Test 10 · ★★★ · Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Hu…
A scientist calls an idea «a just-so story». What does she mean?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: scientist · What happens: call, mean · To what, where: idea · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 10 · ★★★ of lesson 42 «Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo» 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 scientist calls an idea «a just-so story».
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 scientist | det |
| 2 | scientist | scientist | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 calls | nsubj |
| 3 | calls | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 idea | det |
| 5 | idea | idea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 calls | obj |
| 6 | « | « | PUNCT | _ | 11 story | punct |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 11 story | det |
| 8 | just | just | ADV | _ | 11 story | advmod |
| 9 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 8 just | punct |
| 10 | so | so | ADV | _ | 11 story | advmod |
| 11 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 idea | appos |
| 12 | » | » | PUNCT | _ | 11 story | punct |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 calls | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call | present | a scientist | a idea | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent idea=Recipient |
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 does she mean?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 mean | obj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 mean | aux |
| 3 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 mean | nsubj |
| 4 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 mean | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present · do-support | scientist | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
The options
Option 1
It was written by Kipling himself
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 written | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 written | aux:pass |
| 3 | written | write | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | by | by | ADP | _ | 5 Kipling | case |
| 5 | Kipling | Kipling | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 written | obl:agent |
| 6 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 3 written | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | write | past · passive | Kipling | It | Kipling obl | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
Option 2
It has been tested many times and is certainly true
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 tested | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 tested | aux |
| 3 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 tested | aux:pass |
| 4 | tested | test | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 times | amod |
| 6 | times | time | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 tested | obl:unmarked |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 true | cc |
| 8 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 true | cop |
| 9 | certainly | certainly | ADV | _ | 10 true | advmod |
| 10 | true | true | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 tested | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | test | present · perfect · passive | It | time | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | present | certainly, true property | tree rules |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
It sounds neat but nobody has tested it
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 sounds | nsubj |
| 2 | sounds | sound | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | neat | neat | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 sounds | xcomp |
| 4 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 7 tested | cc |
| 5 | nobody | nobody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 7 tested | nsubj |
| 6 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 tested | aux |
| 7 | tested | test | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 2 sounds | conj |
| 8 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 tested | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sound | present | It | neat property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | test | present · perfect | nobody | it | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
Option 4
It is a bedtime story for babies
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 | 5 story | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 story | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 story | det |
| 4 | bedtime | bedtime | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 story | compound |
| 5 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | for | for | ADP | _ | 7 babies | case |
| 7 | babies | baby | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 story | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | It | a bedtime story | for babies | 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/42-kipling-s-word-games-best-beloved-stute-fish-humph-and-the-great-grey-green-greasy-limpopo/t10/