---
title: my sister says "arm and a leg" means the plumber cuts people up lol.… — When things break: boilers, plumbers a… · tree and pragmatics
description: my sister says "arm and a leg" means the plumber cuts people up lol. right? Test 2 of lesson 11 «When things break: boilers, plumbers and paint» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 2 · When things break: boilers, plumbers and paint

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
my sister says "arm and a leg" means the plumber cuts people up lol. right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 4 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** sister, arm, plumber · **What happens:** say, mean, cut up · **To what, where:** people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 of lesson 11 «When things break: boilers, plumbers and paint» of the adult life 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/adult-life/11-when-things-break/#t2).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:11-when-things-break:t2:1
# text = my sister says "arm and a leg" means the plumber cuts people up lol. right?
1	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	plumber	plumber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	cuts	cut	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
16	lol	lol	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
18	right	right	INTJ	UH	_	10	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | my sister |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | present | arm and a leg |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **cut up** | present | the plumber | people |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset people=Product |

<!-- .note -->
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 {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, plumbers sometimes do that if you don't pay

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:11-when-things-break:t2:o1:1
# text = Yes, plumbers sometimes do that if you don't pay
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	plumbers	plumber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present | plumbers |  |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **pay** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it means the plumber is very tall

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:11-when-things-break:t2:o2:1
# text = No, it means the plumber is very tall
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	plumber	plumber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | the plumber |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only in old stories

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:11-when-things-break:t2:o3:1
# text = Yes, but only in old stories
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 4 · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it just means something costs a lot of money

```conllu
# sent_id = question:adult-life:11-when-things-break:t2:o4:1
# text = No, it just means something costs a lot of money
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nsubj	_	_
7	costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **cost** | present | something | a lot of money |  |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme lot=Value |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [When things break: boilers, plumbers a…, test 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/adult-life/11-when-things-break/t1/)
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