Exam question 2 · Funerals and remembering

Identify the principal distinction between burial and cremation.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify · To what, where: principal distinction

This is exam question 2 of lesson 25 «Funerals and remembering» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 distinction	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 distinction	amod
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	between	between	ADP	_	6 burial	case
6	burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 cremation	cc
8	cremation	cremation	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 burial	conj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal distinction				between burial and cremation	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent distinction=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 · ← Mova's choice

Burial is conducted at sea; cremation is conducted in a churchyard

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conducted	aux:pass
3	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	at	at	ADP	_	5 sea	case
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 conducted	obl
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	9 conducted	punct
7	cremation	cremation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conducted	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 conducted	aux:pass
9	conducted	conduct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 conducted	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 churchyard	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 churchyard	det
12	churchyard	churchyard	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 conducted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conduct	present · passive		Burial		sea			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme at sea=Destination
2	conduct	present · passive		cremation		a churchyard			vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in churchyard=Destination

Option 2

Burial is permitted only for children; cremation only for adults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permitted	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 permitted	aux:pass
3	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 children	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 children	case
6	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 permitted	obl
7	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 cremation	punct
8	cremation	cremation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 permitted	conj
9	only	only	ADV	_	11 adults	advmod
10	for	for	ADP	_	11 adults	case
11	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 permitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present · passive		Burial				for children; for adults	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 3

There exists no distinction whatsoever between the two practices in law or custom

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	There	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	2 exists	expl
2	exists	exist	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 distinction	det
4	distinction	distinction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exists	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 exists	advmod
6	between	between	ADP	_	9 practices	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 practices	det
8	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 practices	nummod
9	practices	practice	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 exists	obl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 law	case
11	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 exists	obl
12	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 custom	cc
13	custom	custom	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 law	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	present		no distinction		law or custom; there		between the two practices; whatsoever property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Burial places the coffin in the ground; cremation reduces the body to ashes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Burial	burial	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 places	compound
2	places	place	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 coffin	nsubj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 coffin	det
4	coffin	coffin	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 ground	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 ground	det
7	ground	ground	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 coffin	nmod
8	;	;	PUNCT	_	10 reduces	punct
9	cremation	cremation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reduces	nsubj
10	reduces	reduce	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 coffin	acl:relcl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 body	det
12	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 reduces	obj
13	to	to	ADP	_	14 ashes	case
14	ashes	ash	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 reduces	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	present	cremation	the body				to ashes goal	vn limit-76 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Causer body=Patient to ash=Goal

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/25-funerals-and-remembering/e2/