Exam question 2 · Olympiad: Breakthrough puzzles in made-up languages
It is given that, in the language Tolo, "kapa" denotes "house" and "kapakapa" denotes "houses". Determine the plural of "sela", denoting "tree".
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: kapa, kapakapa, you · What happens: give, denote, determine · To what, where: It, house, houses, plural, tree
This is exam question 2 of lesson 58 «Olympiad: Breakthrough puzzles in made-up languages» of the English course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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: It is given that, in the language Tolo, "kapa" denotes "house" and "kapakapa" denotes "houses".
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 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 given | obj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 language | punct |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 language | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 language | det |
| 8 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 given | parataxis |
| 9 | Tolo | Tolo | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 language | appos |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 denotes | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 kapa | punct |
| 12 | kapa | kapa | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 denotes | nsubj |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 kapa | punct |
| 14 | denotes | denote | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 Tolo | parataxis |
| 15 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 16 house | punct |
| 16 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 denotes | obj |
| 17 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 16 house | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 denotes | cc |
| 19 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 kapakapa | punct |
| 20 | kapakapa | kapakapa | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 denotes | nsubj |
| 21 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 kapakapa | punct |
| 22 | denotes | denote | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 denotes | conj |
| 23 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 houses | punct |
| 24 | houses | house | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 denotes | obj |
| 25 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 houses | punct |
| 26 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient that=Theme | |||||
| 2 | denote | present | kapa | house | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot house=Topic | ||||
| 3 | denote | present | kapakapa | houses | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot house=Topic |
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: Determine the plural of "sela", denoting "tree".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Determine | determine | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 plural | det |
| 3 | plural | plural | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Determine | obj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 sela | case |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 sela | punct |
| 6 | sela | sela | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 plural | nmod |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 sela | punct |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 denoting | punct |
| 9 | denoting | denote | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 1 Determine | advcl |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 tree | punct |
| 11 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 denoting | obj |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 tree | punct |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Determine | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | determine | imperative | you not said here | the plural of sela | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plural=Topic | ||||
| 2 | denote | gerund | you not said here | tree | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot tree=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
selas
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | selas | sela | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
selasela
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | selasela | selasela | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
kasela
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kasela | kasela | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
sela
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sela | sela | PROPN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/58-olympiad-breakthrough-puzzles-in-made-up-languages/e2/