Test 5 · How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline
«Why do the old years count down, innit weird?» asks Elif. Why?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: old years, Elif · What happens: do, count down, innit, ask · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 5 of lesson 61 «How we got here: the big steps on one long timeline» of the history 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 do the old years count down, innit weird?» asks Elif.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | « | « | PUNCT | _ | 7 count | punct |
| 2 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 do | advmod |
| 3 | do | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 count | advcl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 years | det |
| 5 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 years | amod |
| 6 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 count | nsubj |
| 7 | count | count | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 asks | ccomp |
| 8 | down | down | ADP | _ | 7 count | compound:prt |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 innit | punct |
| 10 | innit | innit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 count | conj |
| 11 | weird | weird | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 innit | xcomp |
| 12 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 7 count | punct |
| 13 | » | » | PUNCT | _ | 7 count | punct |
| 14 | asks | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 15 | Elif | Elif | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 asks | obj |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 asks | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do in a quote | present | the old years not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | count down in a quote | present | the old years | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus | |||||
| 3 | innit in a quote | infinitive | the old years not said here | weird property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | present | Elif | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
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: Why?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 Why | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Because the ancient people just counted their years wrongly
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Because | because | SCONJ | _ | 6 counted | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 people | det |
| 3 | ancient | ancient | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 people | amod |
| 4 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 counted | nsubj |
| 5 | just | just | ADV | _ | 6 counted | advmod |
| 6 | counted | count | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 years | nmod:poss |
| 8 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 counted | obj |
| 9 | wrongly | wrongly | ADV | _ | 6 counted | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | count | past | the ancient people | year | wrongly property | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
Option 2
Because time really did run backwards in those days
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Because | because | SCONJ | _ | 5 run | mark |
| 2 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 run | obl:unmarked |
| 3 | really | really | ADV | _ | 5 run | advmod |
| 4 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 run | aux |
| 5 | run | run | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | backwards | backwards | ADV | _ | 5 run | advmod |
| 7 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 days | case |
| 8 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 9 days | det |
| 9 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 run | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | run | past · do-support | day; time | backwards property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3
Because the old kings liked having bigger numbers
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Because | because | SCONJ | _ | 5 liked | mark |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 kings | det |
| 3 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 kings | amod |
| 4 | kings | king | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 liked | nsubj |
| 5 | liked | like | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | having | have | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 liked | xcomp |
| 7 | bigger | big | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 8 numbers | amod |
| 8 | numbers | number | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 having | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | like | past | the old kings | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | have not said to happen | gerund | the old kings not said here | bigger numbers | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Years before the birth of Jesus are counted backwards
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 counted | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | before | before | ADP | _ | 4 birth | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 birth | det |
| 4 | birth | birth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Years | nmod |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 Jesus | case |
| 6 | Jesus | Jesus | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 birth | nmod |
| 7 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 counted | aux:pass |
| 8 | counted | count | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | backwards | backwards | ADV | _ | 8 counted | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | count | present · passive | Years before the birth of Jesus | backwards property | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: subject=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/history/61-how-we-got-here-the-big-steps-on-one-long-timeline/t5/