Test 3 · ★★ · Sorry, white lies and «because I said so»
Overheard: "I'm sorry, BUT if you hadn't nagged me..." Why is this a weak apology?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: I, you, this · What happens: overhear, be, not nag · To what, where: me, weak apology
This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 37 «Sorry, white lies and «because I said so»» 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: "I'm sorry, BUT if you hadn't nagged me..."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Overheard | overhear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 6 sorry | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 sorry | punct |
| 4 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 6 sorry | nsubj |
| 5 | 'm | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 sorry | cop |
| 6 | sorry | sorry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 1 Overheard | conj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 nagged | punct |
| 8 | BUT | but | CCONJ | _ | 13 nagged | cc |
| 9 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 13 nagged | mark |
| 10 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 13 nagged | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 nagged | aux |
| 12 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 nagged | advmod |
| 13 | nagged | nag | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 sorry | conj |
| 14 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 13 nagged | obj |
| 15 | ... | ... | PUNCT | _ | 1 Overheard | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 1 Overheard | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | overhear | participle | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer | ||||||
| 2 | is in a quote | present | I | sorry property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not nag a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | past · perfect | you | me | vn bully-59.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
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: Why is this a weak apology?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 apology | advmod |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 apology | cop |
| 3 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 apology | nsubj |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 apology | det |
| 5 | weak | weak | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 apology | amod |
| 6 | apology | apology | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 apology | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | this | a weak apology | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
It is too short to count
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 short | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 short | cop |
| 3 | too | too | ADV | _ | 4 short | advmod |
| 4 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 count | mark |
| 6 | count | count | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 short | advcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | short property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | count | to-infinitive | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
Option 2
It doesn't use the word "sorry"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 use | nsubj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 use | aux |
| 3 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 use | advmod |
| 4 | use | use | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 word | det |
| 6 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 use | obj |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 sorry | punct |
| 8 | sorry | sorry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 word | appos |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 sorry | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not use | present · do-support | It | the word | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient |
Option 3
It was said in a quiet voice
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 said | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 said | aux:pass |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 voice | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 voice | det |
| 6 | quiet | quiet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 voice | amod |
| 7 | voice | voice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 said | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past · passive | It | a quiet voice | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in voice=Manner |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The "but" blames the other person
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 but | det |
| 2 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 but | punct |
| 3 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 5 blames | cc |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 blames | punct |
| 5 | blames | blame | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 person | det |
| 7 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 person | amod |
| 8 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 blames | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | blame | present | the other person | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent person=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/37-sorry-white-lies-and-because-i-said-so/t3/