Test 5 · ★ · Where English came from

Grandad says "back in my day words meant what they meant, forever." What's true?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Grandad, words, my · What happens: say, mean, word, be · To what, where: day words · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 5 · ★ of lesson 22 «Where English came from» 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 says "back in my day words meant what they meant, forever."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Grandad	Grandad	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 meant	punct
4	back	back	ADV	_	9 meant	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 words	case
6	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 words	nmod:poss
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 words	compound
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 meant	obl
9	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 says	ccomp
10	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	12 meant	obj
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 meant	nsubj
12	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 meant	ccomp
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 forever	punct
14	forever	forever	ADV	_	12 meant	advmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Grandad			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	mean in a quote	past		my day words		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	mean in a quote	past	words = word		forever property	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic
4	word in a quote		my			nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent

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 true?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 true	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	cop
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 true	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present						true property	tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Only slang words change, and proper dictionary words always stay the same

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	2 slang	advmod
2	slang	slang	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 words	compound
3	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 change	nsubj
4	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 stay	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 stay	cc
7	proper	proper	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 words	amod
8	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 words	compound
9	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 stay	nsubj
10	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	11 stay	advmod
11	stay	stay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 change	conj
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 same	det
13	same	same	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 stay	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	slang words						vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	stay	present	proper dictionary words					always, same property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

He's right, words never change their meaning once they are in a dictionary

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	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	5 words	amod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 words	punct
5	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 change	nsubj
6	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	7 change	advmod
7	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 meaning	nmod:poss
9	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 change	obj
10	once	once	SCONJ	_	15 dictionary	mark
11	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 dictionary	nsubj
12	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 dictionary	cop
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 dictionary	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 dictionary	det
15	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 change	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	He			right property	tree rules
2	not change	present	right words	words's meaning			vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient
3	is	present	words = word		a dictionary		tree rules
4	mean		words = word				nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Words change meaning over time, like "meat" once meaning any food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 change	nsubj
2	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 change	obj
4	over	over	ADP	_	5 time	case
5	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 change	obl
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 meat	punct
7	like	like	ADP	_	9 meat	case
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 meat	punct
9	meat	meat	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 change	parataxis
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 meat	punct
11	once	once	SCONJ	_	12 meaning	mark
12	meaning	mean	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 change	advcl
13	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	14 food	det
14	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 meaning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	Words	meaning			time		tree rules
2	mean	gerund	Words not said here	any food					vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic

Option 4

Words change only when a king orders it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 change	nsubj
2	change	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	2 change	advmod
4	when	when	SCONJ	_	7 orders	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 king	det
6	king	king	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 orders	nsubj
7	orders	order	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 change	advcl
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 orders	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	change	present	Words						vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	order	present	a king	it					vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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/22-where-english-came-from/t5/