--- title: "Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2) — contributors 2026" description: "The UD guidelines are the annotation rules for the universal treebanks. Volume 2 holds the English-specific pages. The parts read were: relative clauses…" authors: ["Universal Dependencies contributors"] year: 2026 venue: "manual" source: "https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html" licence: "Apache-2.0 (UniversalDependencies/docs repository LICENSE.txt), snapshot 2026-10-15" licence_url: "https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/contributors-2026-universal-dependencies-guidelines/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/contributors-2026-universal-dependencies-guidelines/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2026](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2026/page/10/) / Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2): English-specific pages # Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2): English-specific pages **Authors:** Universal Dependencies contributors · **Year:** 2026 (snapshot 15 October 2026) · **Venue:** Universal Dependencies documentation (universaldependencies.org) **Link:** [universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html](https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html) · **Licence:** Apache-2.0 manual · [licence](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0) - [Publisher's page](https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html) **Authors (1)** 1. Universal Dependencies contributors Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, ; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The UD guidelines are the annotation rules for the universal treebanks. Volume 2 holds the English-specific pages. The parts read were: relative clauses (the notable properties, with a chain of `acl:relcl` and `xcomp` arcs that gives unbounded dependency, and the note that the specifying/ascriptive distinction does not change the UD analysis); clefts and pseudo-clefts (a free relative as the copula's complement, with `nsubj` on the relative word); `fixed` expressions (for example "as well" and "as well as", with `advmod` on the head and `fixed` inside the expression); and personal names (a title such as "Mr." as `nmod:desc`, with a note that English treebanks tag such titles as PROPN). The text is a markdown export with examples in `sdparse` blocks. No counts are given; these are rules, not measurements. ## Ideas - I1. Put the guideline examples of relative clauses, pseudo-clefts and `fixed` expressions into a test file for `en/src/parse.rs`. Score the parser on them and report which arcs differ from the documented ones. Add a shuffled-word negative control so that a passing score cannot be an accident. - I2. Build a lexicon of English `fixed` expressions (as well, as well as, in spite of and similar) and a rule that attaches the later words as `fixed` to the first, in `en/src/dict.rs`. Measure the `fixed` arc accuracy on EWT dev before and after, run twice. - I3. Pseudo-clefts ("X is who we want to help") are a foregrounding pattern. Add a rule in `prag/src/frames.rs` that marks the subject of such a copular sentence as the foregrounded element, and log each case so the rule can be checked by hand. - I4. Titles before names ("Mr.", "Professor") are tagged NOUN in some schemes and PROPN in English treebanks. Make the tag rule in `en/src/tag.rs` explicit and test it on the personal-name examples, so that the choice is recorded and not silent. ## For Mova The chapters are [languages/en/22-phrases.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/22-phrases/), [languages/en/25-relative-clauses.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/25-relative-clauses/), [languages/en/29-ellipsis-word-order-information-structure.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/29-ellipsis-word-order-information-structure/) and [languages/en/19-lexicon-mwe-register.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/en/19-lexicon-mwe-register/). The code is `en/src/parse.rs` (arcs), `en/src/dict.rs` (fixed expressions), `en/src/tag.rs` (titles) and `prag/src/frames.rs` (clefts). The measure is the arc accuracy on the guideline examples and on EWT dev, run twice and compared with the negative control. Topics: [Universal Dependencies](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/universal-dependencies/) · [Treebanks](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/treebanks/) ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @book{contributors2026universal, title = {{Universal Dependencies guidelines (v2): English-specific pages}}, author = {contributors, Universal Dependencies}, year = {2026}, url = {https://universaldependencies.org/guidelines.html} } ``` - [← previous UniSkill: A Dataset for Matching University Curricula to Professional Competencies](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/musazade-2026-uniskill-dataset-matching-university-curricula/) - [next → University Speaking for Everyone: Assessing Changes in Italian Higher Education Statutes toward Gender-Inclusive Language](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/salto-2026-university-speaking-everyone-assessing-changes/) - [↑ back to papers of 2026](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2026/page/10/) ## References 4 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. [Loos, Eugene E., et al. 2003. Glossary of linguistic terms: What is an auxiliary verb?]([http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm)) - [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb) [↗](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAnAuxiliaryVerb.htm) 2. For _subordinating conjunctions,_ see [SCONJ](). [↗](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsACoordinatingConjunction.htm) 3. English Web Treebank [LDC2012T13]([https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13)). [↗](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/LDC2012T13) 4. Justin Mott, Ann Bies, John Laury, and Colin Warner. 2012. [Bracketing Webtext: An Addendum to Penn Treebank II Guidelines]([https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf)). MS, LDC. # Migration Guidelines (from SD to UD) [↗](https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2012T13/WebtextTBAnnotationGuidelines.pdf)