Test 6 · ★ · Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin
A cartoon says "the word bus means BIG CAR in Old English!" What's the truth?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: cartoon, word bus, truth · What happens: say, mean, be · To what, where: BIG CAR · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 23 «Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin» 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 cartoon says "the word bus means BIG CAR in Old English!"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 cartoon | det |
| 2 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 says | nsubj |
| 3 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 means | punct |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 bus | det |
| 6 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 bus | compound |
| 7 | bus | bus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 means | nsubj |
| 8 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 says | ccomp |
| 9 | BIG | big | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 CAR | amod |
| 10 | CAR | car | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 means | obj |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 English | case |
| 12 | Old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 English | amod |
| 13 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 means | obl |
| 14 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 13 English | punct |
| 15 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: express | present | a cartoon | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | mean in a quote | present | the word bus | BIG CAR | in Old English | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot car=Theme in english=Attribute |
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 the truth?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 What | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 truth | det |
| 4 | truth | truth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | the truth | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
It's from French "bus", meaning road
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 | 4 French | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 French | cop |
| 3 | from | from | ADP | _ | 4 French | case |
| 4 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 bus | punct |
| 6 | bus | bus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 French | parataxis |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 bus | punct |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 meaning | punct |
| 9 | meaning | mean | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 French | advcl |
| 10 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 meaning | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | french property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | mean | gerund | road | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent road=Topic |
Option 2
It's right, Old English had buses
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 | 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 had | punct |
| 5 | Old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 English | amod |
| 6 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 had | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 right | conj |
| 8 | buses | bus | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 had | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | right property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | have | past | Old English | buses | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bus=Patient |
Option 3
It's short for "business"
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 | 3 short | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 short | cop |
| 3 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | for | for | ADP | _ | 6 business | case |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 business | punct |
| 6 | business | business | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 short | obl |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 business | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | for business; short property | tree rules |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
It's clipped from Latin "omnibus", for everyone
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 | 3 clipped | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 clipped | aux:pass |
| 3 | clipped | clip | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | from | from | ADP | _ | 5 Latin | case |
| 5 | Latin | Latin | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 clipped | obl |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 omnibus | punct |
| 7 | omnibus | omnibus | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 clipped | parataxis |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 omnibus | punct |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 everyone | punct |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 everyone | case |
| 11 | everyone | everyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 3 clipped | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | clip | present · passive | It | Latin | for everyone | 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/23-borrowed-words-french-norse-and-latin/t6/