Test 18 · ★★ · Telling when someone may be lying

apparently a man outside the school told Lucy her mum was in hospital n tried to get her in his car, they say he had a knife

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: man, mum, they · What happens: tell, be, get, say, have · To what, where: Lucy, hospital n, car, knife · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 18 · ★★ of lesson 198 «Telling when someone may be lying» 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	apparently	apparently	ADV	_	7 told	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 man	det
3	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 told	nsubj
4	outside	outside	ADP	_	6 school	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 school	det
6	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 man	nmod
7	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	24 say	advcl
8	Lucy	Lucy	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 told	iobj
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 mum	nmod:poss
10	mum	mum	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 tried	nsubj
11	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 tried	cop
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 n	case
13	hospital	hospital	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 n	compound
14	n	n	NOUN	_	15 tried	obl
15	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 told	ccomp
16	to	to	PART	_	17 get	mark
17	get	get	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 tried	xcomp
18	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 get	obj
19	in	in	ADP	_	21 car	case
20	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 car	nmod:poss
21	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 get	obl
22	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 told	punct
23	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	24 say	nsubj
24	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
25	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	26 had	nsubj
26	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	24 say	ccomp
27	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	28 knife	det
28	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 had	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	past	a man outside the school		Lucy		apparently property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent lucy=Recipient clause=Topic
2	is	past	Lucy's mum			hospital n	try property	tree rules
3	get not said to happen	to-infinitive	Lucy's mum not said here	Lucy		man's car		vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus
4	say speech: assert	present	they					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
5	have	past	man	a knife				vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Patient

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 · ← Mova's choice

It's fine if he looks friendly

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 fine	expl
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 fine	cop
3	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	6 looks	mark
5	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 looks	nsubj
6	looks	look	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 fine	parataxis
7	friendly	friendly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 looks	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						fine property	tree rules
2	look a condition, not said to happen	present	he					friendly property	vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Never go with someone who says that; tell a teacher and check; the knife may be rumour

The tree, 17 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	2 go	advmod
2	go	go	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 someone	case
4	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	2 go	obl
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 says	nsubj
6	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 someone	acl:relcl
7	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	6 says	obj
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 tell	punct
9	tell	tell	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 go	conj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 teacher	det
11	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tell	obj
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 check	cc
13	check	check	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 teacher	conj
14	;	;	PUNCT	_	19 rumour	punct
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 knife	det
16	knife	knife	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 rumour	nsubj
17	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	19 rumour	aux
18	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	19 rumour	cop
19	rumour	rumour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 go	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	not go	imperative	you not said here			with someone	vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with someone=Beneficiary
2	say speech: assert	present					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic
3	tell speech: assert	infinitive	you not said here		a teacher and check		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient
4	is a	may	the knife	rumour			tree rules

Option 3

Ask to see his car first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ask	ask	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	to	to	PART	_	3 see	mark
3	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Ask	xcomp
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 car	nmod:poss
5	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 see	obj
6	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 see	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	imperative	you not said here						vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	see not said to happen	to-infinitive	you not said here	his car				first property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer car=Stimulus

Option 4

Go if he knows your mum's name

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Go	go	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	if	if	SCONJ	_	4 knows	mark
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 knows	nsubj
4	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Go	advcl
5	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 mum	nmod:poss
6	mum	mum	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 name	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 mum	case
8	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 knows	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	go	imperative	you not said here		vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	know a condition, not said to happen	present	he	your mum's name	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer name=Stimulus
3	name		your mum		nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/t18/