Test 5 · Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions

In a cartoon a man walks under a ladder and a piano falls on him "because of bad luck". Put it right.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: man, piano, you · What happens: walk, fall, put · To what, where: cartoon, bad luck, piano

This is test 5 of lesson 161 «Lucky socks and Grandma's superstitions» of the world 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 man walks under a ladder and a piano falls on him "because of bad luck".

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	6 walks	obl
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 man	det
5	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 walks	nsubj
6	walks	walk	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	under	under	ADP	_	9 ladder	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 ladder	det
9	ladder	ladder	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 walks	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 falls	cc
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 piano	det
12	piano	piano	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 falls	nsubj
13	falls	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 walks	conj
14	on	on	ADP	_	15 him	case
15	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 falls	obl
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	20 luck	punct
17	because	because	ADP	ExtPos=ADP	19 bad	case
18	of	of	ADP	_	17 because	fixed
19	bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 luck	amod
20	luck	luck	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 falls	obl
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	20 luck	punct
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 walks	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	present	a man			a cartoon		under a ladder	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in cartoon=Trajectory
2	fall	present	a piano	bad luck				on man	vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on he=Location

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: Put it right.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Put	put	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	1 Put	obj
3	right	right	ADV	_	1 Put	advmod
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Put	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	put	imperative	you not said here	piano				right property	vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Walking under ladders is always safe, even while people are working up on them

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Walking	walk	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 safe	csubj
2	under	under	ADP	_	3 ladders	case
3	ladders	ladder	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Walking	obl
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 safe	cop
5	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	6 safe	advmod
6	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 working	punct
8	even	even	ADV	_	12 working	advmod
9	while	while	SCONJ	_	12 working	mark
10	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 working	nsubj
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 working	aux
12	working	work	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 safe	conj
13	up	up	ADP	_	12 working	compound:prt
14	on	on	ADP	_	15 them	case
15	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 working	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	where	other	roles by
1	walk	gerund		ladders		vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under ladder=Trajectory
2	is	present	Walking		always, safe property	tree rules
3	work up	present · progressive	people		on ladders = ladder	vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on they=Theme

Option 2

Pianos only fall near ladders on Fridays

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pianos	piano	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fall	nsubj
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 fall	advmod
3	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	near	near	ADP	_	5 ladders	case
5	ladders	ladder	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fall	obl
6	on	on	ADP	_	7 Fridays	case
7	Fridays	Friday	PROPN	Number=Plur	3 fall	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fall	present	Pianos			ladders	friday		vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme near ladder=Location

Option 3

Ladders really do bring bad luck, so pianos fall

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ladders	ladder	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 bring	nsubj
2	really	really	ADV	_	4 bring	advmod
3	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 bring	aux
4	bring	bring	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	bad	bad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 luck	amod
6	luck	luck	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 bring	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 fall	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	10 fall	advmod
9	pianos	piano	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 fall	nsubj
10	fall	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 bring	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	bring	present · do-support	Ladders	bad luck					vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent luck=Theme
2	fall	present	pianos						vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Things can fall from above a ladder; it's about safety, not luck

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 fall	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 fall	aux
3	fall	fall	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 ladder	case
5	above	above	ADP	_	7 ladder	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 ladder	det
7	ladder	ladder	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fall	obl
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	12 safety	punct
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 safety	nsubj
10	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 safety	cop
11	about	about	ADP	_	12 safety	case
12	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fall	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 luck	punct
14	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 luck	advmod
15	luck	luck	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 safety	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fall	can	Things			a ladder			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from ladder=Initial_Location
2	is	present	ladder					about safety and luck	tree rules

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/world/161-lucky-socks-and-grandmas-superstitions/t5/