How do you work with "--" in search results analyses?

Francis

In past discussions I have read justifications as to why what appears in natural language as oddities in search analyses occur, such as the "--" results. One of the problems I have yet to resolve for myself is how to get beyond technical explanations about reverse interlinears, cells, and whatnots, to data I can actually use.

For instance, this morning I searched for verbs in a section (in the LHB) to look at what grammatical subjects dominate. Apparently, only clause search allows me to sort by subjects, so that's what I used. But when I sorted, I had a good number of results listed as "--" (results I had difficulty in understanding since the verbs listed had clearly identifiable subjects). The problem I had was this: what value have the statistics if there is a large number of instances that are classified as "--" for whatever reason? I was trying to determine which person entity was the leading subject of verbs in the section but could not know with confidence what the answer was. The problem is not just statistical: how am I to know when I look at one particular subject that there are not instances classified as "--" that actually refer to this subject?

So, what is one to do with analysis and sorting and "--" results? 

Dave Hooton

Francis said:

I had a good number of results listed as "--" (results I had difficulty in understanding since the verbs listed had clearly identifiable subjects).

Francis said:

I had a good number of results listed as "--" (results I had difficulty in understanding since the verbs listed had clearly identifiable subjects).

Andersen-Forbes Phrase Marker Analysis suggests that many of those only have Direct Objects e.g. verb-lemma:הרג  subject:ANY.  The Clause Participants section of a BWS on that verb tends to agree with the Clause Search, but I couldn't find any "--" results under With Object (this was difficult as Persons are unsorted).

I'm sure we'll get a more authoritative response to this.

Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/904550#Comment_904550

I would very much appreciate having an answer to this question. Latest case in point: I wanted to examine which agents dominate certain narratives. Since case frames are not available in the PG, the only way I found to try to do this was to do a clause search, search verb-root:ANY and then sort by Agent. Here is an example based on Abraham's story:

Note again the "--" category which is the most numerous. I am trying to compare the relative importance of agents in different narratives but I am not sure how reliable the numbers are because I am not sure how to interpret the "--" results. 

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/905337#Comment_905337

Francis said:

Note again the "--" category which is the most numerous. I am trying to compare the relative importance of agents in different narratives but I am not sure how reliable the numbers are because I am not sure how to interpret the "--" results. 

+1 lacking insight for "--" interpretation (some results with "--" for Agent and Benefactor have Object Text)

Keep Smiling [:)]