Test 18 · Remembering details

kid said he followed the car that hit the cat and got the number plate, he's a hero

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: kid, car · What happens: say, follow, hit, get, be · To what, where: car, cat, number plate, hero · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 18 of lesson 18 «Remembering details» of the everyday 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	kid	kid	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 followed	nsubj
4	followed	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 said	ccomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 car	det
6	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 followed	obj
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 hit	nsubj
8	hit	hit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 car	acl:relcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cat	det
10	cat	cat	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 hit	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 got	cc
12	got	get	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 hit	conj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 plate	det
14	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 plate	compound
15	plate	plate	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 got	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 hero	punct
17	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 hero	nsubj
18	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 hero	cop
19	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 hero	det
20	hero	hero	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 said	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	kid		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	follow	past	kid	the car	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent car=Theme
3	hit	past	the car	the cat	vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme cat=Co-Theme
4	get	past	the car not said here	the number plate	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer plate=Stimulus
5	is a	present	kid	a hero	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.

The options

Option 1

The plate only matters if you follow the car home

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 plate	det
2	plate	plate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 matters	nsubj
3	only	only	ADV	_	4 matters	advmod
4	matters	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	if	if	SCONJ	_	7 follow	mark
6	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	7 follow	nsubj
7	follow	follow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 matters	advcl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 car	det
9	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 follow	obj
10	home	home	ADV	_	7 follow	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	matter	present	the plate						vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus
2	follow a condition, not said to happen	present	you	the car				home property	vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent car=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Getting the plate is useful, but following a car is unsafe; safety comes first

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Getting	get	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 useful	csubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 plate	det
3	plate	plate	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Getting	obj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 useful	cop
5	useful	useful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 unsafe	punct
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	12 unsafe	cc
8	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 unsafe	csubj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 car	det
10	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 following	obj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 unsafe	cop
12	unsafe	unsafe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 useful	conj
13	;	;	PUNCT	_	15 comes	punct
14	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 comes	nsubj
15	comes	come	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 useful	conj
16	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	15 comes	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	get	gerund		the plate		vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer plate=Stimulus
2	is	present	Getting		useful property	tree rules
3	follow	gerund		a car		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent car=Theme
4	is	present	following		unsafe property	tree rules
5	come	present	safety		first property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

He should have chased it on his bike

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	4 chased	nsubj:pass
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 chased	aux
3	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 chased	aux
4	chased	chase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 chased	obj
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 bike	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 bike	nmod:poss
8	bike	bike	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 chased	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	chase	should · perfect · passive		He		his bike			tree rules

Option 4

He did the right thing, following cars is always smart if you want to catch them

The tree, 16 words

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 did	nsubj
2	did	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 thing	det
4	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 thing	amod
5	thing	thing	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 did	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 following	punct
7	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 smart	csubj
8	cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 following	obj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 smart	cop
10	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	11 smart	advmod
11	smart	smart	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 did	conj
12	if	if	SCONJ	_	14 want	mark
13	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	14 want	nsubj
14	want	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 smart	advcl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 catch	mark
16	catch	catch	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 want	xcomp
17	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 catch	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	do	past	He	the right thing		vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality
2	follow	gerund		cars		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent car=Theme
3	is	present	following		always, smart property	tree rules
4	want a condition, not said to happen	present	you			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
5	catch not said to happen	to-infinitive	you not said here	cars = car		vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

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/everyday/18-remembering-details/t18/