Test 14 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1:…

Ellie from Alabama: «Taffy was fixin' to run home herself.» (fixin' to = about to) Why didn't she?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: Ellie · What happens: fixin, run, do · To what, where: Taffy

This is test 14 · ★ of lesson 84 «Just So Stories, How the First Letter Was Written, part 1: a broken spear and a picture on birch-bark» 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: Ellie from Alabama: «Taffy was fixin' to run home herself.»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ellie	Ellie	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 fixin	nsubj
2	from	from	ADP	_	3 Alabama	case
3	Alabama	Alabama	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 Ellie	nmod
4	:	:	PUNCT	_	8 fixin	punct
5	«	«	PUNCT	_	8 fixin	punct
6	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 fixin	nsubj
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 fixin	aux
8	fixin	fixin	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	'	'	PUNCT	_	8 fixin	punct
10	to	to	PART	_	11 run	mark
11	run	run	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 fixin	xcomp
12	home	home	ADV	_	11 run	advmod
13	herself	herself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	11 run	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 fixin	punct
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	8 fixin	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fixin in a quote	past · progressive	Ellie from Alabama						tree rules
2	run in a quote	to-infinitive	Ellie from Alabama not said here	Taffy				home property	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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: (fixin' to = about to) Why didn't she?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	2 fixin	punct
2	fixin	fixin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	'	'	PUNCT	_	2 fixin	punct
4	to	to	PART	_	6 about	mark
5	=	=	SYM	_	6 about	punct
6	about	about	ADP	_	2 fixin	acl:relcl
7	to	to	ADP	_	6 about	fixed
8	)	)	PUNCT	_	2 fixin	punct
9	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	2 fixin	advmod
10	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 fixin	conj
11	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 she	advmod
12	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 did	nsubj
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 fixin	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	do	past	Ellie						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

The options

Option 1

Daddy said that she must stay with him by the river bank

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 stay	mark
4	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 stay	nsubj
5	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 stay	aux
6	stay	stay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 said	ccomp
7	with	with	ADP	_	8 him	case
8	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 stay	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	12 bank	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 bank	det
11	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 bank	compound
12	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 stay	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	Daddy						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	stay	must	Daddy					with him = he; by the river bank	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by bank=Location

Option 2

Daddy forbade her because the path is steep

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 forbade	nsubj
2	forbade	forbid	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 forbade	obj
4	because	because	SCONJ	_	8 steep	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 path	det
6	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 steep	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 steep	cop
8	steep	steep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 forbade	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forbid	past	Daddy	her = she					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer she=Theme
2	is	present	the path					steep property	tree rules

Option 3

She was too tired and the path was too long for a small child

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 tired	nsubj
2	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 tired	cop
3	too	too	ADV	_	4 tired	advmod
4	tired	tired	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 long	cc
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 path	det
7	path	path	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 long	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 long	cop
9	too	too	ADV	_	10 long	advmod
10	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	4 tired	conj
11	for	for	ADP	_	14 child	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 child	det
13	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 child	amod
14	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 long	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	She					tired property	tree rules
2	is	past	the path					for a small child; long property	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Daddy said it was too far and she might fall in the beaver-swamp

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 far	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 far	cop
5	too	too	ADV	_	6 far	advmod
6	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 said	ccomp
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 fall	cc
8	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 fall	nsubj
9	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 fall	aux
10	fall	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 said	conj
11	in	in	ADP	_	15 swamp	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 swamp	det
13	beaver	beaver	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 swamp	compound
14	-	-	PUNCT	_	13 beaver	punct
15	swamp	swamp	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 fall	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	Daddy			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	past	it		far property	tree rules
3	fall	might	Daddy	the beaver swamp		vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in swamp=Location

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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