Exam question 4 · Sorry, white lies and «because I said so»

Whereas an elderly relative with evident pain in the knees remarks "Mustn't grumble", ascertain the meaning of the remark.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: remark, not grumble, ascertain, mean · To what, where: meaning, remark · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 37 «Sorry, white lies and «because I said so»» 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	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	4 relative	case
2	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 relative	det
3	elderly	elderly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 relative	amod
4	relative	relative	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 remarks	obl
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 pain	case
6	evident	evident	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 pain	amod
7	pain	pain	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 relative	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 knees	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 knees	det
10	knees	knee	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pain	nmod
11	remarks	remark	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 grumble	punct
13	Must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 grumble	aux
14	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	15 grumble	advmod
15	grumble	grumble	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 remarks	ccomp
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 grumble	punct
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 ascertain	punct
18	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 grumble	conj
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 meaning	det
20	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 ascertain	obj
21	of	of	ADP	_	23 remark	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 remark	det
23	remark	remark	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 meaning	nmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 remarks	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	remark speech: assert	present		whereas a elderly relative with evident pain in the knees	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	not grumble speech: other in a quote	must			vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	ascertain	infinitive	the meaning of the remark		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
4	mean		the remark		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient

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

He requests immediate medical attention

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 requests	nsubj
2	requests	request	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	immediate	immediate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 attention	amod
4	medical	medical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 attention	amod
5	attention	attention	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 requests	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	request	present	He	immediate medical attention					vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent attention=Recipient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

He prefers not to complain about his discomfort

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prefers	nsubj
2	prefers	prefer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 complain	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 complain	mark
5	complain	complain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 prefers	xcomp
6	about	about	ADP	_	8 discomfort	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 discomfort	nmod:poss
8	discomfort	discomfort	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 complain	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prefer	present	He						vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme
2	not complain speech: other not said to happen	to-infinitive	He not said here					about his discomfort	vn complain-37.8 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about discomfort=Topic

Option 3

He reports that he is entirely free of pain

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 reports	nsubj
2	reports	report	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 free	mark
4	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 free	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 free	cop
6	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	7 free	advmod
7	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 reports	ccomp
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 pain	case
9	pain	pain	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 free	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	report	present	He						vn characterize-29.2-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	he					of pain; entirely, free property	tree rules

Option 4

He reproaches the listener for complaining

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 reproaches	nsubj
2	reproaches	reproach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 listener	det
4	listener	listener	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproaches	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 complaining	case
6	complaining	complaining	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reproaches	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reproach	present	He	the listener				for complaining	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent listener=Theme for complaining=Attribute

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.

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