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Test 7 · ★★ · Grammar puzzles, part one

In a cartoon, a detective says "I saw the thief with binoculars" and arrests the man holding binoculars. Why could he be wrong?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: detective, man · What happens: say, see, arrest, hold, be · To what, where: cartoon, thief, man, binoculars · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 7 · ★★ 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: In a cartoon, a detective says "I saw the thief with binoculars" and arrests the man holding binoculars.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	3 cartoon	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 cartoon	det
3	cartoon	cartoon	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 cartoon	punct
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 detective	det
6	detective	detective	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	nsubj
7	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 saw	punct
9	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 saw	nsubj
10	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 says	ccomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 thief	det
12	thief	thief	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 saw	obj
13	with	with	ADP	_	14 binoculars	case
14	binoculars	binocular	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 saw	obl
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 saw	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	17 arrests	cc
17	arrests	arrest	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 says	conj
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 man	det
19	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 arrests	obj
20	holding	hold	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	19 man	acl
21	binoculars	binocular	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 holding	obj
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	a detective			a cartoon			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	see in a quote	past	a detective = detective	the thief				with binoculars	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thief=Stimulus
3	arrest	present	a detective not said here	the man					vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient
4	hold	gerund	the man not said here	binoculars					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent binocular=Theme

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 could he be wrong?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 wrong	advmod
2	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 wrong	aux
3	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 wrong	nsubj
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 wrong	cop
5	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 wrong	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	could	detective					wrong property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The detective might have used the binoculars himself

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 detective	det
2	detective	detective	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 used	nsubj:pass
3	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 used	aux
4	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 used	aux
5	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 binoculars	det
7	binoculars	binocular	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 used	obj
8	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	7 binoculars	nmod

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

Option 2

Thieves never carry binoculars

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Thieves	thief	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 carry	nsubj
2	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	3 carry	advmod
3	carry	carry	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	binoculars	binocular	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 carry	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not carry	present	Thieves	binoculars					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent binocular=Theme

Option 3

Binoculars is a plural-only noun

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Binoculars	binocular	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 noun	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 noun	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 noun	det
4	plural	plural	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 noun	amod
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 plural	punct
6	only	only	ADV	_	7 noun	advmod
7	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Binoculars	a plural noun					tree rules

Option 4

The sentence has no verb

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sentence	det
2	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	nsubj
3	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 verb	det
5	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	the sentence	no verb					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent verb=Patient

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/t7/