Test 6 · ★ · Trick questions that catch quick thinkers

What would happen if the train in Mum's riddle were an old steam train going north, with the wind blowing south?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: train, old steam train, wind, Mum · What happens: happen, be, go, blow, riddle · To what, where: old steam train

This is test 6 · ★ of lesson 181 «Trick questions that catch quick thinkers» 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	3 happen	nsubj
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 happen	aux
3	happen	happen	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	15 train	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 train	det
6	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 train	nsubj
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 riddle	case
8	Mum	Mum	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 riddle	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 Mum	case
10	riddle	riddle	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 train	nmod
11	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	15 train	cop
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 train	det
13	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 train	amod
14	steam	steam	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 train	compound
15	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 happen	obl
16	going	go	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	15 train	acl
17	north	north	ADV	_	16 going	advmod
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 wind	punct
19	with	with	ADP	_	21 wind	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	21 wind	det
21	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 happen	obl
22	blowing	blow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	21 wind	acl
23	south	south	ADV	_	22 blowing	advmod
24	?	?	PUNCT	_	3 happen	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	happen	would			with the wind	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is a a condition, not said to happen	past	the train in Mum's riddle	a old steam train		tree rules
3	go	gerund	a old steam train not said here		north property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	blow	gerund	the wind not said here		south property	vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient
5	riddle		Mum			nom riddle «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Then there would be smoke, and it would drift south

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	5 smoke	advmod
2	there	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	4 be	expl
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 be	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 smoke	cop
5	smoke	smoke	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 drift	punct
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 drift	cc
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 drift	nsubj
9	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 drift	aux
10	drift	drift	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 smoke	acl:relcl
11	south	south	ADV	_	10 drift	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	imperative	you not said here	smoke			then		tree rules
2	drift	would	smoke	smoke not said here				south property	vn run-51.3.2-2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location smoke=Theme

Option 2

The smoke would always go north with the train

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 smoke	det
2	smoke	smoke	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 go	nsubj
3	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 go	aux
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 go	advmod
5	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	north	north	ADV	_	5 go	advmod
7	with	with	ADP	_	9 train	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 train	det
9	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 go	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	go	would	the smoke					with the train; always, north property	vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with train=Beneficiary

Option 3

The train couldn't move against the wind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 train	det
2	train	train	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 move	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 move	aux
4	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 move	advmod
5	move	move	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	against	against	ADP	_	8 wind	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 wind	det
8	wind	wind	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 move	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not move	could	the train			the wind			vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme against wind=Trajectory

Option 4

There would still be no smoke at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	There	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	4 be	expl
2	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 be	aux
3	still	still	ADV	_	4 be	advmod
4	be	be	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 smoke	det
6	smoke	smoke	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 be	nsubj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 all	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	4 be	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	be	would	no smoke			all; there	still		vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location

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.

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