Test 6 · Words that changed their meaning

Your bro says "spam was always about emails, that's what the word means." What's true?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: bro, spam, that, word · What happens: say, be, mean · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 6 of lesson 38 «Words that changed their meaning» 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: Your bro says "spam was always about emails, that's what the word means."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 bro	nmod:poss
2	bro	bro	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 says	nsubj
3	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 spam	punct
5	spam	spam	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 emails	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 emails	cop
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	9 emails	advmod
8	about	about	ADP	_	9 emails	case
9	emails	email	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 says	ccomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 what	punct
11	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 what	nsubj
12	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 what	cop
13	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	9 emails	parataxis
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 means	nsubj
16	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 what	acl:relcl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 emails	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	Your bro		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is in a quote	past	spam	about emails; always property	tree rules
3	is a in a quote	present	that		tree rules
4	mean in a quote	present	the word		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V 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 · ← Mova's choice

It's an old Latin word for rubbish

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	6 word	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 word	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 word	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 word	amod
5	Latin	Latin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 word	amod
6	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 rubbish	case
8	rubbish	rubbish	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a old Latin word				for rubbish	tree rules

Option 2

It's short for "special mail" from the post office

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	_	7 mail	case
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	7 mail	punct
6	special	special	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 mail	amod
7	mail	mail	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 short	obl
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 short	punct
9	from	from	ADP	_	12 office	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 office	det
11	post	post	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 office	compound
12	office	office	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 short	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It			the post office		for special mail; short property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It's a tinned meat brand whose name a comedy sketch made into a word for junk

The tree, 17 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	6 brand	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 brand	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 brand	det
4	tinned	tinned	ADJ	_	6 brand	amod
5	meat	meat	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 brand	compound
6	brand	brand	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	8 name	nmod:poss
8	name	name	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 brand	conj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 sketch	det
10	comedy	comedy	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 sketch	compound
11	sketch	sketch	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 name	appos
12	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 sketch	acl
13	into	into	ADP	_	15 word	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 word	det
15	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 made	obl
16	for	for	ADP	_	17 junk	case
17	junk	junk	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a tinned meat brand and a tinned meat brand and a tinned meat brand's name's name		tree rules
2	make	participle		a comedy sketch not said here	a word for junk	vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent into word=Product
3	name		a tinned meat brand and a tinned meat brand and name's name			nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

He's right, it was invented by the first email company to name junk messages

The tree, 15 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 invented	punct
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 invented	nsubj:pass
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 invented	aux:pass
7	invented	invent	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 right	parataxis
8	by	by	ADP	_	12 company	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 company	det
10	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	12 company	amod
11	email	email	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 company	compound
12	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 invented	obl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 name	mark
14	name	name	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 right	advcl
15	junk	junk	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 messages	compound
16	messages	message	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 name	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	He		right property	tree rules
2	invent	past · passive	the first email company	it		vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result
3	name	to-infinitive	He not said here	junk messages		vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent message=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/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/t6/