Test 8 · British and American words

What would happen if a British boy in New York asked a shop for "a rubber"? (In Britain a rubber is for rubbing out pencil.)

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: British boy, rubber · What happens: happen, ask, rub out · To what, where: shop, pencil, Britain

This is test 8 of lesson 21 «British and American words» 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: What would happen if a British boy in New York asked a shop for "a rubber"?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 happen	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	aux
3	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	11 asked	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 boy	det
6	British	British	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 boy	amod
7	boy	boy	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 asked	nsubj
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 York	case
9	New	New	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 York	flat
10	York	York	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 boy	nmod
11	asked	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	advcl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 shop	det
13	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 asked	obj
14	for	for	ADP	_	17 rubber	case
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 rubber	punct
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 rubber	det
17	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 asked	obl
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 rubber	punct
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	happen	would							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	ask speech: ask a condition, not said to happen	past	a British boy in New York	a shop				for a rubber	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent shop=Recipient

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: (In Britain a rubber is for rubbing out pencil.)

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	(	(	PUNCT	_	3 Britain	punct
2	In	in	ADP	_	3 Britain	case
3	Britain	Britain	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 rubbing	obl
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 rubber	det
5	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rubbing	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 rubbing	aux
7	for	for	SCONJ	_	8 rubbing	mark
8	rubbing	rub	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	out	out	ADP	_	8 rubbing	compound:prt
10	pencil	pencil	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 rubbing	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 rubbing	punct
12	)	)	PUNCT	_	8 rubbing	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	rub out	present · progressive	a rubber	pencil		Britain			vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent pencil=Theme in britain=Destination

The options

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

He might be misunderstood, because Americans say "eraser"

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	4 misunderstood	nsubj
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 misunderstood	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 misunderstood	aux:pass
4	misunderstood	misunderstand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 say	punct
6	because	because	SCONJ	_	8 say	mark
7	Americans	American	PROPN	Number=Plur	8 say	nsubj
8	say	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 misunderstood	conj
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 eraser	punct
10	eraser	eraser	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 say	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 eraser	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	misunderstand	might · passive		He					vn comprehend-87.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
2	say speech: assert	present	Americans	eraser					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent eraser=Topic

Option 2

The shop would give him a ball

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 shop	det
2	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 give	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 give	aux
4	give	give	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 give	iobj
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 ball	det
7	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 give	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	would	the shop	a ball	him = he				vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient ball=Theme

Option 3

Nothing, because every American also says "rubber" for a pencil eraser

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	7 says	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 American	punct
3	because	because	SCONJ	_	5 American	mark
4	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	5 American	det
5	American	American	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Nothing	acl:relcl
6	also	also	ADV	_	7 says	advmod
7	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 rubber	punct
9	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	obj
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 rubber	punct
11	for	for	ADP	_	14 eraser	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 eraser	det
13	pencil	pencil	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 eraser	compound
14	eraser	eraser	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 says	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Nothing	rubber				for a pencil eraser	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent rubber=Topic

Option 4

He would be handed a car tyre, because that's what rubber means there

The tree, 14 words

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	4 handed	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 handed	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 handed	aux:pass
4	handed	hand	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 means	nsubj
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 tyre	det
6	car	car	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tyre	compound
7	tyre	tyre	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 handed	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 what	punct
9	because	because	SCONJ	_	12 what	mark
10	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	12 what	nsubj
11	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 what	cop
12	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 handed	obj
13	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 handed	obl:unmarked
14	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
15	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	14 means	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	hand	would · passive		He		rubber obl:unmarked	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination tyre=Theme
2	is a	present	that				tree rules
3	mean	present			there		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

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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