Exam question 4 · Elections, crime, the weather, breaking news and news vs o…

Ascertain the reason most probably accounting for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of an incident.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, reason · What happens: ascertain, account, report · To what, where: reason, incident

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 probably	advmod
5	probably	probably	ADV	_	6 accounting	advmod
6	accounting	account	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 reason	acl
7	for	for	ADP	_	10 figures	case
8	divergent	divergent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 figures	amod
9	casualty	casualty	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 figures	compound
10	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 accounting	obl
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 reports	case
12	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 reports	amod
13	reports	report	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 figures	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 incident	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 incident	det
16	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 reports	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	account	gerund	the reason not said here		for divergent casualty figures in initial reports of a incident; probably property	tree rules
3	report			a incident		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 right answer

Early figures are provisional and subsequently corrected

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Early	early	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 figures	amod
2	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 provisional	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 provisional	cop
4	provisional	provisional	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 corrected	cc
6	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	7 corrected	advmod
7	corrected	correct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 provisional	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Early figures					provisional property	tree rules
2	correct speech: disagree	participle	Early figures not said here					subsequently property	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent

Option 2

One broadcaster has deliberately falsified its figure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	One	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 broadcaster	nummod
2	broadcaster	broadcaster	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 falsified	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 falsified	aux
4	deliberately	deliberately	ADV	_	5 falsified	advmod
5	falsified	falsify	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 figure	nmod:poss
7	figure	figure	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 falsified	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	falsify	present · perfect · passive		One broadcaster				deliberately property	tree rules
2	figure		broadcaster						nom figure «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Two separate incidents have occurred simultaneously

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 incidents	nummod
2	separate	separate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 incidents	amod
3	incidents	incident	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 occurred	nsubj:pass
4	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 occurred	aux
5	occurred	occur	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	simultaneously	simultaneously	ADV	_	5 occurred	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present · perfect · passive		Two separate incidents				simultaneously property	tree rules

Option 4

Broadcasters select figures entirely at their own discretion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Broadcasters	broadcaster	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 select	nsubj
2	select	select	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	figures	figure	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 select	obj
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 select	advmod
5	at	at	ADP	_	8 discretion	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 discretion	nmod:poss
7	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 discretion	amod
8	discretion	discretion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 select	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select	present	Broadcasters	figures		Broadcasters's own discretion		entirely property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=Theme

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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