Test 2 · ★ · Just So Stories, How the Alphabet Was Made, part 1: a carp…

Why does Taffy's idea work better than her picture-letter?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: idea work, Taffy · What happens: be, work, letter

This is test 2 · ★ 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	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Rel	root	root
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Why	cop
3	Taffy	Taffy	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 work	nmod:poss
4	's	's	PART	_	3 Taffy	case
5	idea	idea	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 work	compound
6	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Why	nsubj
7	better	well	ADV	Degree=Cmp	1 Why	advmod
8	than	than	ADP	_	12 letter	case
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	12 letter	nmod:poss
10	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 letter	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 picture	punct
12	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 better	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 Why	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	Taffy's idea work	well, why property	tree rules
2	work		Taffy		nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent
3	letter		Taffy		nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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

It shows the whole battle in one picture, so Daddy can read it

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	2 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 battle	det
4	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 battle	amod
5	battle	battle	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shows	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 picture	case
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 picture	nummod
8	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 battle	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 read	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	13 read	advmod
11	Daddy	Daddy	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 read	nsubj
12	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 read	aux
13	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 shows	parataxis
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 read	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	It	the whole battle				in one picture	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent battle=Patient in picture=Topic
2	read	can	Daddy	battle					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 2

Each picture shows a whole story, so it's easy to follow

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 picture	det
2	picture	picture	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shows	nsubj
3	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 story	det
5	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 story	amod
6	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shows	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 easy	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	11 easy	advmod
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 easy	expl
10	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 easy	cop
11	easy	easy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 shows	parataxis
12	to	to	PART	_	13 follow	mark
13	follow	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 easy	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	show	present	each picture	a whole story		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient
2	is	present			easy property	tree rules
3	follow	to-infinitive				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Each sign stands for one sound, so it can't be read as a battle

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 sign	det
2	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stands	nsubj
3	stands	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 sound	case
5	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 sound	nummod
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stands	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 read	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	13 read	advmod
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 read	nsubj:pass
10	ca	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 read	aux
11	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	13 read	advmod
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 read	aux:pass
13	read	read	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 stands	parataxis
14	as	as	ADP	_	16 battle	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 battle	det
16	battle	battle	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 read	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stand	present	each sign					for one sound	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for sound=Attribute
2	not read	can · passive		sign				as a battle	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as battle=Attribute

Option 4

Each sign stands for a whole word, so it can be read as a long battle with spears and shields

The tree, 20 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 sign	det
2	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stands	nsubj
3	stands	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	for	for	ADP	_	7 word	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 word	det
6	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 word	amod
7	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 stands	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 read	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	13 read	advmod
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 read	nsubj:pass
11	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 read	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 read	aux:pass
13	read	read	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 stands	parataxis
14	as	as	ADP	_	17 battle	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 battle	det
16	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 battle	amod
17	battle	battle	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 read	obl
18	with	with	ADP	_	19 spears	case
19	spears	spear	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 battle	nmod
20	and	and	CCONJ	_	21 shields	cc
21	shields	shield	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 spears	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	stand	present	each sign					for a whole word	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for word=Attribute
2	read	can · passive		sign				as a long battle with spears and shields	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as battle=Attribute

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/t2/