Test 6 · The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door
«why'd Sam carry the shopping for HIM, after he nicked our balls?» What's the best answer?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Sam, best answer · What happens: carry, nick, be · To what, where: shopping, balls
This is test 6 of lesson 473 «The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door» 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: «why'd Sam carry the shopping for HIM, after he nicked our balls?»
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | « | « | PUNCT | _ | 5 carry | punct |
| 2 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 5 carry | advmod |
| 3 | 'd | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 carry | aux |
| 4 | Sam | Sam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 carry | nsubj |
| 5 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 shopping | det |
| 7 | shopping | shopping | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 carry | obj |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 9 HIM | case |
| 9 | HIM | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 carry | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 nicked | punct |
| 11 | after | after | SCONJ | _ | 13 nicked | mark |
| 12 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 nicked | nsubj |
| 13 | nicked | nick | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 carry | advcl |
| 14 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 balls | nmod:poss |
| 15 | balls | ball | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 nicked | obj |
| 16 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 carry | punct |
| 17 | » | » | PUNCT | _ | 5 carry | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | carry in a quote | would | Sam | the shopping | for HIM = he | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shopping=Theme | |||
| 2 | nick in a quote | past | Sam | our balls | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=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.
Sentence 2: What's the best answer?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 answer | det |
| 4 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 5 answer | amod |
| 5 | answer | answer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the best answer | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Sam was paid a lot for it
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam | Sam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 paid | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 paid | aux:pass |
| 3 | paid | pay | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 lot | det |
| 5 | lot | lot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 paid | obj |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 7 it | case |
| 7 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 lot | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pay | past · passive | Sam | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP PP.theme»: subject=Recipient lot=Asset for it=Theme |
Option 2
Sam was scared of Mr Grimshaw
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam | Sam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 scared | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 scared | cop |
| 3 | scared | scared | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 Mr | case |
| 5 | Mr | Mr | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 scared | obl |
| 6 | Grimshaw | Grimshaw | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 Mr | flat |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Sam | of Mr; scared property | tree rules |
Option 3
Sam wanted to steal the toffees from his kitchen
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam | Sam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 wanted | nsubj |
| 2 | wanted | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 steal | mark |
| 4 | steal | steal | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 wanted | xcomp |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 toffees | det |
| 6 | toffees | toffee | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 steal | obj |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 kitchen | case |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 kitchen | nmod:poss |
| 9 | kitchen | kitchen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 steal | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | want | past | Sam | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | steal not said to happen | to-infinitive | Sam not said here | the toffees | Sam's kitchen | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent toffee=Theme from kitchen=Source |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
A small kindness can crack a grumpy person
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 kindness | det |
| 2 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 kindness | amod |
| 3 | kindness | kindness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 crack | nsubj |
| 4 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 crack | aux |
| 5 | crack | crack | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 person | det |
| 7 | grumpy | grumpy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 person | amod |
| 8 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 crack | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | crack | can | a small kindness | a grumpy person | vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location person=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/473-the-ball-over-the-fence-and-the-grumpy-old-man-next-door/t6/