Test 2 · ★ · The politician's either-or and the straw man
Gran: "A bit more money for the army means war now? Then if I buy a bigger umbrella, I want a flood." What is Gran laughing at?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Gran, I · What happens: mean, buy, want, be, laugh · To what, where: war, bigger umbrella, flood, Gran
This is test 2 · ★ 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: Gran: "A bit more money for the army means war now?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gran | gran | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 means | nsubj |
| 2 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 7 money | punct |
| 3 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 money | punct |
| 4 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 bit | det |
| 5 | bit | bit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 more | obl:unmarked |
| 6 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 money | amod |
| 7 | money | money | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Gran | appos |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 army | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 army | det |
| 10 | army | army | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 money | nmod |
| 11 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 12 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 means | obj |
| 13 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 11 means | advmod |
| 14 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 11 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean in a quote | present | Gran | war | now | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent war=Topic |
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: Then if I buy a bigger umbrella, I want a flood."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 10 want | advmod |
| 2 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 4 buy | mark |
| 3 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 buy | nsubj |
| 4 | buy | buy | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 want | advcl |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 umbrella | det |
| 6 | bigger | big | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 7 umbrella | amod |
| 7 | umbrella | umbrella | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 buy | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 buy | punct |
| 9 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 10 want | nsubj |
| 10 | want | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 flood | det |
| 12 | flood | flood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 want | obj |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 want | punct |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 want | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | buy a condition, not said to happen | present | I | a bigger umbrella | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent umbrella=Theme | ||||
| 2 | want | present | I | a flood | then | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot flood=Theme |
Sentence 3: What is Gran laughing at?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | root | root |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 Gran | cop |
| 3 | Gran | Gran | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 What | nsubj |
| 4 | laughing | laugh | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 3 Gran | acl |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 4 laughing | obl |
| 6 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 1 What | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | Gran | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | laugh | gerund | Gran not said here | vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
Anyone who owns an umbrella
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | root | root |
| 2 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 3 owns | nsubj |
| 3 | owns | own | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 1 Anyone | acl:relcl |
| 4 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 umbrella | det |
| 5 | umbrella | umbrella | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 owns | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | own | present | a umbrella | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot umbrella=Theme |
Option 2
The politician's haircut and suit
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 politician | det |
| 2 | politician | politician | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 haircut | nmod:poss |
| 3 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 2 politician | case |
| 4 | haircut | haircut | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 6 suit | cc |
| 6 | suit | suit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 haircut | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
The idea of having an army at all
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 idea | det |
| 2 | idea | idea | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 4 having | mark |
| 4 | having | have | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 idea | acl |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 army | det |
| 6 | army | army | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 having | obj |
| 7 | at | at | ADP | _ | 8 all | case |
| 8 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 having | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | gerund | the idea not said here | a army | all | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent army=Patient |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The reasoning that twists "a bit more" into "war"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 reasoning | det |
| 2 | reasoning | reasoning | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 4 twists | nsubj |
| 4 | twists | twist | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 reasoning | acl:relcl |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 more | punct |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 bit | det |
| 7 | bit | bit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 more | obl:unmarked |
| 8 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 4 twists | obj |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 more | punct |
| 10 | into | into | ADP | _ | 12 war | case |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 war | punct |
| 12 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 twists | obl |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 war | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | twist | present | the reasoning | more | war | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent more=Theme into war=Trajectory |
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/t2/