Test 17 · ★★ · Strangers and tricky people

heard a man in a white van was asking kids to help find his puppy outside school, everyone's saying he's a kidnapper

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: white van, everyone, van · What happens: hear, ask, help, find, say, be · To what, where: man, kids, puppy, kidnapper · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 17 · ★★ of lesson 58 «Strangers and tricky people» 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	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 man	det
3	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 heard	obj
4	in	in	SCONJ	_	9 asking	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 van	det
6	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 van	amod
7	van	van	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 asking	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 asking	aux
9	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 heard	advcl
10	kids	kid	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 asking	obj
11	to	to	PART	_	12 help	mark
12	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 asking	xcomp
13	find	find	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 help	xcomp
14	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 puppy	nmod:poss
15	puppy	puppy	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 find	obj
16	outside	outside	ADP	_	17 school	case
17	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 puppy	nmod
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 saying	punct
19	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	21 saying	nsubj
20	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 saying	aux
21	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 heard	advcl
22	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	25 kidnapper	nsubj
23	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	25 kidnapper	cop
24	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	25 kidnapper	det
25	kidnapper	kidnapper	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 saying	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	hear	past		a man			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus
2	ask speech: ask	past · progressive	a white van		kids		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent kid=Recipient clause=Topic
3	help not said to happen	to-infinitive	a white van not said here				vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	find not said to happen	infinitive	a white van not said here	van's puppy		outside school	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent puppy=Topic
5	say speech: assert	present · progressive	everyone				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
6	is a	present	van	a kidnapper			tree rules

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 · ✓ the right answer

Either way, adults who need help ask adults, so say no and tell a grown-up

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Either	either	DET	PronType=Ind	2 way	det
2	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 say	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 adults	punct
4	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 way	conj
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 need	nsubj
6	need	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adults	acl:relcl
7	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 need	obj
8	ask	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 need	xcomp
9	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 ask	obj
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 way	punct
11	so	so	ADV	_	12 say	advmod
12	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
13	no	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	12 say	discourse
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 tell	cc
15	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 say	conj
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 up	det
17	grown	grown	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 up	compound
18	-	-	PUNCT	_	19 up	punct
19	up	up	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 tell	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	need	present	adults	help		tree rules
2	ask speech: ask not said to happen	infinitive	help not said here		adults	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent adult=Recipient
3	say speech: assert	infinitive	either way and adults			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	tell speech: assert	infinitive	either way and adults not said here	a grown up		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent up=Recipient

Option 2

It means helping with lost puppies is always fine, whoever asks you to help

The tree, 14 words

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	helping	help	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 fine	csubj
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 puppies	case
5	lost	lose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 puppies	amod
6	puppies	puppy	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 helping	obl
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 fine	cop
8	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	9 fine	advmod
9	fine	fine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 means	ccomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 asks	punct
11	whoever	whoever	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 asks	nsubj
12	asks	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 fine	parataxis
13	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	12 asks	obj
14	to	to	PART	_	15 help	mark
15	help	help	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 asks	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
2	help	gerund			with lost puppies	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with puppy=Theme
3	lose	participle				vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	is	present	helping		always, fine property	tree rules
5	ask speech: ask	present	whoever	you		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic
6	help not said to happen	to-infinitive	whoever not said here			vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It proves all white vans are dangerous

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	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 vans	det
4	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 vans	amod
5	vans	van	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 dangerous	nsubj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 dangerous	cop
7	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 proves	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	It						vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	all white vans					dangerous property	tree rules

Option 4

It is gossip, so nothing needs doing

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 gossip	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 gossip	cop
3	gossip	gossip	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 needs	punct
5	so	so	ADV	_	7 needs	advmod
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	7 needs	nsubj
7	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 gossip	acl:relcl
8	doing	do	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 needs	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present	It	gossip	tree rules
2	need	present	nothing	gossip not said here	tree rules
3	do not said to happen	gerund	gossip not said here		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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/58-strangers-and-tricky-people/t17/