Exam question 1 · New partners and step-families

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the relationship of a parent's new spouse to that parent's existing child?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris, exist · To what, where: relationship

This is exam question 1 of lesson 16 «New partners and step-families» of the adult life course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 relationship	det
10	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	16 spouse	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 parent	det
13	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 spouse	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 parent	case
15	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 spouse	amod
16	spouse	spouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 relationship	nmod
17	to	to	ADP	_	22 child	case
18	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	19 parent	det
19	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 child	nmod:poss
20	's	's	PART	_	19 parent	case
21	existing	exist	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	22 child	amod
22	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the relationship of a parent's new spouse	of the following statements; to that parent's existing child; accurately property	tree rules
3	exist	gerund			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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

The spouse replaces the other parent in every respect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spouse	det
2	spouse	spouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 replaces	nsubj
3	replaces	replace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 parent	det
5	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 parent	amod
6	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 replaces	obj
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 respect	case
8	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	9 respect	det
9	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 replaces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present	the spouse	the other parent		every respect			vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme parent=Co-Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The spouse becomes a step-parent, not supplanting the child's other parent

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spouse	det
2	spouse	spouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 parent	det
5	step	step	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 parent	compound
6	-	-	PUNCT	_	5 step	punct
7	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	xcomp
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 supplanting	punct
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 supplanting	advmod
10	supplanting	supplant	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 becomes	advcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 child	det
12	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 parent	nmod:poss
13	's	's	PART	_	12 child	case
14	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 parent	amod
15	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 supplanting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the spouse	a step parent					vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient
2	not supplant	gerund	the spouse not said here	the child's other parent					vn substitute-13.6.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme parent=Co-Theme

Option 3

The spouse has no relationship whatsoever to the child

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spouse	det
2	spouse	spouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	nsubj
3	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 relationship	det
5	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 has	obj
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	5 relationship	advmod
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 child	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 child	det
9	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 relationship	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	the spouse	no relationship				to the child	vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relationship=Patient

Option 4

The spouse becomes the child's legal and biological parent in every respect

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 spouse	det
2	spouse	spouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	nsubj
3	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 child	det
5	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 parent	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 child	case
7	legal	legal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 parent	amod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 biological	cc
9	biological	biological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 legal	conj
10	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	xcomp
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 respect	case
12	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	13 respect	det
13	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 becomes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	the spouse	the child's legal parent				in every respect result	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in respect=Result

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/adult-life/16-new-partners-and-step-families/e1/