Exam question 1 · Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs o…

Identify the principal distinction between a news report and an opinion programme.

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 1 of lesson 52 «Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs opinion» 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	_	8 report	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 report	det
7	news	news	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 report	compound
8	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 distinction	nmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 programme	cc
10	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 programme	det
11	opinion	opinion	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 programme	compound
12	programme	programme	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 report	conj
13	.	.	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 a news report and a opinion programme	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

The former is broadcast loudly; the latter quietly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 latter	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 broadcast	aux:pass
4	broadcast	broadcast	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 former	conj
5	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	4 broadcast	advmod
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 latter	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 latter	det
8	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	quietly	quietly	ADV	_	8 latter	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	broadcast speech: other	present · passive						loudly property	vn instr_communication-37.4.1 «NP V that S»

Option 2

There exists no distinction whatsoever between them

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	_	7 them	case
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 exists	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exist	present		no distinction		there		between them = they; whatsoever property	tree rules

Option 3

The former is always false; the latter is always true, without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 false	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 false	cop
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 false	advmod
5	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 true	punct
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 latter	det
8	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 true	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 true	cop
10	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	11 true	advmod
11	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 false	parataxis
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 exception	punct
13	without	without	ADP	_	14 exception	case
14	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 true	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the former					always, false property	tree rules
2	is	present	the latter					always, true property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The former relates events; the latter conveys a person's view

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 former	det
2	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 relates	nsubj
3	relates	relate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 relates	obj
5	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 conveys	punct
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 latter	det
7	latter	latter	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 conveys	nsubj
8	conveys	convey	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 relates	conj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 person	det
10	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 view	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 person	case
12	view	view	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 conveys	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	relate	present	the former	events	vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent event=Theme
2	convey	present	the latter	a person's view	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent view=Topic
3	view		a person		nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

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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