SQL Server Reference Guide

Mar 28, 2003

␡

⎙ Print

< Back Page 249 of 365 Next >

I'm continuing my previous tutorial on using Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology in SQL Server, specifically in the product called English Query. In the first tutorial I introduced the product and in the second I explained how to install the product, as well as what the data structure we're looking at. You'll also recall that I framed the questions we'll answer in a sample application we're developing, using the pubs database that comes with SQL Server. This database deals with the publishing industry and contains information about authors, the books they wrote, and the sales information including store data. Here are the questions we're working on:

Who are the authors?
How many books has author (Name) written?
What books have they written?
Who sold the most books?

In the last tutorial I also categorized the questions, and this week I'll explain why. Here are the categories I came up with:

Question	Category
Who are the authors, what books have they written	General information
How many books has author (Name) written	Numerical operations
Who sold the most books	Action

These categories begin to help us break down the types of queries the users will ask in the application. An important part of working with an NLP system is to think not in terms of database theory, but in the way people think and talk. As we put together the application these categories have direct impact on how we will create various parts of the application, so I'll bring these two lists up throughout the series.

We're almost ready to open the tools for English Query, but we have one more set of concepts to cover. English Query makes heavy use of the English language constructs, as you might imagine. Although you don't need to be a linguist to use the product, you do need to understand which English components you use when you design an application. These constructs are used in the Semantic Model I introduced in the previous tutorials. The Semantic Model maps the English language components to the Physical Model that a relational database contains.

There are two main parts of English that English Query uses: Entities and Relationships. Let's begin by examining the Entities.

Entities in English Query are similar to nouns in English (a person, place or thing) and to columns or groups of columns in a database. For instance, we'll define the title column in the pubs database as an English Query Entity called book. We'll also define the au_fname and au_lname columns as a single English Query Entity called author.

You may have already noticed a limitation with this concept. I might call the person who writes a book an author, but someone else might call them a writer. When they use the application to say "How many books has writer Buck Woody written?" they won't get an answer. To deal with this, English Query includes Synonyms. These are just as their English language counterparts – another word for the same thing. You should make sure you include as many as possible in your design, but no make sure you don't obscure the meaning too far by using non-exact Synonyms. For instance, dog and pet might be synonyms in one sense, but pet is too broad to mean just dogs.

The next component is the Relationship. Relationships show what the Entities have to do with each other. Authors write books – stores sell books – publishers publish books, that sort of thing. When we define these, some of the statements (like publishers publish books) might seem a bit basic. After all, isn't it obvious that publishers publish books? It may be to human minds, but remember that no matter how realistic this all is, a computer doesn't "understand" anything. The more complete you are with the relationships, the more useful the application becomes.

English Query implements relationship definitions using a construct called Phrasings. Phrasings come in various types:

Adjectives
Commands
Name/ID
Prepositions
Subset
Trait
Verbs

Let's examine how we'll use these Phrasing Types.

The first item in the list is the Adjective. An Adjective modifies or further describes an Entity. For instance, an expensive book, a prolific author, a lot of sales are all implementations of Adjective Phrasings. As we design the application, we'll include lots of Adjective Phrasings.

The next item is the Command. This type of Phrasing allows users to enter and change data in the application. I don't recommend using this type of Phrasing until you've created several applications and understand how they work.

The Name/ID Phrasing type is the one we'll use most often. Using this type of Phrasing we'll define what things are, such as Book Names are the names of books. Again, some of these instructions might seem silly or obvious, but they are required to make sure the application has the illusion of human intelligence.

Prepositions link Entities with other parts of the sentence. For instance, "Which book was written after book X?" describes one preposition. Here's a sample list:

About	Above	According to	Across	Along with
As to	Because of	Before	Below	Concerning
Down	Due to	For	From	In
In case of	In place of	Instead of	Like	Of
On	Over	Past	Regarding	Since
Through	Till	To	Toward	Under
Until	Up to	With	With regard to	Without

The Subset Phrasing lets you break down your queries into groups, such as "Some authors live in the Northeast."

The Trait Phrasing is another commonly used type. We'll use this type when we show ownership, with the words have and has. Stores have addresses; Books have authors, and so forth.

Finally we have the Verb Phrasing type. Just as in spoken English, verbs show action. Example sentences here are "Authors write books" and "Stores sell books". We need to be careful here – Microsoft reserves some of these words for itself. You can find a list of those in Books Online.

That's enough for this week. In the next installment we'll start putting some of these concepts to work.

Informit Articles and Sample Chapters

If you happen to still use SQL Server 7, you can check out this free chapter on English Query for that version.

Online Resources – English Query

Microsoft's site for English Query is here.

< Back Page 249 of 365 Next >

🔖 Save To Your Account

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Privacy Notice

Overview

Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information

To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information

Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security

Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children

This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing

Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out

Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information

Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents

California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

As required by law.
With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact

Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020

Email Address