Test 10 · ★★ · Grammar puzzles, part one
Puzzle: in a made-up language, "nuk" means fish (one), "nukki" means fish (many), "dar" means bird (one). What does "darri" mean?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Puzzle, nukki, dar, darri · What happens: make up, mean · To what, where: fish, bird
This is test 10 · ★★ of lesson 11 «Grammar puzzles, part one» of the language 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: Puzzle: in a made-up language, "nuk" means fish (one), "nukki" means fish (many), "dar" means bird (one).
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Puzzle | puzzle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 means | nsubj |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 1 Puzzle | punct |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 language | case |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 language | det |
| 5 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 language | amod |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 up | punct |
| 7 | up | up | ADP | _ | 5 made | compound:prt |
| 8 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Puzzle | nmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 nuk | punct |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 nuk | punct |
| 11 | nuk | nuk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 language | appos |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 nuk | punct |
| 13 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 14 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 means | obj |
| 15 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 16 one | punct |
| 16 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 14 fish | appos |
| 17 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 16 one | punct |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 means | punct |
| 19 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 nukki | punct |
| 20 | nukki | nukki | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 means | nsubj |
| 21 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 nukki | punct |
| 22 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 means | parataxis |
| 23 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 means | obj |
| 24 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 25 many | punct |
| 25 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 fish | amod |
| 26 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 25 many | punct |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 means | punct |
| 28 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 29 dar | punct |
| 29 | dar | dar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 means | nsubj |
| 30 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 29 dar | punct |
| 31 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 22 means | conj |
| 32 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 means | obj |
| 33 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 34 one | punct |
| 34 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 32 bird | appos |
| 35 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 34 one | punct |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make up | participle | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | mean | present | Puzzle in a made language | fish | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Topic | ||||
| 3 | mean | present | nukki | fish | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Topic | ||||
| 4 | mean | present | dar | bird | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=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: What does "darri" mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 6 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 mean | aux |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 darri | punct |
| 4 | darri | darri | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 mean | nsubj |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 darri | punct |
| 6 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 6 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | darri | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
one fish and one bird
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 fish | nummod |
| 2 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 bird | cc |
| 4 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 5 bird | nummod |
| 5 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 fish | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
a bird's nest
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 bird | det |
| 2 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 nest | nmod:poss |
| 3 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 2 bird | case |
| 4 | nest | nest | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
a big bird
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 bird | det |
| 2 | big | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 bird | amod |
| 3 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
birds
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/language/11-grammar-puzzles-part-one/t10/