Test 3 · ★★ · Toad's Edwardian England: early motor cars, caravans, stea…

«why didnt they just start the car with the key like normal» What is the best answer?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: didnt, best answer · What happens: start, be · To what, where: car, key

This is test 3 · ★★ of lesson 83 «Toad's Edwardian England: early motor cars, caravans, steam trains, wash day and gold sovereigns» 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 start	punct
2	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	6 start	advmod
3	didnt	didnt	X	Foreign=Yes	6 start	nsubj
4	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 start	nsubj
5	just	just	ADV	_	6 start	advmod
6	start	start	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 car	det
8	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 start	obj
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 key	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 key	det
11	key	key	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 start	obl
12	like	like	ADP	_	13 normal	case
13	normal	normal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 key	nmod
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 normal	punct
15	What	what	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 normal	conj
16	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 What	cop
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 answer	det
18	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	19 answer	amod
19	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 What	nsubj
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 start	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	start in a quote	present	didnt	the car				with the key like normal	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: agent=Agent car=Eventuality with key=Subeventuality
2	is a	present	the best answer	the key like normal					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

Keys had not been invented yet, so nobody could lock anything at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Keys	key	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 invented	nsubj:pass
2	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 invented	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 invented	advmod
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 invented	aux:pass
5	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	yet	yet	ADV	_	5 invented	advmod
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 lock	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	11 lock	advmod
9	nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	11 lock	nsubj
10	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 lock	aux
11	lock	lock	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 invented	conj
12	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	11 lock	obj
13	at	at	ADP	_	14 all	case
14	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 lock	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not invent	past · perfect · passive		Keys			yet		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result
2	lock	could	nobody	anything		all			vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Many early cars had no electric starter, so you turned a handle at the front

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cars	amod
2	early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cars	amod
3	cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 had	nsubj
4	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 starter	det
6	electric	electric	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 starter	amod
7	starter	starter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 had	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 turned	punct
9	so	so	ADV	_	11 turned	advmod
10	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	11 turned	nsubj
11	turned	turn	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 had	conj
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 handle	det
13	handle	handle	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 turned	obj
14	at	at	ADP	_	16 front	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 front	det
16	front	front	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 turned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	past	Many early cars	no electric starter					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent starter=Patient
2	turn	past	you	a handle		the front			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent handle=Theme

Option 3

Cars started by themselves when the warm sun shone on the engine

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cars	car	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	started	start	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Cars	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 themselves	case
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 started	obl
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	9 shone	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 sun	det
7	warm	warm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 sun	amod
8	sun	sun	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 shone	nsubj
9	shone	shine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 started	advcl
10	on	on	ADP	_	12 engine	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 engine	det
12	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 shone	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	start	participle		Cars not said here				by Cars = car	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
2	shine	participle	the warm sun			the engine			vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on engine=Location

Option 4

You had to push every car down a hill to start it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	You	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	2 had	nsubj
2	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 push	mark
4	push	push	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 had	xcomp
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	6 car	det
6	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 push	obj
7	down	down	ADP	_	9 hill	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 hill	det
9	hill	hill	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 push	obl
10	to	to	PART	_	11 start	mark
11	start	start	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 push	advcl
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 start	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	have	past	You			tree rules
2	push	to-infinitive	You not said here	every car	a hill	vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent car=Theme down hill=Trajectory
3	start	to-infinitive	You not said here	car		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality

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.

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