Test 10 · The whole class punished, and "you didn't say no"

Big sister: "Josh, 'I'll think about it' is the oldest trick in the book." What trick does she mean?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: I, Big sister, trick · What happens: think, be, mean · To what, where: oldest trick, book

This is test 10 of lesson 168 «The whole class punished, and "you didn't say no"» 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: Big sister: "Josh, 'I'll think about it' is the oldest trick in the book."

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Big	big	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 sister	amod
2	sister	sister	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 trick	nsubj
3	:	:	PUNCT	_	5 Josh	punct
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 Josh	punct
5	Josh	Josh	PROPN	Number=Sing	2 sister	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 think	punct
7	'	'	PUNCT	_	10 think	punct
8	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 think	nsubj
9	'll	will	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 think	aux
10	think	think	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 Josh	parataxis
11	about	about	ADP	_	12 it	case
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 think	obl
13	'	'	PUNCT	_	10 think	punct
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 trick	cop
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 trick	det
16	oldest	old	ADJ	Degree=Sup	17 trick	amod
17	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
18	in	in	ADP	_	20 book	case
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 book	det
20	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 trick	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	17 trick	punct
22	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 trick	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other in a quote	future	I					about it	vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about it=Topic
2	is a in a quote	present	Big sister Josh	the oldest trick		the book			tree rules

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 trick does she mean?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	DET	PronType=Int	2 trick	det
2	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 mean	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 mean	aux
4	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 mean	nsubj
5	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 mean	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present · do-support	what trick						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent

The options

Option 1

Hiding all your toys under the bed so the room looks tidy from the door

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Hiding	hide	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 looks	csubj
2	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 toys	det:predet
3	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	4 toys	nmod:poss
4	toys	toy	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Hiding	obj
5	under	under	ADP	_	7 bed	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 bed	det
7	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hiding	obl
8	so	so	SCONJ	_	10 room	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 room	det
10	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Hiding	obl
11	looks	look	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	tidy	tidy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 looks	xcomp
13	from	from	ADP	_	15 door	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 door	det
15	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 looks	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hide	gerund		your toys		the bed		so the room	vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent toy=Patient under bed=Location
2	look	present	Hiding					from the door; tidy property	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent from door=Theme

Option 2

Tidying only half the room

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tidying	tidy	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	only	only	ADV	_	3 half	advmod
3	half	half	DET	NumForm=Word NumType=Frac PronType=Ind	5 room	det:predet
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 room	det
5	room	room	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Tidying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tidy	gerund		half room					tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Using vague words so you never really promise

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Using	use	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	root	root
2	vague	vague	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 words	amod
3	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Using	obj
4	so	so	SCONJ	_	8 promise	mark
5	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	8 promise	nsubj
6	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	8 promise	advmod
7	really	really	ADV	_	8 promise	advmod
8	promise	promise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Using	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	gerund		vague words					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient
2	not promise speech: promise	infinitive	you						vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Thinking very slowly on purpose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Thinking	think	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	very	very	ADV	_	3 slowly	advmod
3	slowly	slowly	ADV	_	1 Thinking	advmod
4	on	on	ADP	_	5 purpose	case
5	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Thinking	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	think speech: other	gerund						on purpose; slowly property	vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent on purpose=Topic

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/168-the-whole-class-punished-and-you-didnt-say-no/t10/