Test 9 · ★ · Why people lie, and what is not a lie

A boy is invited to a party he does not want to go to. Why does he not need to invent an illness?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: boy, party · What happens: invite, not want, go, not need, invent · To what, where: boy, party, illness

This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 195 «Why people lie, and what is not a lie» 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

Sentence 1: A boy is invited to a party he does not want to go to.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 boy	det
2	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invited	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 invited	aux:pass
4	invited	invite	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 party	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 party	det
7	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 invited	obl
8	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 want	nsubj
9	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 want	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 want	advmod
11	want	want	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 party	acl:relcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 go	mark
13	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 want	xcomp
14	to	to	ADP	_	13 go	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 invited	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	invite	present · passive		a boy	to a party	vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient
2	not want	present · do-support	boy	a party not said here		tree rules
3	go not said to happen	to-infinitive	a party 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: Why does he not need to invent an illness?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	2 does	advmod
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 need	aux
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 need	nsubj
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 need	advmod
5	need	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 invent	mark
7	invent	invent	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 need	xcomp
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 illness	det
9	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invent	obj
10	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 need	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not need	present · do-support	boy						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	invent not said to happen	to-infinitive	boy not said here	a illness					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent illness=Result

The options

Option 1

An invented illness can never be found out, so it is the kindest way

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 illness	det
2	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 illness	amod
3	illness	illness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 found	nsubj:pass
4	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 found	aux
5	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	7 found	advmod
6	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 found	aux:pass
7	found	find	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	out	out	ADP	_	7 found	compound:prt
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 way	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	15 way	advmod
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 way	nsubj
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 way	cop
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 way	det
14	kindest	kind	ADJ	Degree=Sup	15 way	amod
15	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 found	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	invent	participle			vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	not find out	can · passive		a invented illness	vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic
3	is a	present	illness	the kindest way	tree rules

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

He can say no politely without giving a reason

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	3 say	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 say	aux
3	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	no	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	3 say	discourse
5	politely	politely	ADV	_	3 say	advmod
6	without	without	SCONJ	_	7 giving	mark
7	giving	give	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 say	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 reason	det
9	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 giving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	can	He					politely property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	give	gerund	He not said here	a reason					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme

Option 3

Parties always need a medical excuse

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 need	nsubj
2	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	3 need	advmod
3	need	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 excuse	det
5	medical	medical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 excuse	amod
6	excuse	excuse	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 need	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need	present	Parties	a medical excuse				always property	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot excuse=Theme

Option 4

Saying no is ruder than any lie

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 ruder	csubj
2	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	1 Saying	obj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 ruder	cop
4	ruder	rude	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
5	than	than	ADP	_	7 lie	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 lie	det
7	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ruder	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	gerund		no					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent no=Topic
2	is	present	Saying					than any lie; rude 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.

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