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Not sure if this is on topic, feel free to migrate it, close it or delete it, it's the first time here, i found the programming tag so I give it a shot.

Is it possible to download some sort of a dictionary which offers statistics about English language:

  • How many verbs are there? and list them
  • How many nouns are there? and list them
  • How many adjectives and so on
  • What is the synonym for x

In such a way that you can quickly access what you're looking for, and quickly tell if x is a verb or noun and what is the synonym for x and so on

Suppose y is a column that lists all the verbs, if a user input a word, i search y, if the word exists in y then it's a verb.

Lynob
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    I don't see the utility of knowing exactly how many verbs etc. (words) there are in the English language. Practically any noun, nowadays can be transformed into a verb, and every day new expressions and nouns are being added: "Twerking" and "Selfie" are just two recent additions in the Oxford English Dictionary. Dictionaries in any case, will tell you if a word is an adjective, a noun, an adverb or all three etc. and they will also provide a few synonyms, more importantly they will tell you the cognates of that word and the typical collocations. – Mari-Lou A Sep 29 '13 at 12:57
  • I imagine all online dictionaries arrange their data in more or less the way you describe internally. You could conceivably download their data and parse their database. However, as Mari-Lou said, that is pointless since it is so easy in English to make a verb from a noun. – terdon Sep 29 '13 at 13:13
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    Verbing weirds language. Who's to say that "verb" or "weird" are never valid as verbs? – FumbleFingers Sep 29 '13 at 13:28
  • That's languaging for you. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 29 '13 at 14:46
  • i know it's hard to tell exactly what's a verb and what's not, i love love is an example, but just for a starting point, adverbs or anything at all. – Lynob Sep 29 '13 at 18:54
  • I'd suggest migrating this post to meta. – Kris Sep 30 '13 at 06:33
  • This might be of help, answers to "Largest open-source dictionary w/ brief definitions (not wiktionary)" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8233/largest-open-source-dictionary-w-brief-definitions-not-wiktionary – Wishwas Sep 30 '13 at 08:29

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As FumbleFingers mentioned, what would you count as a verb? The same concept can be applied to nouns. For example A difficult sprint to the finish line In this instance, sprint works as a noun, and this can apply to many verbs.

Because our language changes so rapidly, it would make almost any non-dynamic diagram or statistic obsolete within days. I was unable to find statistics for words by part of speech, but if anyone does find one, post it in the comments or edit this question.

Also, some resources:

Hope this helps.

rootmeanclaire
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