary reference?
>
> For what, exactly?

For an explicit statement that says that when an adverb applies to a noun on its left it forms a new verb. i.e. an equivalent statement to "A two-element train of a conjunction with a noun or a verb produces an adverb." Which I imagine would read something like "A two-element train of a noun (or verb) and an adverb produces a new verb".

The bit about an verb and adverb producing a new verb is in the dictionary, but I can't find an explicit reference to a noun and an adverb.

> Is something missing?

I have found an example (and you have given many more) that implies that an adverb applied to a noun forms a verb, but haven't found an explicit statement to that effect.