Test 9 · ★★★ · Olympiad: time and calendar puzzles ★★★

In a cartoon an explorer digs up a coin stamped "25 BC" and shouts, "Priceless!" Why is the expert laughing?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: explorer, coin, expert · What happens: dig up, stamp, shout, laugh · To what, where: coin, cartoon, 25 BC

This is test 9 · ★★★ of lesson 192 «Olympiad: time and calendar puzzles ★★★» 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 an explorer digs up a coin stamped "25 BC" and shouts, "Priceless!"

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 digs	obl
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 explorer	det
5	explorer	explorer	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 digs	nsubj
6	digs	dig	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	up	up	ADP	_	6 digs	compound:prt
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 coin	det
9	coin	coin	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 digs	obj
10	stamped	stamp	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 coin	acl
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 BC	punct
12	25	25	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	13 BC	nummod
13	BC	BC	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stamped	obl
14	"	"	PUNCT	_	13 BC	punct
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 shouts	cc
16	shouts	shout	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 digs	conj
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 Priceless	punct
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	19 Priceless	punct
19	Priceless	priceless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 digs	conj
20	!	!	PUNCT	_	19 Priceless	punct
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	19 Priceless	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	dig up	present	a explorer	a coin	a cartoon	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent coin=Theme in cartoon=Location
2	stamp	participle	a coin not said here	25 BC		vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	shout speech: express	present	a explorer not said here			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=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.

Sentence 2: Why is the expert laughing?

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	5 laughing	advmod
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 laughing	aux
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 expert	det
4	expert	expert	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 laughing	nsubj
5	laughing	laugh	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 laughing	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	laugh	present · progressive	the expert						vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

25 BC is after AD 1, so the date is impossible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	25	25	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	2 BC	nummod
2	BC	BC	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 AD	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 AD	cop
4	after	after	ADP	_	5 AD	case
5	AD	ad	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	1	1	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	5 AD	flat
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 impossible	punct
8	so	so	ADV	_	12 impossible	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 date	det
10	date	date	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 impossible	nsubj
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 impossible	cop
12	impossible	impossible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 AD	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	25 BC				after AD		tree rules
2	is	present	the date					impossible property	tree rules

Option 2

Coins from that time are worth very little

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 worth	nsubj
2	from	from	ADP	_	4 time	case
3	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 time	det
4	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Coins	nmod
5	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 worth	cop
6	worth	worth	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	very	very	ADV	_	8 little	advmod
8	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 worth	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Coins from that time					worth property	tree rules

Option 3

Coins were never made before AD 1, as the Romans had none

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Coins	coin	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 made	nsubj:pass
2	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 made	aux:pass
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 made	advmod
4	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	before	before	ADP	_	6 AD	case
6	AD	ad	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 made	obl
7	1	1	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	6 AD	flat
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 had	punct
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	12 had	mark
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 Romans	det
11	Romans	Roman	PROPN	Number=Plur	12 had	nsubj
12	had	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 made	conj
13	none	none	PRON	PronType=Neg	12 had	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not make	past · passive		Coins			before AD		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	have	past	the Romans	none					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=Patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Nobody in 25 BC knew to count years "BC", so it is a fake

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	5 knew	nsubj
2	in	in	ADP	_	3 25	case
3	25	25	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	1 Nobody	nmod
4	BC	BC	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 knew	nsubj
5	knew	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 count	mark
7	count	count	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 knew	xcomp
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 count	obj
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 BC	punct
10	BC	BC	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 years	appos
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 BC	punct
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 fake	punct
13	so	so	ADV	_	17 fake	advmod
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 fake	nsubj
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 fake	cop
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 fake	det
17	fake	fake	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 knew	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	roles by
1	know	past	Nobody			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
2	count	to-infinitive	Nobody not said here		year	vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus
3	is a	present	it	a fake		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/192-olympiad-time-and-calendar-puzzles/t9/