Phrase Detectives - The AnaWiki annotation game

Welcome to Phrase Detectives

Lovers of literature, grammar and language, this is the place where you can work together to improve future generations of technology. By indicating relationships between words and phrases you will help to create a resource that is rich in linguistic information.
Simply register a username and password and you can get started.
Start here

563 docs completed

The most recent was The Tragedy Of The White Tanks (Charles B. Cory) completed by Wellington on 13 Jun 2018
See all

Quick instructions

You must search for relationships between words and phrases in a piece of text.

1) NAME THE CULPRIT
You will be given a word or phrase and you must look for any evidence of it appearing earlier in the text. An example of this would be:

Sherlink Holmes went to the shop. He got some tobacco for his pipe.

The word in orange refers to "Sherlink Holmes".

2) DETECTIVES CONFERENCE
You will be asked whether you agree with another detective's decision. An example of this would be:

Sherlink Holmes went to the shop. It was closed.

The word in orange refers to the phrase in blue so you should agree with this decision.
Further instructions

WIN PRIZES EVERY DAY

Every day, from the 01 to 14 July 2018 we will draw 2 player decisions at random and they will receive a £20 Amazon voucher (if they are the correct answer).

The more you play, the higher your chance of winning!

To enter simply play the game and start scoring points. Winners will be contacted by email so if you want to win please add your email on your Profile page.
Full details are in the FAQ.
Good luck! Play now

Detective's Bulletin

27 June 18

After a long and successful run on Facebook the Phrase Detectives game will be returning to the original game platform here.

13 Jan 14

A Facebook group has been set up to discuss some of the more interesting cases of ambiguity found in the Phrase Detectives game. Join the group Do You Know Your Anaphor From Your Elbow?" (Facebook account required).

19 Apr 12

Analysis of player motivations will be presented at Collective Intelligence 2012 conference in Boston, MA. It seems the female players are coming out top!

22 Feb 11

The long-awaited Phrase Detectives Facebook game has gone live.
Play the game.

01 Nov 10

Here are a few game stats for you number junkies. We have over 1.5 million examples of human language in the database submitted by 3500 players, a collaborative effort of over 2700 hours or 112 days. On average players are quicker to disagree with other players than to agree. Exported data from the game shows that the combined answers of players gives a very high quality result. A huge thank you to all detectives.

02 Aug 09

Phrase Detectives was presented at WWW in Madrid, WebSci in Athens and ACL in Singapore.

28 Jan 09

Phrase Detectives' Jon Chamberlain is interviewed by BBC Radio.

26 Jan 09

Articles about the game appear in Innovations Report, Science Daily, PhysOrg and L'Atelier.

01 Dec 08

A good article about the game is on CS4FN website.

28 Oct 08

Read coglanglab's excellent article about Phrase Detectives.

19 Sept 08

Phrase Detectives was presented at STEP 08 in Italy and iSemantics in Austria.