ASKNet : automatically creating semantic knowledge networks from natural language text

To Sophie: You are the love of my life and have made me happier than I ever thought possible. You mean everything to me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me? Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Stephen Clark for his continued support throughout my time at Oxford. It was his assistance and guidance that made this thesis possible. I would also like to thank my family, especially my parents who have always provided me with moral (not to mention financial) support. Finally, I would like to thank Sophie for her role in motivating me. It is my desire to start a life with her that has pushed me through the final stages of writing this thesis and prevented me from becoming a perpetual student.