Test 4 · ★ · Tense consistency and verb forms

In a cartoon, a robot says "Yesterday I will be fixing the car." What would a grammar teacher say?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: robot, grammar teacher · What happens: say, fix · To what, where: cartoon, car · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 31 «Tense consistency and verb forms» of the English 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: In a cartoon, a robot says "Yesterday I will be fixing the car."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 cartoon	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 robot	det
6	robot	robot	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	nsubj
7	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 Yesterday	punct
9	Yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	nsubj
10	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	13 fixing	nsubj
11	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 fixing	aux
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 fixing	aux
13	fixing	fix	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 Yesterday	acl:relcl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 car	det
15	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fixing	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 says	punct
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	a robot			a cartoon			vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in cartoon=Manner
2	fix in a quote	future · progressive	a robot = robot	the car					vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent car=Patient

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: What would a grammar teacher say?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	6 say	obj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 say	aux
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 teacher	det
4	grammar	grammar	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 teacher	compound
5	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 say	nsubj
6	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 say	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	would	a grammar teacher						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic

The options

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

Yesterday needs a past verb: "Yesterday I was fixing the car"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 needs	nsubj
2	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 verb	det
4	past	past	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 verb	amod
5	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 needs	obj
6	:	:	PUNCT	_	11 fixing	punct
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 fixing	punct
8	Yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fixing	obl:unmarked
9	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	11 fixing	nsubj
10	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	11 fixing	aux
11	fixing	fix	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 needs	parataxis
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 car	det
13	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fixing	obj
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 fixing	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need	present	Yesterday	a past verb					tree rules
2	fix in a quote	past · progressive	I	the car			yesterday		vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent car=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Change "yesterday" to "next year ago"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 year	compound
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 yesterday	punct
3	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Change	appos
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 yesterday	punct
5	to	to	PART	_	1 Change	fixed
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	1 Change	punct
7	next	next	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 year	amod
8	year	year	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 ago	obl:unmarked
9	ago	ago	ADV	_	root	root
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 ago	punct

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

Option 3

Robots may use any tense they like in any sentence they say

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Robots	robot	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 use	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 use	aux
3	use	use	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 tense	det
5	tense	tense	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 use	obj
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 like	nsubj
7	like	like	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 tense	acl:relcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 sentence	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 sentence	det
10	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 use	obl
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 say	nsubj
12	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 sentence	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	use	may	Robots	any tense	any sentence	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tense=Patient
2	like	present	Robots = robot	any tense not said here		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot tense=Theme
3	say speech: assert	present	Robots = robot	any sentence not said here		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent sentence=Topic

Option 4

It is correct because it uses -ing

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	3 correct	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 correct	cop
3	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	because	because	SCONJ	_	6 uses	mark
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 uses	nsubj
6	uses	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 correct	advcl
7	-	-	PUNCT	_	8 ing	punct
8	ing	ing	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 uses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					correct property	tree rules
2	use	present	it	ing					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ing=Patient

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/english/31-tense-consistency-and-verb-forms/t4/