Test 7 · ★ · Water, deserts and the shape of the land

Why does "Roman glass hasn't sagged in 2,000 years" beat the dripping-window story?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sagged 2,000 years · What happens: not sag in, beat · To what, where: Roman glass, window story

This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 16 «Water, deserts and the shape of the land» of the myths 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	8 sagged	advmod
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 sagged	aux
3	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 sagged	punct
4	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 glass	amod
5	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 sagged	nsubj:pass
6	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 sagged	aux
7	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 sagged	advmod
8	sagged	sag	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 years	amod
9	in	in	ADP	_	8 sagged	compound:prt
10	2,000	2000	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	11 years	nummod
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 beat	nsubj
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	11 years	punct
13	beat	beat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 story	det
15	dripping	dripping	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 window	compound
16	-	-	PUNCT	_	15 dripping	punct
17	window	window	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 story	compound
18	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 beat	obj
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	13 beat	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not sag in in a quote	present · perfect · passive · do-support		Roman glass					vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
2	beat	present	sagged 2,000 years	the window story					vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location story=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 · ✓ the right answer

If glass flowed, very old glass would have sagged far more

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	If	if	SCONJ	_	3 flowed	mark
2	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 flowed	nsubj
3	flowed	flow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 sagged	advcl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 flowed	punct
5	very	very	ADV	_	6 old	advmod
6	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 glass	amod
7	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sagged	nsubj:pass
8	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 sagged	aux
9	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	10 sagged	aux
10	sagged	sag	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
11	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	12 more	advmod
12	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 sagged	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flow a condition, not said to happen	past	glass						vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	sag	would · perfect · passive		old glass					vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Romans used special glass that cannot melt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	2 used	nsubj
2	used	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	special	special	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 glass	amod
4	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 used	obj
5	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 melt	obj
6	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 melt	aux
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 melt	advmod
8	melt	melt	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 glass	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	past	Romans	special glass					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent glass=Patient
2	not melt	can		special glass					vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient that=Result

Option 3

Glass only drips in churches

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 drips	nsubj
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 drips	advmod
3	drips	drip	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 churches	case
5	churches	church	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 drips	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	drip	present	Glass			churches			vn substance_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source

Option 4

Roman glass was always kept in the fridge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Roman	roman	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 glass	amod
2	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 kept	nsubj:pass
3	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 kept	aux:pass
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 kept	advmod
5	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 fridge	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 fridge	det
8	fridge	fridge	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 kept	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past · passive		Roman glass		the fridge		always property	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in fridge=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.

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