Test 7 · ★★★ · The King, the courts and the rules above the rules

A friend says, "A judge stopping the government? That's sus, judges should do what they're told." Which answer fits the separation of powers?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: friend, judge, That, judges, answer, powers · What happens: say, stop, be, do, tell, fit · To what, where: government, they, separation · Speech: someone speaks here

This is test 7 · ★★★ of lesson 7 «The King, the courts and the rules above the rules» 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 friend says, "A judge stopping the government?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 friend	det
2	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 says	nsubj
3	says	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 stopping	punct
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 stopping	punct
6	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 judge	det
7	judge	judge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 stopping	nsubj
8	stopping	stop	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 says	ccomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 government	det
10	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 stopping	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 says	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: ask	present	a friend						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	stop in a quote	gerund	a judge	the government					vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality government=Eventuality

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: That's sus, judges should do what they're told."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 sus	nsubj
2	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 sus	cop
3	sus	suspect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 do	punct
5	judges	judge	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 do	nsubj
6	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 do	aux
7	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 sus	parataxis
8	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	11 told	obj
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 told	nsubj:pass
10	're	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 told	aux:pass
11	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 do	ccomp
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 sus	punct
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 sus	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	That		suspect property	tree rules
2	do	should	judges			tree rules
3	tell speech: assert	present · passive		they		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient what=Topic

Sentence 3: Which answer fits the separation of powers?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Which	which	DET	PronType=Int	2 answer	det
2	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fits	nsubj
3	fits	fit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 separation	det
5	separation	separation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fits	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 powers	case
7	powers	power	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 separation	nmod
8	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 fits	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fit	present	which answer	the separation of powers					vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent separation=Patient
2	separate		powers						nom separation «state intransitive»: of=agent

The options

Option 1

Courts can only ever judge ordinary people, never governments or their ministers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Courts	court	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 judge	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 judge	aux
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 judge	advmod
4	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	5 judge	advmod
5	judge	judge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 people	amod
7	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 judge	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 governments	punct
9	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	10 governments	advmod
10	governments	government	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 judge	obl
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 ministers	cc
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	13 ministers	nmod:poss
13	ministers	minister	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 governments	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	judge	can	Courts	ordinary people			ever	governments or Courts's ministers obl	vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent people=Value

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Judges must always obey the prime minister

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Judges	judge	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 obey	nsubj
2	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 obey	aux
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	4 obey	advmod
4	obey	obey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 minister	det
6	prime	prime	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 minister	amod
7	minister	minister	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 obey	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	obey	must	Judges	the prime minister				always property	vn abide_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent minister=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Courts can say no when a government breaks the law; that is meant to happen

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Courts	court	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 say	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 say	aux
3	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	no	no	INTJ	Polarity=Neg	3 say	discourse
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	8 breaks	advmod
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 government	det
7	government	government	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 breaks	nsubj
8	breaks	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 say	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 law	det
10	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 breaks	obj
11	;	;	PUNCT	_	14 meant	punct
12	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	14 meant	nsubj:pass
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 meant	aux:pass
14	meant	mean	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 say	advcl
15	to	to	PART	_	16 happen	mark
16	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 meant	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	say speech: assert	can	Courts		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	break	present	a government	the law	vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient
3	mean	present · passive		that	tree rules
4	happen not said to happen	to-infinitive			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Judges should be fired for blocking plans

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Judges	judge	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fired	nsubj:pass
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 fired	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 fired	aux:pass
4	fired	fire	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 plans	case
6	blocking	blocking	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 plans	compound
7	plans	plan	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fired	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fire	should · passive		Judges				for blocking plans	vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/politics/7-the-king-the-courts-and-the-rules-above-the-rules/t7/