Test 4 · Escalators and lifts
In a cartoon, a lift cable snaps and the lift drops 50 floors. What would really happen?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: lift cable, lift · What happens: snap, drop, happen · To what, where: cartoon, 50 floors
This is test 4 of lesson 26 «Escalators and lifts» of the technology 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: In a cartoon, a lift cable snaps and the lift drops 50 floors.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 cartoon | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 cartoon | det |
| 3 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 snaps | obl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 cartoon | punct |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 cable | det |
| 6 | lift | lift | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 cable | compound |
| 7 | cable | cable | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 snaps | nsubj |
| 8 | snaps | snap | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 drops | cc |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 lift | det |
| 11 | lift | lift | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 drops | nsubj |
| 12 | drops | drop | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 8 snaps | conj |
| 13 | 50 | 50 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 14 floors | nummod |
| 14 | floors | floor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 drops | obj |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 snaps | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | snap | present | a lift cable | a cartoon | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cartoon=Location | ||||
| 2 | drop | present | the lift | 50 floors | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent floor=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 would really happen?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 happen | nsubj |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 happen | aux |
| 3 | really | really | ADV | _ | 4 happen | advmod |
| 4 | happen | happen | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 happen | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | happen | would | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
The options
Option 1
The same, lifts have no brakes
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 lifts | det |
| 2 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 lifts | amod |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 same | punct |
| 4 | lifts | lift | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 have | nsubj |
| 5 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 7 brakes | det |
| 7 | brakes | brake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 have | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | present | the same lifts | no brakes | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brake=Patient |
Option 2
The lift would float like a balloon
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 lift | det |
| 2 | lift | lift | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 float | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 float | aux |
| 4 | float | float | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | like | like | ADP | _ | 7 balloon | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 balloon | det |
| 7 | balloon | balloon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 float | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | float | would | the lift | like a balloon | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
Safety brakes would grip the rails and stop the car
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safety | safety | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 brakes | compound |
| 2 | brakes | brake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 grip | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 grip | aux |
| 4 | grip | grip | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 rails | det |
| 6 | rails | rail | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 grip | obj |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 8 stop | cc |
| 8 | stop | stop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 grip | conj |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 car | det |
| 10 | car | car | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 stop | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grip | would | Safety brakes | the rails | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rail=Theme | ||||
| 2 | stop | infinitive | Safety brakes not said here | the car | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality car=Eventuality |
Option 4
The counterweight would pull it back up at once to the very top of the building
The tree, 16 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 counterweight | det |
| 2 | counterweight | counterweight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pull | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 pull | aux |
| 4 | pull | pull | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 pull | obj |
| 6 | back | back | ADV | _ | 7 up | advmod |
| 7 | up | up | ADV | _ | 4 pull | advmod |
| 8 | at | at | ADP | _ | 9 once | case |
| 9 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 4 pull | obl |
| 10 | to | to | ADP | _ | 13 top | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 top | det |
| 12 | very | very | ADV | _ | 13 top | advmod |
| 13 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 pull | obl |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 building | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 building | det |
| 16 | building | building | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 top | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pull | would | the counterweight | it | the top of the building | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to top=Destination |
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/technology/26-escalators-and-lifts/t4/