Exam question 4 · Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them
Ascertain the course of conduct most conducive to the wellbeing of a child who has been distressed by repeated reports of war.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, repeated reports · What happens: ascertain, distress, repeat, report · To what, where: course, child, war
This is exam question 4 of lesson 51 «Scary news: wars, disasters and how to talk about them» 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 conduct | case |
| 5 | conduct | conduct | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 course | nmod |
| 6 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 7 conducive | advmod |
| 7 | conducive | conducive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 conduct | amod |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 wellbeing | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 wellbeing | det |
| 10 | wellbeing | wellbeing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 conducive | obl |
| 11 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 child | case |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 child | det |
| 13 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 wellbeing | nmod |
| 14 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 distressed | nsubj:pass |
| 15 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 distressed | aux |
| 16 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 17 distressed | aux:pass |
| 17 | distressed | distress | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 child | acl:relcl |
| 18 | by | by | ADP | _ | 20 reports | case |
| 19 | repeated | repeat | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 reports | amod |
| 20 | reports | report | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 distressed | obl |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 war | case |
| 22 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 reports | nmod |
| 23 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the course of conduct | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic | ||||
| 2 | distress | present · perfect · passive | repeated reports of war | a child | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer | ||||
| 3 | repeat | participle | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||||
| 4 | report | war | nom report «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
The concealment of his distress from his parents
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 concealment | det |
| 2 | concealment | concealment | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 distress | case |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 distress | nmod:poss |
| 5 | distress | distress | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 concealment | nmod |
| 6 | from | from | ADP | _ | 8 parents | case |
| 7 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 parents | nmod:poss |
| 8 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 concealment | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | conceal | his distress | from his parents | nom concealment «state transitive»: of=patient from=obl | |||||
| 2 | distress | his = he | nom distress «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |
Option 2
The cancellation of all enjoyable activities indefinitely
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 cancellation | det |
| 2 | cancellation | cancellation | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 activities | case |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 activities | det |
| 5 | enjoyable | enjoyable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 activities | amod |
| 6 | activities | activity | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 cancellation | nmod |
| 7 | indefinitely | indefinitely | ADV | _ | 6 activities | advmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cancel | all enjoyable activities | nom cancellation «act transitive»: of=patient |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
A respite from the news, together with reassurance and comfort
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 respite | det |
| 2 | respite | respite | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | from | from | ADP | _ | 5 news | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 news | det |
| 5 | news | news | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 respite | nmod |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 reassurance | punct |
| 7 | together | together | ADV | _ | 9 reassurance | advmod |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 reassurance | case |
| 9 | reassurance | reassurance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 respite | conj |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 comfort | cc |
| 11 | comfort | comfort | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 respite | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
The continuous monitoring of news reports by the child throughout the night
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 monitoring | det |
| 2 | continuous | continuous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 monitoring | amod |
| 3 | monitoring | monitoring | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 reports | case |
| 5 | news | news | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 reports | compound |
| 6 | reports | report | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 monitoring | nmod |
| 7 | by | by | ADP | _ | 9 child | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 child | det |
| 9 | child | child | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 monitoring | nmod |
| 10 | throughout | throughout | ADP | _ | 12 night | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 night | det |
| 12 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 monitoring | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | monitor | the child | news reports | throughout the night | nom monitoring «act transitive»: of=patient by=agent throughout=obl |
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/51-scary-news-wars-disasters-and-how-to-talk-about-them/e4/