Test 12 · ★ · The politician's either-or and the straw man
Teen: "There's bare options between 'build the road' and 'the town dies', bruv." ("bruv" means mate.) What is she breaking?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: bare options, Teen, town, bruv · What happens: be, build, die, mean, break · To what, where: road, bruv, mate
This is test 12 · ★ of lesson 178 «The politician's either-or and the straw man» 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: Teen: "There's bare options between 'build the road' and 'the town dies', bruv."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teen | teen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 build | nsubj |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 5 's | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 's | punct |
| 4 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 5 's | expl |
| 5 | 's | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 build | advcl |
| 6 | bare | bare | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 options | amod |
| 7 | options | option | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 's | nsubj |
| 8 | between | between | ADP | _ | 10 build | case |
| 9 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 10 build | punct |
| 10 | build | build | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 road | det |
| 12 | road | road | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 build | obj |
| 13 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 10 build | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 dies | cc |
| 15 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 18 dies | punct |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 town | det |
| 17 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 dies | nsubj |
| 18 | dies | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 build | conj |
| 19 | ', | ', | PART | _ | 18 dies | advcl |
| 20 | bruv | bruv | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 dies | obl:unmarked |
| 21 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 build | punct |
| 22 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 build | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | does in a quote | present | bare options | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | build in a quote | infinitive | Teen | the road | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset road=Product | ||||
| 3 | die in a quote | present | the town | bruv | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
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: ("bruv" means mate.)
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 2 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 bruv | punct |
| 3 | bruv | bruv | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 means | nsubj |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 bruv | punct |
| 5 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | mate | mate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 means | obj |
| 7 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 8 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present | bruv | mate | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mate=Topic |
Sentence 3: What is she breaking?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 breaking | obj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 breaking | aux |
| 3 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 breaking | nsubj |
| 4 | breaking | break | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 4 breaking | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | break | present · progressive | bruv | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
A straw man
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 man | det |
| 2 | straw | straw | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 man | compound |
| 3 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
A red herring
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 herring | det |
| 2 | red | red | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 herring | amod |
| 3 | herring | herring | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
An appeal to tradition
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 appeal | det |
| 2 | appeal | appeal | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 4 tradition | case |
| 4 | tradition | tradition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 appeal | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
An either-or
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 either | det |
| 2 | either | either | CCONJ | _ | root | root |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 either | punct |
| 4 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 2 either | cc |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
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/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/t12/