Test 17 · Reading a dog's body language

did u hear the Smiths' dog bit a kid even tho it was wagging its tail the whole time, mental

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: u, dog · What happens: hear, bite, wag · To what, where: kid, tail

This is test 17 of lesson 21 «Reading a dog's body language» 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	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 hear	aux
2	u	you	PRON	Abbr=Yes Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	3 hear	nsubj
3	hear	hear	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 Smiths	det
5	Smiths	smith	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 dog	nmod:poss
6	'	's	PART	_	5 Smiths	case
7	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bit	nsubj
8	bit	bite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 hear	parataxis
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 kid	det
10	kid	kid	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bit	obj
11	even	even	ADV	_	15 wagging	advmod
12	tho	though	SCONJ	_	15 wagging	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 wagging	nsubj
14	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 wagging	aux
15	wagging	wag	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 bit	advcl
16	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	17 tail	nmod:poss
17	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 wagging	obj
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 time	det
19	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 time	amod
20	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 wagging	obl:unmarked
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 mental	punct
22	mental	mental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 hear	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	hear	past · do-support	u			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer
2	bite	past	the Smiths's dog	a kid		vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kid=Patient
3	wag	past · progressive	dog	dog's tail	time	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=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

It means only the dog's face shows its feelings

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	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	7 face	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dog	det
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 face	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 dog	case
7	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 shows	nsubj
8	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 means	ccomp
9	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 feelings	nmod:poss
10	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 shows	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	show	present	the dog's face	face's feelings					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent feeling=Recipient

Option 2

Real lesson: dogs that wag never bite, so the story is false

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lesson	amod
2	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	4 dogs	punct
4	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 lesson	conj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 wag	nsubj
6	wag	wag	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 dogs	acl:relcl
7	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	8 bite	advmod
8	bite	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 wag	xcomp
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 false	punct
10	so	so	ADV	_	14 false	advmod
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 story	det
12	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 false	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 false	cop
14	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lesson	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	wag	present	dogs		tree rules
2	not bite	infinitive	dogs not said here		vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent
3	is	present	the story	false property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Real lesson: a stiff, high wagging tail can mean tension, so read the whole body

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Real	real	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 lesson	amod
2	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 mean	nsubj
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	2 lesson	punct
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 tail	det
5	stiff	stiff	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 tail	amod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 high	punct
7	high	high	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 tail	amod
8	wagging	wag	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 tail	amod
9	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 mean	nsubj
10	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 mean	aux
11	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
12	tension	tension	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 mean	obj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 read	punct
14	so	so	ADV	_	15 read	advmod
15	read	read	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 mean	conj
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 body	det
17	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 body	amod
18	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 read	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	wag	gerund			vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	mean	can	Real lesson	tension	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tension=Topic
3	read	infinitive	Real lesson not said here	the whole body	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Topic

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It proves every dog with a tail bites

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	2 proves	nsubj
2	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	4 dog	det
4	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 proves	obj
5	with	with	SCONJ	_	8 bites	mark
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 tail	det
7	tail	tail	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bites	nsubj
8	bites	bite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 proves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	It	every dog					vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme
2	bite	present	a tail						vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=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/21-reading-a-dog/t17/