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Test 9 · ★ · Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were"…

★★★ "I didn't see nobody." Many languages, such as French and Spanish, use two negatives like this as standard. What does that show?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: I, Many languages, that · What happens: not see, use, show · To what, where: nobody, two negatives

This is test 9 · ★ 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: ★★★ "I didn't see nobody."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	★	★	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 ★	compound
2	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ★	compound
3	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 see	punct
5	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	8 see	nsubj
6	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 see	aux
7	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 see	advmod
8	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 ★	appos
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	8 see	obj
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 see	punct
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 see	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not see in a quote	past · do-support	I	nobody					vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nobody=Stimulus

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: Many languages, such as French and Spanish, use two negatives like this as standard.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 languages	amod
2	languages	language	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 use	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 French	punct
4	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	6 French	case
5	as	as	ADP	_	4 such	fixed
6	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 languages	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 Spanish	cc
8	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 French	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 languages	punct
10	use	use	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
11	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 negatives	nummod
12	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 use	obj
13	like	like	ADP	_	14 this	case
14	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	12 negatives	nmod
15	as	as	ADP	_	16 standard	case
16	standard	standard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 use	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	10 use	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	infinitive	Many languages such French	two negatives				like this; as standard	vn spend_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent negative=Duration as standard=Attribute

Sentence 3: What does that show?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 show	obj
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 show	aux
3	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 show	nsubj
4	show	show	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 show	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present · do-support	that						vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient

The options

Option 1

French and Spanish copied English dialects

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 copied	nsubj
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 Spanish	cc
3	Spanish	Spanish	PROPN	Number=Sing	1 French	conj
4	copied	copy	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 dialects	amod
6	dialects	dialect	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 copied	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	copy	past	French and Spanish	English dialects					vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dialect=Theme

Option 2

They mean "I saw somebody" in every dialect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 mean	nsubj
2	mean	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 saw	punct
4	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	5 saw	nsubj
5	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 mean	ccomp
6	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	5 saw	obj
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 somebody	punct
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 dialect	case
9	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 dialect	det
10	dialect	dialect	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 saw	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	They						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	see in a quote	past	I	somebody		every dialect			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer somebody=Stimulus

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Double negatives are a real pattern, but not standard English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 negatives	amod
2	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 pattern	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 pattern	cop
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 pattern	det
5	real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 pattern	amod
6	pattern	pattern	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 English	punct
8	but	but	CCONJ	_	11 English	cc
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 standard	advmod
10	standard	standard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 English	amod
11	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 pattern	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Double negatives	a real pattern				standard English nmod	tree rules

Option 4

Double negatives are wrong in every language in the world

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Double	double	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 negatives	amod
2	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 wrong	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 wrong	cop
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 language	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 language	det
7	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 wrong	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 world	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 world	det
10	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 language	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Double negatives			every language in the world		wrong property	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/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/t9/