Test 12 · ★ · The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy…

why wasn't the editor scared of the dark as a nipper?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: editor · What happens: not be, scare · To what, where: editor

This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 1276 «The Lilac Fairy Book, The Shifty Lad, part 1: a clever boy's mother saves up to send him to school and then to a trade» of the books 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 editor	advmod
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 editor	cop
3	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 editor	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 editor	det
5	editor	editor	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 scared	nsubj
6	scared	scare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 dark	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 dark	det
9	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 scared	obl
10	as	as	ADP	_	12 nipper	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 nipper	det
12	nipper	nipper	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 scared	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 scared	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is a	past		the editor					tree rules
2	scare	past	the editor					of the dark; as a nipper	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

His old nurse had told him that the dark was full of friendly spirits who guarded his bed

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 nurse	nmod:poss
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 nurse	amod
3	nurse	nurse	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 told	nsubj:pass
4	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 told	aux
5	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 told	iobj
7	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 full	mark
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 dark	det
9	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 full	nsubj
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 full	cop
11	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 told	advcl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 spirits	case
13	friendly	friendly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 spirits	amod
14	spirits	spirit	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 full	obl
15	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	16 guarded	nsubj
16	guarded	guard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	14 spirits	acl:relcl
17	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	18 bed	nmod:poss
18	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 guarded	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past · perfect · passive		His old nurse	him = he		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Topic
2	is	past	the dark			of friendly spirits; full property	tree rules
3	guard	past	friendly spirits	his bed			vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bed=Beneficiary

Option 2

He had a big lamp by his bed and a dog who always barked at any ghost that came near

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 lamp	det
4	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 lamp	amod
5	lamp	lamp	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 had	obj
6	by	by	ADP	_	8 bed	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 bed	nmod:poss
8	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 had	obl
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 barked	cc
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 dog	det
11	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 barked	nsubj:pass
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 barked	nsubj
13	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	14 barked	advmod
14	barked	bark	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 had	conj
15	at	at	ADP	_	17 ghost	case
16	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	17 ghost	det
17	ghost	ghost	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 barked	obl
18	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	19 came	nsubj
19	came	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	17 ghost	acl:relcl
20	near	near	ADV	_	19 came	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	have	past	He	a big lamp	by his bed	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lamp=Patient
2	bark	participle · passive		a dog	at any ghost; always property	vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme PP.recipient PP.stimulus»: subject=Theme at ghost=Stimulus
3	come	past	any ghost		near property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

He figured a ghost there couldn't be seen

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 figured	nsubj
2	figured	figure	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 ghost	det
4	ghost	ghost	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 figured	obj
5	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	2 figured	advmod
6	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 seen	aux
7	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 seen	advmod
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 seen	aux:pass
9	seen	see	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 figured	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	figure	past	He	a ghost		there			vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ghost=Patient
2	not see	could · passive	He not said here						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»

Option 4

He reckoned the dark was just empty air

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 reckoned	nsubj
2	reckoned	reckon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 dark	det
4	dark	dark	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 air	nsubj
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 air	cop
6	just	just	ADV	_	8 air	advmod
7	empty	empty	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 air	amod
8	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reckoned	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reckon	past	He						vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	is a	past	the dark	empty air					tree rules

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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