Test 9 · ★ · Where English came from

Dad says English is "the biggest language on Earth, end of." Which is true?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Dad, English · What happens: say, be · To what, where: biggest language, Earth · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★ 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: Dad says English is "the biggest language on Earth, end of."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 says	nsubj
2	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 language	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 language	cop
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 language	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 language	det
7	biggest	big	ADJ	Degree=Sup	8 language	amod
8	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 says	ccomp
9	on	on	ADP	_	10 Earth	case
10	Earth	Earth	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 language	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 end	punct
12	end	end	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 language	parataxis
13	of	of	ADP	_	12 end	case
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Dad						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is a in a quote	present	English	the biggest language		Earth			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: Which is true?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 true	nsubj
2	is	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

Spanish is the biggest by every measure, native speakers and learners alike

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Spanish	Spanish	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 biggest	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 biggest	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 biggest	det
4	biggest	big	ADJ	Degree=Sup	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 measure	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 measure	det
7	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 biggest	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 speakers	punct
9	native	native	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 speakers	amod
10	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 measure	conj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 learners	cc
12	learners	learner	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 measure	conj
13	alike	alike	ADV	_	4 biggest	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Spanish					by every measure and native speakers and learners; alike, big property	tree rules

Option 2

French has the most speakers overall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 has	nsubj
2	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 speakers	det
4	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 speakers	amod
5	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 has	obj
6	overall	overall	ADV	_	2 has	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	French	the most speakers				overall property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It depends: Mandarin has most native speakers, English most speakers overall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 depends	nsubj
2	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 has	punct
4	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 has	nsubj
5	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 depends	advcl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 native	advmod
7	native	native	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 speakers	amod
8	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 has	obj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 English	punct
10	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 speakers	compound
11	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	12 speakers	amod
12	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 depends	obj
13	overall	overall	ADV	_	2 depends	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depend	present	It	English most speakers				overall property	tree rules
2	have	present	Mandarin	native speakers					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Patient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Dad is right: English has the most native speakers and the most speakers overall

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 right	nsubj
2	is	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	_	6 has	punct
5	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	6 has	nsubj
6	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 right	csubj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 speakers	det
8	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	9 native	advmod
9	native	native	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 speakers	amod
10	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 has	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 speakers	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 speakers	det
13	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	14 speakers	amod
14	speakers	speaker	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 speakers	conj
15	overall	overall	ADV	_	6 has	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Dad					right property	tree rules
2	have	present	English	the native speakers and the most speakers				overall property	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Patient

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/t9/