Test 11 · Slang and how it changes with every generation
A 1920s film says a dancer is "the cat's pyjamas". What would a kid say today?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: 1920s film, dancer, kid · What happens: say, be · To what, where: pyjamas · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 11 of lesson 17 «Slang and how it changes with every generation» 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: A 1920s film says a dancer is "the cat's pyjamas".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 film | det |
| 2 | 1920s | 1920s | NOUN | Number=Ptan NumForm=Combi NumType=Card | 3 film | compound |
| 3 | film | film | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | nsubj |
| 4 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 dancer | det |
| 6 | dancer | dancer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 pyjamas | nsubj |
| 7 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 pyjamas | cop |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 pyjamas | punct |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 cat | det |
| 10 | cat | cat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 pyjamas | nmod:poss |
| 11 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 10 cat | case |
| 12 | pyjamas | pyjama | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 says | ccomp |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 pyjamas | punct |
| 14 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 says | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a 1920s film | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a in a quote | present | a dancer | the cat's pyjamas | 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 would a kid say today?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 5 say | obj |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 say | aux |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 kid | det |
| 4 | kid | kid | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 say | nsubj |
| 5 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | today | today | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 say | obl:unmarked |
| 7 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 5 say | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | would | a kid | today | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
She's sleepy and needs her bed
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 sleepy | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 sleepy | cop |
| 3 | sleepy | sleepy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 needs | cc |
| 5 | needs | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 sleepy | conj |
| 6 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 bed | nmod:poss |
| 7 | bed | bed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 needs | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | She | sleepy property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | need | present | She not said here | her bed | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot bed=Theme |
Option 2
She's scared of cats and runs away
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 scared | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 scared | cop |
| 3 | scared | scared | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 cats | case |
| 5 | cats | cat | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 scared | obl |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 runs | cc |
| 7 | runs | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 scared | conj |
| 8 | away | away | ADV | _ | 7 runs | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | She | of cats; scared property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | run away | present | She not said here | away property | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
She's amazing, she ate that
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 amazing | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 amazing | cop |
| 3 | amazing | amazing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 ate | punct |
| 5 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 ate | nsubj |
| 6 | ate | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 amazing | conj |
| 7 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 ate | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | She | amazing property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | eat | past | she | that | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
Option 4
She's wearing cat-patterned clothes
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 wearing | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 wearing | aux |
| 3 | wearing | wear | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | cat | cat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 patterned | compound |
| 5 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 4 cat | punct |
| 6 | patterned | pattern | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 clothes | amod |
| 7 | clothes | clothes | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 3 wearing | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wear | present · progressive | She | patterned clothes | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent clothes=Source | ||||
| 2 | pattern | participle | 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/17-slang-and-how-it-changes-with-every-generation/t11/