Exam question 3 · How to handle gossip: is it true, is it kind, would I say…

Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning an assertion transmitted through a succession of four intermediaries.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response, established facts · What happens: select, be, establish, concern, transmit · To what, where: response, assertion, succession

This is exam question 3 of lesson 49 «How to handle gossip: is it true, is it kind, would I say it to their face» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 consistent	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consistent	cop
6	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	acl:relcl
7	with	with	ADP	_	10 facts	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 facts	det
9	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 facts	amod
10	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 consistent	obl
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 facts	acl
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 assertion	det
13	assertion	assertion	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
14	transmitted	transmit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 assertion	acl
15	through	through	ADP	_	17 succession	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 succession	det
17	succession	succession	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 transmitted	obl
18	of	of	ADP	_	20 intermediaries	case
19	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	20 intermediaries	nummod
20	intermediaries	intermediary	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 succession	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response			vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	is	present	the response			with the established facts; consistent property	tree rules
3	establish	participle					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	a assertion			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus assertion=Experiencer
5	transmit	participle		a assertion not said here	a succession of four intermediaries		vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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

It is rendered more reliable by each additional intermediary through whom it passes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 rendered	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 rendered	aux:pass
3	rendered	render	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 reliable	advmod
5	reliable	reliable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rendered	xcomp
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 intermediary	case
7	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	9 intermediary	det
8	additional	additional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 intermediary	amod
9	intermediary	intermediary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 rendered	obl
10	through	through	ADP	_	11 whom	case
11	whom	whom	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 rendered	obl
12	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 passes	nsubj
13	passes	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 whom	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present · passive	each additional intermediary	It				reliable property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme
2	pass	present	intermediary						vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is likely to have been altered at each stage of transmission

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 likely	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 likely	cop
3	likely	likely	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	7 altered	mark
5	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 altered	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 altered	aux:pass
7	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 likely	xcomp
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 stage	case
9	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	10 stage	det
10	stage	stage	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 altered	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 transmission	case
12	transmission	transmission	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stage	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					likely property	tree rules
2	alter	to-infinitive · perfect · passive				each stage of transmission			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»

Option 3

It may be verified only by the final intermediary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 verified	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 verified	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 verified	aux:pass
4	verified	verify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	only	only	ADV	_	4 verified	advmod
6	by	by	ADP	_	9 intermediary	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 intermediary	det
8	final	final	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 intermediary	amod
9	intermediary	intermediary	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 verified	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	verify	may · passive	the final intermediary	It					vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot subject=Topic

Option 4

It must be accepted once four persons have repeated it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 accepted	nsubj:pass
2	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 accepted	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 accepted	aux:pass
4	accepted	accept	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	4 accepted	advmod
6	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 persons	nummod
7	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 repeated	nsubj:pass
8	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 repeated	aux
9	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 accepted	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 repeated	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	accept	must · passive		It				once property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	repeat	present · perfect · passive		four persons					tree rules

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/49-how-to-handle-gossip/e3/