Test 1 · Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher

Your mate goes "talking posh to teachers is well fake, bruv." What's the best reply?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: mate, talking, best reply · What happens: go, talk, be · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 1 of lesson 16 «Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher» 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: Your mate goes "talking posh to teachers is well fake, bruv."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 mate	nmod:poss
2	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 goes	nsubj
3	goes	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 talking	punct
5	talking	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 fake	csubj
6	posh	posh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 talking	xcomp
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 teachers	case
8	teachers	teacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 talking	obl
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 fake	cop
10	well	well	ADV	Degree=Pos	11 fake	advmod
11	fake	fake	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 goes	parataxis
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 bruv	punct
13	bruv	bruv	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fake	vocative
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 fake	punct
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 goes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	go	present	Your mate		vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	talk in a quote	gerund		to teachers; posh property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to teacher=Co-Agent
3	is in a quote	present	talking	bruv vocative; fake, well property	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: What's the best reply?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	root	root
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 What	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 reply	det
4	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 reply	amod
5	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 What	nsubj
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 What	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the best reply						tree rules

The options

Option 1

He's right, you should talk to the head exactly like a mate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 right	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 talk	punct
5	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	7 talk	nsubj
6	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 talk	aux
7	talk	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 right	parataxis
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 head	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 head	det
10	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 talk	obl
11	exactly	exactly	ADV	_	7 talk	advmod
12	like	like	ADP	_	14 mate	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 mate	det
14	mate	mate	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 talk	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	He					right property	tree rules
2	talk	should	you					to the head; like a mate; exactly property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to head=Co-Agent

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

Choosing a style for the person is a skill, not fakeness

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Choosing	choose	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	9 skill	csubj
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 style	det
3	style	style	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Choosing	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	6 person	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 person	det
6	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Choosing	obl
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 skill	cop
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 skill	det
9	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 fakeness	punct
11	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	12 fakeness	advmod
12	fakeness	fakeness	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 skill	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	gerund		a style				for the person	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent style=Theme for person=Beneficiary
2	is a	present	Choosing	a skill and fakeness					tree rules

Option 3

He's right, and teachers prefer slang because it is shorter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 right	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	cop
3	right	right	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 prefer	punct
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 prefer	cc
6	teachers	teacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 prefer	nsubj
7	prefer	prefer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	conj
8	slang	slang	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 prefer	obj
9	because	because	SCONJ	_	12 shorter	mark
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 shorter	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 shorter	cop
12	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 prefer	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		right property	tree rules
2	prefer	present	teachers	slang		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer slang=Stimulus
3	is	present	slang		short property	tree rules

Option 4

Talking politely is only needed if you are in trouble

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Talking	talk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 needed	csubj:pass
2	politely	politely	ADV	_	1 Talking	advmod
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 needed	aux:pass
4	only	only	ADV	_	5 needed	advmod
5	needed	need	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	if	if	SCONJ	_	10 trouble	mark
7	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	10 trouble	nsubj
8	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 trouble	cop
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 trouble	case
10	trouble	trouble	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 needed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	talk	gerund			politely property	vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	need	present · passive	Talking			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»
3	is a condition, not said to happen	present	you	trouble		tree rules

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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