Exam question 4 · How to handle gossip: is it true, is it kind, would I say…

Ascertain the course of action which the lesson commends in respect of a secret confided by a classmate concerning her affections.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, lesson, classmate · What happens: ascertain, commend, confide, concern, respect · To what, where: course, action, respect, secret, affections

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 course	det
3	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 action	case
5	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 course	nmod
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 commends	obj
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 lesson	det
8	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 commends	nsubj
9	commends	commend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 action	acl:relcl
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 respect	case
11	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 commends	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 secret	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 secret	det
14	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 respect	nmod
15	confided	confide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 secret	acl
16	by	by	ADP	_	18 classmate	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 classmate	det
18	classmate	classmate	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 confided	obl:agent
19	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	18 classmate	acl
20	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 affections	nmod:poss
21	affections	affection	NOUN	Number=Plur	19 concerning	obj
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the course of action		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic
2	commend	present	the lesson	action	respect of a secret	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme
3	confide speech: other	participle		a secret not said here		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	concern	gerund	a classmate not said here	lesson's affections		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus affection=Experiencer
5	respect			a secret		nom respect «cognition 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

It ought to be exchanged for another secret

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	5 exchanged	nsubj:pass
2	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 exchanged	aux
3	to	to	PART	_	5 exchanged	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 exchanged	aux:pass
5	exchanged	exchange	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 secret	case
7	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	8 secret	det
8	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 exchanged	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exchange	ought · passive		It				for another secret	vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-theme»: subject=Theme for secret=Co-Theme

Option 2

It ought to be disclosed to the person concerned

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	5 disclosed	nsubj:pass
2	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 disclosed	aux
3	to	to	PART	_	5 disclosed	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 disclosed	aux:pass
5	disclosed	disclose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 person	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 disclosed	obl
9	concerned	concerned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 person	amod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disclose	ought · passive		It	the person				vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to person=Recipient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It ought to be kept, out of respect for the trust shown

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	5 kept	nsubj:pass
2	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 kept	aux
3	to	to	PART	_	5 kept	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 kept	aux:pass
5	kept	keep	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 respect	punct
7	out	out	ADP	_	9 respect	case
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 respect	case
9	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 kept	obl
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 trust	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 trust	det
12	trust	trust	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 respect	nmod
13	shown	show	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 trust	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	ought · passive		It		respect for the trust			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme out respect=Location
2	show	participle		the trust not said here					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It ought to be announced to the entire class

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	5 announced	nsubj:pass
2	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 announced	aux
3	to	to	PART	_	5 announced	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 announced	aux:pass
5	announced	announce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	9 class	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 class	det
8	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 class	amod
9	class	class	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 announced	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	announce speech: other	ought · passive		It	the entire class				vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Theme to class=Recipient

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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