Test 9 · ★★ · Not unhappy and not half: litotes

★★★ Dad says «It's not unlikely that it won't rain». Count the «not»-type words: not, un-, won't. Does he think it will rain?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: ★ Dad, it, you, Dad · What happens: say, not be, not rain, not count, think, rain · To what, where: type words · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 9 · ★★ of lesson 50 «Not unhappy and not half: litotes» 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 «It's not unlikely that it won't rain».

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	★	★	PROPN	Number=Sing	4 Dad	compound
2	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 ★	compound
3	★	★	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 ★	appos
4	Dad	dad	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 says	nsubj
5	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 unlikely	punct
7	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 unlikely	expl
8	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 unlikely	cop
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 unlikely	advmod
10	unlikely	unlikely	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 says	ccomp
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 rain	mark
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 rain	nsubj
13	wo	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 rain	aux
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 rain	advmod
15	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 unlikely	advcl
16	»	»	PUNCT	_	10 unlikely	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	present	★ Dad		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	not is in a quote	present		unlikely property	tree rules
3	not rain in a quote	future	it		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: Count the «not»-type words: not, un-, won't.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Count	count	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 words	det
3	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 not	punct
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 words	advmod
5	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 not	punct
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 »	punct
7	type	type	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 words	compound
8	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Count	obj
9	:	:	PUNCT	_	10 not	punct
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	1 Count	advmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 wo	punct
12	un	un	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 wo	compound
13	-	-	PUNCT	_	12 un	punct
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 wo	punct
15	wo	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	1 Count	parataxis
16	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 wo	advmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Count	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not count	imperative	you not said here	the type words					vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme

Sentence 3: Does he think it will rain?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 think	aux
2	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 think	nsubj
3	think	think	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 rain	nsubj
5	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 rain	aux
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 think	ccomp
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 think	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	present · do-support	Dad						vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	rain	future	it						tree rules

The options

Option 1 · ✓ the right answer

No: three negatives leave one, so he thinks it probably won't rain

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 negatives	det
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	1 No	punct
3	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 negatives	nummod
4	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 leave	nsubj
5	leave	leave	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 leave	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 thinks	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	10 thinks	advmod
9	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 thinks	nsubj
10	thinks	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 leave	advcl
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 thinks	obj
12	probably	probably	ADV	_	15 rain	advmod
13	wo	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 rain	aux
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 rain	advmod
15	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 thinks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	present	no three negatives	one					vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme
2	think speech: other	present	he	it				rain obl	vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Yes: three negatives always mean a big yes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	6 mean	discourse
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	6 mean	punct
3	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 negatives	nummod
4	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 mean	nsubj
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 mean	advmod
6	mean	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 yes	det
8	big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 yes	amod
9	yes	yes	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 mean	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	three negatives	a big yes				always property	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yes=Topic

Option 3

Yes: the word «rain» is in it, so it will rain

The tree, 11 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	10 it	discourse
2	:	:	PUNCT	_	10 it	punct
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 word	det
4	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 it	nsubj
5	«	«	PUNCT	_	6 rain	punct
6	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 word	appos
7	»	»	PUNCT	_	6 rain	punct
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 it	cop
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 it	case
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	root	root
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 rain	punct
12	so	so	ADV	_	15 rain	advmod
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	15 rain	nsubj
14	will	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 rain	aux
15	rain	rain	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 it	vocative

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the word			word			tree rules
2	rain	future	it						tree rules

Option 4

Nobody can ever work out a sentence with three negatives

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	4 work	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 work	aux
3	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	4 work	advmod
4	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	out	out	ADP	_	4 work	compound:prt
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 sentence	det
7	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 work	obj
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 negatives	case
9	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 negatives	nummod
10	negatives	negative	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 work	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	work out	can	Nobody	a sentence			ever	with three negatives	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sentence=Topic

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/50-not-unhappy-and-not-half-litotes/t9/