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Test 4 · ★★ · Active and passive voice, modal verbs

In a cartoon, a villain says "The bank has been robbed... by someone!" Why is it funny?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: villain, bank · What happens: say, rob, be · To what, where: cartoon, bank · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 4 · ★★ of lesson 32 «Active and passive voice, modal verbs» 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 villain says "The bank has been robbed... by someone!"

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 villain	det
6	villain	villain	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	nsubj
7	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 robbed	punct
9	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 bank	det
10	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 robbed	nsubj:pass
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 robbed	aux
12	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	13 robbed	aux:pass
13	robbed	rob	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 says	ccomp
14	...	...	PUNCT	_	16 someone	punct
15	by	by	ADP	_	16 someone	case
16	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	13 robbed	obj
17	!	!	PUNCT	_	16 someone	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 robbed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: express	present	a villain			a cartoon			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	rob in a quote	present · perfect · passive		the bank					tree rules

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 is it funny?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 funny	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 funny	cop
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 funny	nsubj
4	funny	funny	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 funny	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	bank					funny property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Villains are not allowed to use "by"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Villains	villain	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 allowed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 allowed	aux:pass
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 allowed	advmod
4	allowed	allow	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 use	mark
6	use	use	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 allowed	xcomp
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 by	punct
8	by	by	ADP	_	6 use	obl
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 by	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not allow	present · passive		Villains					vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality
2	use not said to happen	to-infinitive	Villains not said here						vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

He forgot how to say "bank" properly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 forgot	nsubj
2	forgot	forget	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	5 say	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 say	mark
5	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 forgot	xcomp
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 bank	punct
7	bank	bank	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 say	obj
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 bank	punct
9	properly	properly	ADV	_	5 say	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	forget	past	He						tree rules
2	not say speech: assert	to-infinitive	He not said here	bank				properly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bank=Topic

Option 3

He uses the wrong tense on purpose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 uses	nsubj
2	uses	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 tense	det
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 tense	amod
5	tense	tense	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 uses	obj
6	on	on	ADP	_	7 purpose	case
7	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 uses	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	present	He	the wrong tense		purpose			vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tense=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The passive lets him hide that it was him

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 passive	det
2	passive	passive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 lets	nsubj
3	lets	let	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 lets	obj
5	hide	hide	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 lets	xcomp
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 him	mark
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 him	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 him	cop
9	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 hide	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	let	present	the passive	him = he					tree rules
2	hide	infinitive	him = he not said here						vn concealment-16-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	is a	past	it	him = he					tree rules

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/32-active-and-passive-voice-modal-verbs/t4/