Test 11 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

Looking back: what did the Head Chief say the next picture-letter needed?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Head Chief · What happens: look back, say, need · To what, where: next picture letter · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 87 «Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp-fish's mouth, a tail, an egg and a snake» 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	Looking	look	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	back	back	ADV	_	1 Looking	advmod
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	1 Looking	punct
4	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 say	obj
5	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 say	aux
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Chief	det
7	Head	Head	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Chief	compound
8	Chief	Chief	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 say	nsubj
9	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Looking	parataxis
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 letter	det
11	next	next	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 letter	amod
12	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 letter	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 picture	punct
14	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 say	obj
15	needed	need	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 letter	acl
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 Looking	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	look back	gerund			vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus
2	say speech: assert	past · do-support	the Head Chief	the next picture letter	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme letter=Manner
3	need	participle		the next picture letter not said here	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

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

A helper who could talk their language, so that he could explain the new drawings to everybody in the Tribe

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 helper	det
2	helper	helper	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 talk	nsubj
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 talk	nsubj
4	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 talk	aux
5	talk	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 language	nmod:poss
7	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 talk	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 explain	punct
9	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	13 explain	mark
10	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 so	fixed
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 explain	nsubj
12	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 explain	aux
13	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 talk	conj
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 drawings	det
15	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 drawings	amod
16	drawings	drawing	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 explain	obj
17	to	to	ADP	_	18 everybody	case
18	everybody	everybody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	13 explain	obl
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 Tribe	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 Tribe	det
21	Tribe	Tribe	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 everybody	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	talk	could	a helper	their language					vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent language=Patient
2	explain speech: assert	could	helper	the new drawings	everybody				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent drawing=Topic to everybody=Recipient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

A better cave near the river with a fire

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cave	det
2	better	good	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 cave	amod
3	cave	cave	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	near	near	ADP	_	6 river	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 river	det
6	river	river	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cave	nmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 fire	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 fire	det
9	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cave	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Someone who could talk their language, to explain it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	root	root
2	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 talk	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 talk	aux
4	talk	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Someone	acl:relcl
5	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 language	nmod:poss
6	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 talk	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 explain	punct
8	to	to	PART	_	9 explain	mark
9	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 talk	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 explain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	talk	could		their language					vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent language=Patient
2	explain speech: assert	to-infinitive		language					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 4

A helper who would carry the fish and wood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 helper	det
2	helper	helper	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 carry	nsubj
4	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 carry	aux
5	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 helper	acl:relcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fish	det
7	fish	fish	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carry	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 wood	cc
9	wood	wood	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fish	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry	would	a helper	the fish and wood					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=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/books/87-justso-alphabet-1-a-carp-fishs-mouth/t11/