Test 9 · ★ · April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work
A video shows a performer breathing fire. What is the safest choice for you?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: video, performer, safest choice · What happens: show, breathe, be · To what, where: performer, fire
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 279 «April Fools' Day and how magic tricks work» 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 video shows a performer breathing fire.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 video | det |
| 2 | video | video | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 shows | nsubj |
| 3 | shows | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 performer | det |
| 5 | performer | performer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 shows | obj |
| 6 | breathing | breathe | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 performer | acl |
| 7 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 breathing | obj |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 shows | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | a video | a performer | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent performer=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | breathe | gerund | a performer not said here | fire | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=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: What is the safest choice for you?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 choice | det |
| 4 | safest | safe | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 5 choice | amod |
| 5 | choice | choice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 7 you | case |
| 7 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 5 choice | nmod |
| 8 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the safest choice for you | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Try it outdoors with friends nearby
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Try | try | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 1 Try | obj |
| 3 | outdoors | outdoors | ADV | _ | 1 Try | advmod |
| 4 | with | with | ADP | _ | 5 friends | case |
| 5 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Try | obl |
| 6 | nearby | nearby | ADV | _ | 1 Try | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | imperative | you not said here | it | with friends; nearby, outdoors property | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme PP.attribute»: agent=Agent it=Patient with friend=Theme |
Option 2
Try it with a small candle in the garden first
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Try | try | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 1 Try | obj |
| 3 | with | with | ADP | _ | 6 candle | case |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 candle | det |
| 5 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 candle | amod |
| 6 | candle | candle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Try | obl |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 garden | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 garden | det |
| 9 | garden | garden | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Try | obl |
| 10 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 1 Try | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | imperative | you not said here | it | the garden | with a small candle; first property | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme PP.attribute»: agent=Agent it=Patient with candle=Theme |
Option 3
Try it if you practise a lot first
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Try | try | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 1 Try | obj |
| 3 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 5 practise | mark |
| 4 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 5 practise | nsubj |
| 5 | practise | practise | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 Try | advcl |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 lot | det |
| 7 | lot | lot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 practise | obj |
| 8 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 5 practise | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | imperative | you not said here | it | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | practise a condition, not said to happen | present | you | a lot | first property | tree rules |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Enjoy watching but never copy it
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enjoy | enjoy | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | watching | watch | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 1 Enjoy | xcomp |
| 3 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 5 copy | cc |
| 4 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 5 copy | advmod |
| 5 | copy | copy | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 1 Enjoy | conj |
| 6 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 copy | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | enjoy | imperative | you not said here | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | watch | gerund | you not said here | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | not copy | infinitive | you not said here | it | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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/279-april-fools-and-magic-tricks/t9/