Exam question 2 · Asking well, being polite, knowing when to stop

Identify the formulation of a request most likely to elicit a useful and verifiable answer.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, elicit · To what, where: formulation, useful answer

This is exam question 2 of lesson 8 «Asking well, being polite, knowing when to stop» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 formulation	det
3	formulation	formulation	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 request	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 request	det
6	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 formulation	nmod
7	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	8 likely	advmod
8	likely	likely	ADV	_	10 elicit	advmod
9	to	to	PART	_	10 elicit	mark
10	elicit	elicit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Identify	advcl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 answer	det
12	useful	useful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 answer	amod
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 verifiable	cc
14	verifiable	verifiable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 useful	conj
15	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 elicit	obj
16	.	.	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 formulation of a request					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent formulation=Theme
2	elicit	to-infinitive	you not said here	a useful answer				likely property	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition answer=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

A detailed request specifying steps, audience and sources

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 request	det
2	detailed	detailed	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 request	amod
3	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	specifying	specify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 request	acl
5	steps	step	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 specifying	obj
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 audience	punct
7	audience	audience	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 steps	conj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 sources	cc
9	sources	source	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 steps	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	specify	gerund	a detailed request not said here	steps and audience and sources					vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent step=Theme

Option 2

A request consisting of a single word

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 request	det
2	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	consisting	consist	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 request	acl
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 word	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 word	det
6	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 word	amod
7	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 consisting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	consist	gerund	a request not said here					of a single word	tree rules

Option 3

A request repeated several times in quick succession

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 request	det
2	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 request	acl
4	several	several	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 times	amod
5	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 repeated	obl:unmarked
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 succession	case
7	quick	quick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 succession	amod
8	succession	succession	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 repeated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	participle		a request not said here		quick succession	time		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 4

A request expressed entirely in capital letters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 request	det
2	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	expressed	express	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 request	acl
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	3 expressed	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 letters	case
6	capital	capital	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 letters	amod
7	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 expressed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	participle		a request not said here		capital letters		entirely property	vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/ai/8-asking-well-and-knowing-when-to-stop/e2/