A tagset is a list of part-of-speech tags (POS tags for short), i.e. labels used to indicate the part of speech and sometimes also other grammatical categories (case, tense etc.) of each token in a text corpus.
English CLAWS part-of-speech tagset version 7 is available in English corpora annotated by the tool using CLAWS (the Constituent Likelihood Automatic Word-tagging System) developed by University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language at Lancaster University.
The Constituent Likelihood Automatic Word-tagging System abbreviated CLAWS was developed by UCREL at Lancaster University. This is the 7th version of used tagset.
An Example of a tag in the CQL concordance search box: [tag="VBD."] finds all past forms of verb “be”: was, were (note: please make sure that you use straight double quotation marks)
TAGSET
| POS Tag | Description |
| APPGE | possessive pronoun, pre-nominal (e.g. my, your, our) |
| AT | article (e.g. the, no) |
| AT1 | singular article (e.g. a, an, every) |
| BCL | before-clause marker (e.g. in order (that),in order (to)) |
| CC | coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, or) |
| CCB | adversative coordinating conjunction ( but) |
| CS | subordinating conjunction (e.g. if, because, unless, so, for) |
| CSA | as (as conjunction) |
| CSN | than (as conjunction) |
| CST | that (as conjunction) |
| CSW | whether (as conjunction) |
| DA | after-determiner or post-determiner capable of pronominal function (e.g. such, former, same) |
| DA1 | singular after-determiner (e.g. little, much) |
| DA2 | plural after-determiner (e.g. few, several, many) |
| DAR | comparative after-determiner (e.g. more, less, fewer) |
| DAT | superlative after-determiner (e.g. most, least, fewest) |
| DB | before determiner or pre-determiner capable of pronominal function (all, half) |
| DB2 | plural before-determiner ( both) |
| DD | determiner (capable of pronominal function) (e.g any, some) |
| DD1 | singular determiner (e.g. this, that, another) |
| DD2 | plural determiner ( these,those) |
| DDQ | wh-determiner (which, what) |
| DDQGE | wh-determiner, genitive (whose) |
| DDQV | wh-ever determiner, (whichever, whatever) |
| EX | existential there |
| FO | formula |
| FU | unclassified word |
| FW | foreign word |
| GE | germanic genitive marker – (‘ or’s) |
| IF | for (as preposition) |
| II | general preposition |
| IO | of (as preposition) |
| IW | with, without (as prepositions) |
| JJ | general adjective |
| JJR | general comparative adjective (e.g. older, better, stronger) |
| JJT | general superlative adjective (e.g. oldest, best, strongest) |
| JK | catenative adjective (able in be able to, willing in be willing to) |
| MC | cardinal number,neutral for number (two, three..) |
| MC1 | singular cardinal number (one) |
| MC2 | plural cardinal number (e.g. sixes, sevens) |
| MCGE | genitive cardinal number, neutral for number (two’s, 100’s) |
| MCMC | hyphenated number (40-50, 1770-1827) |
| MD | ordinal number (e.g. first, second, next, last) |
| MF | fraction, neutral for number (e.g. quarters, two-thirds) |
| ND1 | singular noun of direction (e.g. north, southeast) |
| NN | common noun, neutral for number (e.g. sheep, cod, headquarters) |
| NN1 | singular common noun (e.g. book, girl) |
| NN2 | plural common noun (e.g. books, girls) |
| NNA | following noun of title (e.g. M.A.) |
| NNB | preceding noun of title (e.g. Mr., Prof.) |
| NNL1 | singular locative noun (e.g. Island, Street) |
| NNL2 | plural locative noun (e.g. Islands, Streets) |
| NNO | numeral noun, neutral for number (e.g. dozen, hundred) |
| NNO2 | numeral noun, plural (e.g. hundreds, thousands) |
| NNT1 | temporal noun, singular (e.g. day, week, year) |
| NNT2 | temporal noun, plural (e.g. days, weeks, years) |
| NNU | unit of measurement, neutral for number (e.g. in, cc) |
| NNU1 | singular unit of measurement (e.g. inch, centimetre) |
| NNU2 | plural unit of measurement (e.g. ins., feet) |
| NP | proper noun, neutral for number (e.g. IBM, Andes) |
| NP1 | singular proper noun (e.g. London, Jane, Frederick) |
| NP2 | plural proper noun (e.g. Browns, Reagans, Koreas) |
| NPD1 | singular weekday noun (e.g. Sunday) |
| NPD2 | plural weekday noun (e.g. Sundays) |
| NPM1 | singular month noun (e.g. October) |
| NPM2 | plural month noun (e.g. Octobers) |
| PN | indefinite pronoun, neutral for number (none) |
| PN1 | indefinite pronoun, singular (e.g. anyone, everything, nobody, one) |
| PNQO | objective wh-pronoun (whom) |
| PNQS | subjective wh-pronoun (who) |
| PNQV | wh-ever pronoun (whoever) |
| PNX1 | reflexive indefinite pronoun (oneself) |
| PPGE | nominal possessive personal pronoun (e.g. mine, yours) |
| PPH1 | 3rd person sing. neuter personal pronoun (it) |
| PPHO1 | 3rd person sing. objective personal pronoun (him, her) |
| PPHO2 | 3rd person plural objective personal pronoun (them) |
| PPHS1 | 3rd person sing. subjective personal pronoun (he, she) |
| PPHS2 | 3rd person plural subjective personal pronoun (they) |
| PPIO1 | 1st person sing. objective personal pronoun (me) |
| PPIO2 | 1st person plural objective personal pronoun (us) |
| PPIS1 | 1st person sing. subjective personal pronoun (I) |
| PPIS2 | 1st person plural subjective personal pronoun (we) |
| PPX1 | singular reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourself, itself) |
| PPX2 | plural reflexive personal pronoun (e.g. yourselves, themselves) |
| PPY | 2nd person personal pronoun (you) |
| RA | adverb, after nominal head (e.g. else, galore) |
| REX | adverb introducing appositional constructions (namely, e.g.) |
| RG | degree adverb (very, so, too) |
| RGQ | wh- degree adverb (how) |
| RGQV | wh-ever degree adverb (however) |
| RGR | comparative degree adverb (more, less) |
| RGT | superlative degree adverb (most, least) |
| RL | locative adverb (e.g. alongside, forward) |
| RP | prep. adverb, particle (e.g about, in) |
| RPK | prep. adv., catenative (about in be about to) |
| RR | general adverb |
| RRQ | wh- general adverb (where, when, why, how) |
| RRQV | wh-ever general adverb (wherever, whenever) |
| RRR | comparative general adverb (e.g. better, longer) |
| RRT | superlative general adverb (e.g. best, longest) |
| RT | quasi-nominal adverb of time (e.g. now, tomorrow) |
| TO | infinitive marker (to) |
| UH | interjection (e.g. oh, yes, um) |
| VB0 | be, base form (finite i.e. imperative, subjunctive) |
| VBDR | were |
| VBDZ | was |
| VBG | being |
| VBI | be, infinitive (To be or not… It will be ..) |
| VBM | am |
| VBN | been |
| VBR | are |
| VBZ | is |
| VD0 | do, base form (finite) |
| VDD | did |
| VDG | doing |
| VDI | do, infinitive (I may do… To do…) |
| VDN | done |
| VDZ | does |
| VH0 | have, base form (finite) |
| VHD | had (past tense) |
| VHG | having |
| VHI | have, infinitive |
| VHN | had (past participle) |
| VHZ | has |
| VM | modal auxiliary (can, will, would, etc.) |
| VMK | modal catenative (ought, used) |
| VV0 | base form of lexical verb (e.g. give, work) |
| VVD | past tense of lexical verb (e.g. gave, worked) |
| VVG | -ing participle of lexical verb (e.g. giving, working) |
| VVGK | -ing participle catenative (going in be going to) |
| VVI | infinitive (e.g. to give… It will work…) |
| VVN | past participle of lexical verb (e.g. given, worked) |
| VVNK | past participle catenative (e.g. bound in be bound to) |
| VVZ | -s form of lexical verb (e.g. gives, works) |
| XX | not, n’t |
| ZZ1 | singular letter of the alphabet (e.g. A,b) |
| ZZ2 | plural letter of the alphabet (e.g. A’s, b’s) |
Source: http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/claws7tags.html
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