Exam question 3 · Borrowing and debt

Select the statement consistent with the established facts concerning the enforcement of debts by bailiffs.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, enforce · To what, where: statement, enforcement, debts

This is exam question 3 of lesson 8 «Borrowing and debt» 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 statement	det
3	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 enforcement	det
11	enforcement	enforcement	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 debts	case
13	debts	debt	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 enforcement	nmod
14	by	by	ADP	_	15 bailiffs	case
15	bailiffs	bailiff	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 concerning	obl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the statement	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent statement=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the enforcement of debts	by bailiffs	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus enforcement=Experiencer
4	enforce			debts		nom enforcement «act 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

Bailiffs act solely on the instruction of neighbours

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bailiffs	bailiff	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 act	nsubj
2	act	act	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 act	advmod
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 instruction	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 instruction	det
6	instruction	instruction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 act	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 neighbours	case
8	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 instruction	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act	present	Bailiffs			the instruction of neighbours		solely property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on instruction=Eventuality
2	instruct			neighbours					nom instruction «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Enforcement occurs only after a court decision, subject to strict rules

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enforcement	enforcement	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurs	nsubj
2	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	7 decision	advmod
4	after	after	ADP	_	7 decision	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 decision	det
6	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 decision	compound
7	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 occurs	obj
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 subject	punct
9	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 decision	conj
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 rules	case
11	strict	strict	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 rules	amod
12	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	present	Enforcement	a court decision and subject				to strict rules	tree rules

Option 3

Enforcement may occur at any hour and without any prior warning whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Enforcement	enforcement	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occur	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 occur	aux
3	occur	occur	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	at	at	ADP	_	6 hour	case
5	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	6 hour	det
6	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 occur	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 warning	cc
8	without	without	ADP	_	11 warning	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	11 warning	det
10	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 warning	amod
11	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hour	conj
12	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	3 occur	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	occur	may	Enforcement				hour	whatsoever property	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

Bailiffs are empowered to seize essential household items

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bailiffs	bailiff	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 empowered	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 empowered	aux:pass
3	empowered	empower	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 seize	mark
5	seize	seize	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 empowered	xcomp
6	essential	essential	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 items	amod
7	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 items	compound
8	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 seize	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	empower	present · passive		Bailiffs					tree rules
2	seize	to-infinitive		essential household items					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent item=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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