Test 5 · ★ · Finding a job and getting on

Overheard: "Don't burn your bridges, you'll need a reference." What does the advice mean?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, advice · What happens: overhear, not burn, need, mean · To what, where: bridges, reference

This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 3 «Finding a job and getting on» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

Sentence 1: Overheard: "Don't burn your bridges, you'll need a reference."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Overheard	overhear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 need	advcl
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	6 burn	punct
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 burn	punct
4	Do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	6 burn	aux
5	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 burn	advmod
6	burn	burn	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Overheard	advcl
7	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 bridges	nmod:poss
8	bridges	bridge	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 burn	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Overheard	punct
10	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	12 need	nsubj
11	'll	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 need	aux
12	need	need	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 reference	det
14	reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 need	obj
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	12 need	punct
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 need	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	overhear	participle	you not said here		vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer
2	not burn in a quote	infinitive · do-support	you not said here	your bridges	vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bridge=Theme
3	need in a quote	future	you	a reference	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot reference=Theme

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

Sentence 2: What does the advice mean?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	5 mean	obj
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 mean	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 advice	det
4	advice	advice	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 mean	nsubj
5	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 mean	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present · do-support	the advice						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1

Never cross a bridge on the way to work

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	2 cross	advmod
2	cross	cross	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 bridge	det
4	bridge	bridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cross	obj
5	on	on	ADP	_	7 way	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 way	det
7	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 cross	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 work	mark
9	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 way	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not cross	imperative	you not said here	a bridge		the way			vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridge=Patient
2	work	to-infinitive	you not said here						vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Leave politely, a future employer may ask your old boss about you

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Leave	leave	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	politely	politely	ADV	_	1 Leave	advmod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 ask	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 employer	det
5	future	future	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 employer	amod
6	employer	employer	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ask	nsubj
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 ask	aux
8	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Leave	conj
9	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 boss	nmod:poss
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 boss	amod
11	boss	boss	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ask	obj
12	about	about	ADP	_	13 you	case
13	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	8 ask	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	imperative	you not said here					politely property	vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	ask speech: ask	may	a future employer	your old boss				about you	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent boss=Recipient about you=Topic

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Keep your old job as well as the new one, just in case it goes wrong

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Keep	keep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 job	nmod:poss
3	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 job	amod
4	job	job	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Keep	obj
5	as	as	ADV	ExtPos=ADV	1 Keep	advmod
6	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	5 as	fixed
7	as	as	ADP	_	10 one	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 one	det
9	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 one	amod
10	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Keep	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 goes	punct
12	just	just	ADV	_	16 goes	advmod
13	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	16 goes	mark
14	case	case	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 in	fixed
15	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 goes	nsubj
16	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Keep	parataxis
17	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 goes	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	keep	imperative	you not said here	your old job	as the new one	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent job=Theme
2	go	present	job		wrong property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	job		your			nom job «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

Don't argue with people who live nearby

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Do	do	AUX	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	3 argue	aux
2	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	3 argue	advmod
3	argue	argue	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 people	case
5	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 argue	obl
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 live	nsubj
7	live	live	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 people	acl:relcl
8	nearby	nearby	ADV	_	7 live	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not argue speech: disagree	imperative · do-support	you not said here					with people	vn chit_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with people=Co-Agent
2	live	present	people					nearby property	vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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