Test 16 · ★ · The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 1: Wayfarers All…

★★★ The field-mice say «Of course, we're early, we know that». Why do they still start?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: field mice, we, mice · What happens: say, be, know, start · To what, where: ★, that · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 16 · ★ of lesson 56 «The Wind in the Willows, chapter IX, part 1: Wayfarers All (change in the air)» 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

Sentence 1: ★★★ The field-mice say «Of course, we're early, we know that».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	★	★	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 say	obl
2	★	★	X	Foreign=Yes	1 ★	dep
3	★	★	SCONJ	_	8 say	mark
4	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mice	det
5	field	field	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 mice	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 field	punct
7	mice	mouse	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 say	nsubj
8	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 know	punct
10	Of	of	ADP	ExtPos=ADV	15 early	advmod
11	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 Of	fixed
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 Of	punct
13	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	15 early	nsubj
14	're	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 early	cop
15	early	early	ADV	Degree=Pos	18 know	advmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 early	punct
17	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	18 know	nsubj
18	know	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 say	ccomp
19	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	18 know	obj
20	»	»	PUNCT	_	18 know	punct
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 say	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	the field mice	★		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	is in a quote	present	we		early property	tree rules
3	know in a quote	present	we	that		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus

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 do they still start?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 start	advmod
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 start	aux
3	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 start	nsubj
4	still	still	ADV	_	5 start	advmod
5	start	start	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 start	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	start	present · do-support	mice = mouse				still		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Waiting would mean the machines arrive first and the best flats are taken by the sparrows and finches

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 mean	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 mean	aux
3	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 machines	det
5	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 arrive	nsubj
6	arrive	arrive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 mean	ccomp
7	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 arrive	advmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 taken	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 flats	det
10	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	11 flats	amod
11	flats	flat	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 taken	nsubj:pass
12	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 taken	aux:pass
13	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 arrive	conj
14	by	by	ADP	_	16 sparrows	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sparrows	det
16	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 taken	obl
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 finches	cc
18	finches	finch	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 sparrows	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	wait	gerund				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	mean	would				vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	arrive	present	the machines		first property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	take	present · passive	the sparrows and finches	the best flats		vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

Option 2

Because the Rat told them they must go now

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Because	because	SCONJ	_	4 told	mark
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 Rat	det
3	Rat	Rat	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 told	nsubj
4	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 told	iobj
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 go	nsubj
7	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 go	aux
8	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 told	ccomp
9	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	8 go	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past	the Rat		them = they				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic
2	go	must	they				now		vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Waiting risks the machines and losing the best flats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waiting	wait	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 risks	nsubj
2	risks	risk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 machines	det
4	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 risks	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 losing	cc
6	losing	lose	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 risks	conj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 flats	det
8	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 flats	amod
9	flats	flat	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 losing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	roles by
1	wait	gerund		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	risk	present	the machines	vn risk-94-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent machine=Pivot
3	lose	gerund	the best flats	vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flat=Eventuality

Option 4

They know the machines can't cut the wheat before the autumn, so they could wait, but they choose not to

The tree, 21 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 know	nsubj
2	know	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 machines	det
4	machines	machine	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 cut	nsubj
5	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 cut	aux
6	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 cut	advmod
7	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 know	ccomp
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 wheat	det
9	wheat	wheat	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cut	obj
10	before	before	ADP	_	12 autumn	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 autumn	det
12	autumn	autumn	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cut	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 wait	punct
14	so	so	ADV	_	17 wait	advmod
15	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 wait	nsubj
16	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 wait	aux
17	wait	wait	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 know	parataxis
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 choose	punct
19	but	but	CCONJ	_	21 choose	cc
20	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	21 choose	nsubj
21	choose	choose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 know	conj
22	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	21 choose	advmod
23	to	to	PART	_	22 not	fixed

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	know	present	They			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	not cut	can	the machines	the wheat	autumn	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wheat=Product
3	wait	could	machines = machine			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	not choose	present	machines = machine			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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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