---
title: Mia says a mirror flips things upside down. true? — Mirrors, shadows and colours · tree and pragmatics
description: Mia says a mirror flips things upside down. true? Test 12 of lesson 84 «Mirrors, shadows and colours» of the world 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 12 · Mirrors, shadows and colours

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mia says a mirror flips things upside down. true?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 2 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** Mia, mirror · **What happens:** say, flip · **To what, where:** things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 12 of lesson 84 «Mirrors, shadows and colours» 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/84-mirrors-shadows-colours/#t12).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:84-mirrors-shadows-colours:t12:1
# text = Mia says a mirror flips things upside down. true?
1	Mia	Mia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	flips	flip	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	upside	upside	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	down	down	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
10	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Mia |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **flip** | present | a mirror | things |  |  |  | down *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |

<!-- .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 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only in a big mirror

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:84-mirrors-shadows-colours:t12:o1:1
# text = Yes, but only in a big mirror
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 · ← Mova's choice {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, a mirror shows things exactly as they are

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:84-mirrors-shadows-colours:t12:o2:1
# text = No, a mirror shows things exactly as they are
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | a mirror | things |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent thing=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **does** | present | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, it shows writing back to front, not upside down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:84-mirrors-shadows-colours:t12:o3:1
# text = No, it shows writing back to front, not upside down
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	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	writing	write	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | present | it | upside |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **write back** | gerund |  |  | front |  |  |  | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V PP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent to front=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, everything in a mirror is upside down

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:84-mirrors-shadows-colours:t12:o4:1
# text = Yes, everything in a mirror is upside down
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	8	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	upside	upside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | everything | upside |  |  |  | down *property* | tree rules |

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**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 -->

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- ← previous: [Mirrors, shadows and colours, test 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/84-mirrors-shadows-colours/t11/)
- next →: [Mirrors, shadows and colours, test 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/world/84-mirrors-shadows-colours/t13/)
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