Test 11 · Verbs: doing words and being words

Why is "be" so hard to spot as a verb?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: be, spot

This is test 11 of lesson 3 «Verbs: doing words and being 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	4 be	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 be	cop
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 be	punct
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 hard	cop
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 be	punct
6	so	so	ADV	_	7 hard	advmod
7	hard	hard	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
8	to	to	PART	_	9 spot	mark
9	spot	spot	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 hard	xcomp
10	as	as	ADP	_	12 verb	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 verb	det
12	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 spot	obl
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 hard	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	imperative	you not said here					hard property	tree rules
2	spot	to-infinitive	you not said here					as a verb	vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme»

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.

The options

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

It shows being, not action, and changes form: am, is, was

The tree, 11 words

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 shows	nsubj
2	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 action	cop
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 action	punct
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 action	advmod
6	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 shows	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 changes	punct
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 changes	cc
9	changes	change	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 shows	parataxis
10	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 changes	obj
11	:	:	PUNCT	_	12 am	punct
12	am	a.m.	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 form	conj
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 is	punct
14	is	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 shows	parataxis
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 shows	punct
16	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 shows	cop

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	past	It		show property	tree rules
2	not is a	gerund		action		tree rules
3	change	present		form and am		vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Patient
4	be	present				vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2

It is spelled differently in every English-speaking country

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 spelled	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 spelled	aux:pass
3	spelled	spell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	differently	differently	ADV	_	3 spelled	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	10 country	case
6	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	10 country	det
7	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 speaking	compound
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 English	punct
9	speaking	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 country	amod
10	country	country	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 spelled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	spell	present · passive		It		every speaking country		differently property	vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: subject=Theme in country=Manner
2	speak speech: other	gerund							vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

It is usually left out of sentences

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 left	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 left	aux:pass
3	usually	usually	ADV	_	4 left	advmod
4	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	7 sentences	case
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 sentences	case
7	sentences	sentence	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 left	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave out	present · passive		It		sentences		usually property	tree rules

Option 4

It only appears in questions

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 appears	nsubj
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 appears	advmod
3	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 questions	case
5	questions	question	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 appears	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appear	present	It			questions			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in question=Location

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/3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words/t11/