A method for developing a system for retrieving text related to a selected concept within a text corpus includes identifying a set of semantic classes which express the concept and identifying a set of keywords for each of the semantic classes to be used in text searching in a text corpus. Each set of keywords includes at least one keyword. A plurality of syntactic rules are established which are to be applied to retrieved text which includes keywords. Each of the syntactic rules identifies a first of the semantic classes and a second of the semantic classes. A rule is satisfied when a keyword from the first of the semantic classes is in a syntactic relationship with a keyword from the second of the semantic classes. The syntactic relationship can be any one of a plurality of syntactic relationships.