Test 7 · ★ · Where English came from

A tea shop sign says "Ye Olde Sweete Shoppe" and a lad laughs "they said YE back then lol". What's true?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: shop sign, lad, Ye Olde · What happens: say, laugh, be · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 7 · ★ 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: A tea shop sign says "Ye Olde Sweete Shoppe" and a lad laughs "they said YE back then lol".

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 sign	det
2	tea	tea	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shop	compound
3	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sign	compound
4	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	nsubj
5	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 Olde	punct
7	Ye	Ye	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Olde	compound
8	Olde	Olde	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 said	nsubj
9	Sweete	Sweete	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 Olde	flat
10	Shoppe	Shoppe	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 Sweete	flat
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 Olde	punct
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 laughs	cc
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 lad	det
14	lad	lad	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 laughs	nsubj
15	laughs	laugh	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 Olde	conj
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 laughs	punct
17	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 said	nsubj
18	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 says	ccomp
19	YE	ye	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	20 back	nsubj
20	back	back	ADV	_	18 said	advmod
21	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	20 back	advmod
22	lol	lol	INTJ	_	18 said	discourse
23	"	"	PUNCT	_	18 said	punct
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	a shop sign	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	laugh	present	a lad	vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	say speech: assert in a quote	past	Ye Olde	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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

The Y was just a decoration that sign painters liked to add

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 Y	det
2	Y	Y	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 decoration	nsubj
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 decoration	cop
4	just	just	ADV	_	6 decoration	advmod
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 decoration	det
6	decoration	decoration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 sign	nsubj
8	sign	sign	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 decoration	acl:relcl
9	painters	painter	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 sign	obj
10	liked	like	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 painters	acl
11	to	to	PART	_	12 add	mark
12	add	add	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 liked	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	past	the Y	a decoration	tree rules
2	sign	present	a decoration	painters	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent painter=Destination
3	like	participle		painters not said here	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
4	add speech: assert not said to happen	to-infinitive			vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 2

He's right, people really said "ye" when they meant "the"

The tree, 11 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	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 said	punct
5	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 said	nsubj
6	really	really	ADV	_	7 said	advmod
7	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 right	conj
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 ye	punct
9	ye	ye	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	7 said	ccomp
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 ye	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	13 meant	advmod
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 meant	nsubj
13	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 said	advcl
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 the	punct
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 meant	obj
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 right	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		right property	tree rules
2	say speech: assert	past	people			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	mean	past	people	the		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent the=Topic

Option 3

"Ye" meant "yes" in old times

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 meant	punct
2	Ye	ye	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=2 PronType=Prs Style=Arch	4 meant	nsubj
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 Ye	punct
4	meant	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 yes	punct
6	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	4 meant	obj
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	6 yes	punct
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 times	case
9	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 times	amod
10	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 meant	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	past	Ye				time		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yes=Topic

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

They said "the"; the Y stood for the old letter thorn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 said	nsubj
2	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 the	punct
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 said	obj
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 the	punct
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 stood	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 Y	det
8	Y	Y	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 stood	nsubj
9	stood	stand	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 said	conj
10	for	for	ADP	_	14 thorn	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 thorn	det
12	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 thorn	amod
13	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 thorn	compound
14	thorn	thorn	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 stood	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	past	They	the					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent the=Topic
2	stand	past	the Y					for the old letter thorn	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for thorn=Attribute

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/t7/