Exam question 4 · Sounding right and being right
Ascertain the reason for which a conversational program is unable to fasten the laces of a shoe.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, conversational program · What happens: ascertain, be, fasten · To what, where: reason, laces
This is exam question 4 of lesson 3 «Sounding right and being right» of the AI 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 | for | for | ADP | _ | 5 which | case |
| 5 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 10 unable | obl |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 program | det |
| 7 | conversational | conversational | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 program | amod |
| 8 | program | program | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 unable | nsubj |
| 9 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 unable | cop |
| 10 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 reason | acl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 fasten | mark |
| 12 | fasten | fasten | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 unable | xcomp |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 laces | det |
| 14 | laces | lace | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 fasten | obj |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 shoe | case |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 shoe | det |
| 17 | shoe | shoe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 laces | nmod |
| 18 | . | . | 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 reason | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic | ||||
| 2 | is | present | a conversational program | for the reason; unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | fasten | to-infinitive | a conversational program not said here | the laces of a shoe | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lace=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 is capable thereof but only upon request in writing
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 | 3 capable | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 capable | cop |
| 3 | capable | capable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | thereof | thereof | ADV | _ | 3 capable | advmod |
| 5 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 8 request | cc |
| 6 | only | only | ADV | _ | 8 request | advmod |
| 7 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 8 request | case |
| 8 | request | request | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 capable | conj |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 writing | case |
| 10 | writing | writing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 request | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | It | capable, thereof property | tree rules |
Option 2
It is prohibited by statute from contact with footwear
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 | 3 prohibited | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 prohibited | aux:pass |
| 3 | prohibited | prohibit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | by | by | ADP | _ | 5 statute | case |
| 5 | statute | statute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 prohibited | obl |
| 6 | from | from | ADP | _ | 7 contact | case |
| 7 | contact | contact | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 prohibited | obl |
| 8 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 footwear | case |
| 9 | footwear | footwear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 contact | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prohibit | present · passive | statute | It | contact with footwear | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer subject=Beneficiary from contact=Eventuality |
Option 3 · ✓ the right answer
It consists of text upon a screen and possesses no physical means of handling objects
The tree, 15 words
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 | 2 consists | nsubj |
| 2 | consists | consist | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 text | case |
| 4 | text | text | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 consists | obl |
| 5 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 7 screen | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 screen | det |
| 7 | screen | screen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 consists | obl |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 possesses | cc |
| 9 | possesses | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 consists | conj |
| 10 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 11 physical | det |
| 11 | physical | physical | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 means | nsubj |
| 12 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 possesses | ccomp |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 15 objects | case |
| 14 | handling | handling | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 objects | compound |
| 15 | objects | object | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 means | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consist | present | It | of text; upon a screen | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | possess | present | tree rules | ||||||
| 3 | mean | present | no physical | of handling objects | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
Option 4
It regards the task as beneath its dignity
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 | 2 regards | nsubj |
| 2 | regards | regard | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 task | det |
| 4 | task | task | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 regards | obj |
| 5 | as | as | ADP | _ | 8 dignity | case |
| 6 | beneath | beneath | ADP | _ | 8 dignity | case |
| 7 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 dignity | nmod:poss |
| 8 | dignity | dignity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 regards | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | regard | present | It | the task | as task's dignity | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent task=Theme as dignity=Value |
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/ai/3-sounding-right-and-being-right/e4/