Exam question 4 · Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the attribution of laziness to an entire people in this tale?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, attribute · To what, where: attribution, laziness

This is exam question 4 of lesson 92 «Just So Stories, The Crab that Played with the Sea, part 3: the Moon pulls the sea, and how tides really work» of the books 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 attribution	det
10	attribution	attribution	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 laziness	case
12	laziness	laziness	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 attribution	nmod
13	to	to	ADP	_	16 people	case
14	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 people	det
15	entire	entire	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 people	amod
16	people	people	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
17	in	in	ADP	_	19 tale	case
18	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	19 tale	det
19	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 people	nmod
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	the attribution of laziness	of the following statements; to a entire people in this tale; accurately property	tree rules
3	attribute		laziness		nom attribution «cognition 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

It is a fair and sensible description of their habits

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	7 description	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 description	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 description	det
4	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 description	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 sensible	cc
6	sensible	sensible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 fair	conj
7	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 habits	case
9	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 habits	nmod:poss
10	habits	habit	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 description	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a fair description				of their habits	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is an old and unkind prejudice, now recognised as wrong

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	7 prejudice	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prejudice	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 prejudice	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 prejudice	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 unkind	cc
6	unkind	unkind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 old	conj
7	prejudice	prejudice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 recognised	punct
9	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 recognised	advmod
10	recognised	recognise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 prejudice	acl
11	as	as	ADV	_	12 wrong	advmod
12	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 recognised	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a old prejudice					tree rules
2	recognise	participle		a old prejudice not said here			now	wrong property	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

It is an old and unkind prejudice, which the story tells as a true fact about the children of the Man

The tree, 21 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	7 prejudice	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prejudice	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 prejudice	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 prejudice	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 unkind	cc
6	unkind	unkind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 old	conj
7	prejudice	prejudice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 tells	punct
9	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 tells	obj
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 story	det
11	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 tells	nsubj
12	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prejudice	conj
13	as	as	ADP	_	16 fact	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 fact	det
15	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 fact	amod
16	fact	fact	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 tells	obl
17	about	about	ADP	_	19 children	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 children	det
19	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 fact	nmod
20	of	of	ADP	_	22 Man	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 Man	det
22	Man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 children	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a old prejudice					tree rules
2	tell speech: assert	present	the story	a old prejudice				as a true fact about the children of the Man	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Recipient

Option 4

It is an old and unkind prejudice, now recognised as wrong, though the story itself still treats it as fair and sensible

The tree, 22 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	7 prejudice	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prejudice	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 prejudice	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 prejudice	amod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 unkind	cc
6	unkind	unkind	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 old	conj
7	prejudice	prejudice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 recognised	punct
9	now	now	ADV	PronType=Dem	10 recognised	advmod
10	recognised	recognise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 prejudice	acl
11	as	as	ADP	_	12 wrong	case
12	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 recognised	obl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 treats	punct
14	though	though	SCONJ	_	19 treats	mark
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 story	det
16	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 treats	nsubj
17	itself	itself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Emp Reflex=Yes	16 story	nmod:unmarked
18	still	still	ADV	_	19 treats	advmod
19	treats	treat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 prejudice	parataxis
20	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 treats	obj
21	as	as	ADP	_	22 fair	case
22	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	19 treats	obl
23	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 sensible	cc
24	sensible	sensible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 fair	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a old prejudice			tree rules
2	recognise	participle		a old prejudice not said here	now	as wrong	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as wrong=Attribute
3	treat	present	the story story	prejudice	still	as fair	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme as fair=Attribute

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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