Test 6 · ★ · The apostrophe war
Grandad grumbles "Waterstones without its apostrophe, the cheek!" Did the shop break a law?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Grandad, shop · What happens: grumble, break · To what, where: Waterstones, law
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 15 «The apostrophe war» 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: Grandad grumbles "Waterstones without its apostrophe, the cheek!"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grandad | Grandad | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 grumbles | nsubj |
| 2 | grumbles | grumble | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 Waterstones | punct |
| 4 | Waterstones | Waterstone | PROPN | Number=Plur | 2 grumbles | obj |
| 5 | without | without | ADP | _ | 7 apostrophe | case |
| 6 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 apostrophe | nmod:poss |
| 7 | apostrophe | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 grumbles | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 cheek | punct |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 cheek | det |
| 10 | cheek | cheek | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 apostrophe | appos |
| 11 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 10 cheek | punct |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 cheek | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grumble speech: other | present | Grandad | Waterstones | without its apostrophe | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent waterstone=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: Did the shop break a law?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 break | aux |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 shop | det |
| 3 | shop | shop | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 break | nsubj |
| 4 | break | break | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 law | det |
| 6 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 break | obj |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 break | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | break | past · do-support | the shop | a law | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Yes, it was fined in 2012
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 5 fined | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 fined | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 fined | aux:pass |
| 5 | fined | fine | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 2012 | case |
| 7 | 2012 | 2012 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 5 fined | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fine | past · passive | it | 2012 | vn bill-54.5-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
No, companies choose their own names
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 4 choose | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 No | punct |
| 3 | companies | company | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 choose | nsubj |
| 4 | choose | choose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 names | nmod:poss |
| 6 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 names | amod |
| 7 | names | name | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 choose | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | choose | present | companies | companies's own names | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Theme | ||||
| 2 | name | companies = company | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 3
Yes, there's an apostrophe law
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 4 's | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Yes | punct |
| 3 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 4 's | expl |
| 4 | 's | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 law | det |
| 6 | apostrophe | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 law | compound |
| 7 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 's | nsubj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | present | a apostrophe law | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 4
No, because apostrophes don't exist
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | no | INTJ | Polarity=Neg | 7 exist | discourse |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 exist | punct |
| 3 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 7 exist | mark |
| 4 | apostrophes | apostrophe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 exist | nsubj |
| 5 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 exist | aux |
| 6 | n't | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 exist | advmod |
| 7 | exist | exist | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not exist | present · do-support | apostrophes | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/t6/