Test 9 · What politics is: deciding things together
A cartoon on telly shows a mayor deciding everything alone by flipping a coin. What's wrong with this picture of politics?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: cartoon, mayor · What happens: show, decide, flip, be · To what, where: mayor, everything, coin
This is test 9 of lesson 1 «What politics is: deciding things together» of the politics 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 cartoon on telly shows a mayor deciding everything alone by flipping a coin.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 cartoon | det |
| 2 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 shows | nsubj |
| 3 | on | on | ADP | _ | 4 telly | case |
| 4 | telly | telly | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 cartoon | nmod |
| 5 | shows | show | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 mayor | det |
| 7 | mayor | mayor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 shows | obj |
| 8 | deciding | decide | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 mayor | acl |
| 9 | everything | everything | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 8 deciding | obj |
| 10 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 9 everything | advmod |
| 11 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 12 flipping | mark |
| 12 | flipping | flip | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 deciding | advcl |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 coin | det |
| 14 | coin | coin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 flipping | obj |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 shows | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | show | present | a cartoon on telly | a mayor | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mayor=Recipient | ||||
| 2 | decide | gerund | a mayor not said here | everything | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent everything=Topic | ||||
| 3 | flip | gerund | a mayor not said here | a coin | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coin=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.
Sentence 2: What's wrong with this picture of politics?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 wrong | nsubj |
| 2 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 wrong | cop |
| 3 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | with | with | ADP | _ | 6 picture | case |
| 5 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 picture | det |
| 6 | picture | picture | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 wrong | obl |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 8 politics | case |
| 8 | politics | politics | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 6 picture | nmod |
| 9 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 wrong | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | with this picture of politics; wrong property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Coins can only be flipped by the king
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coins | coin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 flipped | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 flipped | aux |
| 3 | only | only | ADV | _ | 5 flipped | advmod |
| 4 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 flipped | aux:pass |
| 5 | flipped | flip | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | by | by | ADP | _ | 8 king | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 king | det |
| 8 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 flipped | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | flip | can · passive | the king | Coins | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
Option 2
Mayors are not allowed to own coins
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mayors | mayor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 allowed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 allowed | aux:pass |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 allowed | advmod |
| 4 | allowed | allow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 own | mark |
| 6 | own | own | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 allowed | xcomp |
| 7 | coins | coin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 own | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not allow | present · passive | Mayors | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | own not said to happen | to-infinitive | Mayors not said here | coins | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot coin=Theme |
Option 3
Nothing, real mayors always flip a coin
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 6 flip | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Nothing | punct |
| 3 | real | real | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 mayors | amod |
| 4 | mayors | mayor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 flip | nsubj |
| 5 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 6 flip | advmod |
| 6 | flip | flip | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 coin | det |
| 8 | coin | coin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 flip | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | flip | present | Nothing | a coin | always property | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coin=Theme |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
Real decisions involve people giving reasons, arguing and often voting
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real | real | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 decisions | amod |
| 2 | decisions | decision | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 involve | nsubj |
| 3 | involve | involve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 involve | obj |
| 5 | giving | give | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 4 people | acl |
| 6 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 giving | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 arguing | punct |
| 8 | arguing | argue | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 giving | conj |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 voting | cc |
| 10 | often | often | ADV | _ | 11 voting | advmod |
| 11 | voting | vote | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 giving | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | involve | present | Real decisions | people | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme | ||||
| 2 | give | gerund | people not said here | reasons | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme | ||||
| 3 | argue speech: disagree | gerund | people not said here | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | vote | gerund | people not said here | often property | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
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/politics/1-what-politics-is-deciding-things-together/t9/