Test 11 · ★ · Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were"…

A girl from Texas says "I'm fixin' to go." ("Fixin' to" means about to.) Is that Standard English?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: girl, Fixin · What happens: say, fixin, go, mean, be · To what, where: Standard English · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 11 · ★ of lesson 38 «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing» 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: A girl from Texas says "I'm fixin' to go."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 girl	det
2	girl	girl	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	nsubj
3	from	from	ADP	_	4 Texas	case
4	Texas	Texas	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 girl	nmod
5	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 fixin	punct
7	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	9 fixin	nsubj
8	'm	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 fixin	aux
9	fixin	fixin	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 says	ccomp
10	'	'	PUNCT	_	9 fixin	punct
11	to	to	PART	_	12 go	mark
12	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 fixin	xcomp
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 fixin	punct
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 fixin	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	a girl from Texas	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	fixin in a quote	present · progressive	a girl from Texas = girl	tree rules
3	go in a quote	to-infinitive	a girl from Texas = girl not said here	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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: ("Fixin' to" means about to.)

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	7 means	punct
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Fixin	punct
3	Fixin	Fixin	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 means	nsubj
4	'	'	PUNCT	_	3 Fixin	punct
5	to	to	PART	_	3 Fixin	flat
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 Fixin	punct
7	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	about	about	ADV	_	7 means	advmod
9	to	to	PART	_	8 about	fixed
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 means	punct
11	)	)	PUNCT	_	7 means	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	Fixin					about property	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

Sentence 3: Is that Standard English?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 English	cop
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	4 English	mark
3	Standard	Standard	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 English	compound
4	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 English	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		Standard English					tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Yes, but only in writing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	6 writing	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	but	but	CCONJ	_	6 writing	cc
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 writing	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 writing	case
6	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

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

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

No, it's Southern US dialect for "I'm about to go"

The tree, 12 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	7 dialect	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 dialect	nsubj
4	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 dialect	cop
5	Southern	southern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 dialect	amod
6	US	US	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 dialect	compound
7	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	for	for	SCONJ	_	14 go	mark
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 go	punct
10	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	14 go	nsubj
11	'm	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 go	aux
12	about	about	ADV	_	14 go	advmod
13	to	to	PART	_	14 go	mark
14	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 dialect	acl
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	14 go	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	it	Southern US dialect					tree rules
2	go in a quote	present	I					about property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Yes, it's the standard form in every English-speaking country

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	7 form	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Yes	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 form	nsubj
4	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 form	cop
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 form	det
6	standard	standard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 form	amod
7	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	in	in	ADP	_	13 country	case
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	13 country	det
10	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 speaking	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 English	punct
12	speaking	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 country	amod
13	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 form	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	it	the standard form		every speaking country			tree rules
2	speak speech: other	gerund							vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

No, it means she is going to repair something

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	4 means	discourse
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 going	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 going	aux
7	going	go	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 means	ccomp
8	to	to	PART	_	9 repair	mark
9	repair	repair	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 going	xcomp
10	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	9 repair	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present	it		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	go	present · progressive	she		vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	repair	to-infinitive	she not said here	something	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent something=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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