Test 1 · Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging
Your mate says "apostrophes just mean there's an s coming, innit." What is wrong with that?
Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: mate, apostrophes, s · What happens: say, mean, be, come, innit · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 1 of lesson 34 «Apostrophes: missing letters and belonging» 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: Your mate says "apostrophes just mean there's an s coming, innit."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 mate | nmod:poss |
| 2 | mate | mate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 says | nsubj |
| 3 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 mean | punct |
| 5 | apostrophes | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 mean | nsubj |
| 6 | just | just | ADV | _ | 7 mean | advmod |
| 7 | mean | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 says | ccomp |
| 8 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 9 's | expl |
| 9 | 's | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 mean | ccomp |
| 10 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 s | det |
| 11 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 's | nsubj |
| 12 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 11 s | acl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 innit | punct |
| 14 | innit | innit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 mean | conj |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 mean | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | Your mate | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | mean in a quote | present | apostrophes | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | be in a quote | present | a s | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | come in a quote | gerund | a s not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | innit in a quote | infinitive | apostrophes not said here | 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: What is wrong with that?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 wrong | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 wrong | cop |
| 3 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | with | with | ADP | _ | 5 that | case |
| 5 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 wrong | obl |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 wrong | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | with that; wrong property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1
It only goes wrong in American English
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 goes | nsubj |
| 2 | only | only | ADV | _ | 3 goes | advmod |
| 3 | goes | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 goes | xcomp |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 English | case |
| 6 | American | American | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 English | amod |
| 7 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 goes | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | present | It | American English | wrong property | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in english=Location |
Option 2
Nothing, that is exactly the rule
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 rule | punct |
| 3 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 7 rule | nsubj |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 rule | cop |
| 5 | exactly | exactly | ADV | _ | 7 rule | advmod |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 rule | det |
| 7 | rule | rule | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Nothing | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | that | the rule | exactly property | tree rules |
Option 3
Apostrophes only ever come before an s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apostrophes | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 come | nsubj |
| 2 | only | only | ADV | _ | 4 come | advmod |
| 3 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 4 come | advmod |
| 4 | come | come | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | before | before | ADP | _ | 7 s | case |
| 6 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 s | det |
| 7 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 come | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | infinitive | Apostrophes | a s | ever | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before s=Location |
Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Many plurals with s need none, and some apostrophes have no s
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 plurals | amod |
| 2 | plurals | plural | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 need | nsubj |
| 3 | with | with | ADP | _ | 4 s | case |
| 4 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 plurals | nmod |
| 5 | need | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | none | none | PRON | PronType=Neg | 5 need | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 have | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 have | cc |
| 9 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 10 apostrophes | det |
| 10 | apostrophes | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 have | nsubj |
| 11 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 need | parataxis |
| 12 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 13 s | det |
| 13 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 have | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | need | present | Many plurals with s | none | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot none=Theme | ||||
| 2 | have | present | some apostrophes | no s | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent s=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.
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