Test 8 · ★★ · Toad's Edwardian England: early motor cars, caravans, stea…

The engine-driver lets Toad ride in the cab, though it is «against the Company's regulations». Why might the rule have existed?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: engine driver, Toad, driver · What happens: let, ride, be, exist · To what, where: cab, rule · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 8 · ★★ 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

Sentence 1: The engine-driver lets Toad ride in the cab, though it is «against the Company's regulations».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 driver	det
2	engine	engine	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 driver	compound
3	-	-	PUNCT	_	2 engine	punct
4	driver	driver	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 lets	nsubj
5	lets	let	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	Toad	Toad	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 ride	nsubj
7	ride	ride	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 lets	xcomp
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 cab	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 cab	det
10	cab	cab	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 ride	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 regulations	punct
12	though	though	SCONJ	_	20 regulations	mark
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	20 regulations	nsubj
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	20 regulations	cop
15	«	«	PUNCT	_	20 regulations	punct
16	against	against	ADP	_	20 regulations	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 Company	det
18	Company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 regulations	nmod:poss
19	's	's	PART	_	18 Company	case
20	regulations	regulation	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 ride	parataxis
21	»	»	PUNCT	_	20 regulations	punct
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 lets	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	let	present	the engine driver			tree rules
2	ride	infinitive	Toad	the cab		tree rules
3	is in a quote	present	driver		against the Company's regulations	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.

Sentence 2: Why might the rule have existed?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	6 existed	advmod
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 existed	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 rule	det
4	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 existed	nsubj:pass
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 existed	aux
6	existed	exist	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	6 existed	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	might · perfect · passive		the rule					tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Washerwomen were thought to bring bad luck to the trains they rode

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Washerwomen	washerwoman	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 thought	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 thought	aux:pass
3	thought	think	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 bring	mark
5	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 thought	xcomp
6	bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 luck	amod
7	luck	luck	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 bring	obj
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 trains	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 trains	det
10	trains	train	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 bring	obl
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 rode	nsubj
12	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 trains	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	think speech: other	past · passive		Washerwomen		vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme
2	bring	to-infinitive		bad luck	the trains	vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent luck=Theme to train=Destination
3	ride	past	Washerwomen = washerwoman	the trains not said here		vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent train=Location

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The cab was hot, busy and dangerous, with a fire and moving parts

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cab	det
2	cab	cab	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hot	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 hot	cop
4	hot	hot	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 busy	punct
6	busy	busy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 hot	conj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 dangerous	cc
8	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 hot	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 fire	punct
10	with	with	ADP	_	12 fire	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 fire	det
12	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 hot	parataxis
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 moving	cc
14	moving	move	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 hot	conj
15	parts	part	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 moving	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	the cab		hot property	tree rules
2	be		the cab not said here			tree rules
3	be		the cab not said here			tree rules
4	move	gerund	the cab not said here	parts		vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent part=Theme

Option 3

Passengers might steal the coal and sell it in the town

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Passengers	passenger	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 steal	nsubj
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 steal	aux
3	steal	steal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 coal	det
5	coal	coal	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 steal	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 sell	cc
7	sell	sell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 steal	conj
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 sell	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 town	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 town	det
11	town	town	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 sell	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	steal	might	Passengers	the coal					vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location coal=Theme
2	sell	infinitive	Passengers not said here	coal		the town			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 4

The cab was kept only for the horses that pulled the trucks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cab	det
2	cab	cab	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 kept	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 kept	aux:pass
4	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	only	only	ADV	_	4 kept	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 horses	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 horses	det
8	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 kept	obl
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 pulled	nsubj
10	pulled	pull	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 horses	acl:relcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 trucks	det
12	trucks	truck	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 pulled	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past · passive		the cab				for the horses	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	pull	past	the horses	the trucks					vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truck=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/83-toad-s-edwardian-england-early-motor-cars-caravans-steam-trains-wash-day-and-gold-sovereigns/t8/