Exam question 4 · Street chatter: wow, really?, cool!

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the expression nèige?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: expression nèige

This is exam question 4 of lesson 30 «Street chatter: wow, really?, cool!» of the Chinese street 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	11 nèige	det
10	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 nèige	compound
11	nèige	nèige	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the expression nèige				of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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 formal greeting to elders

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	5 greeting	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 greeting	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 greeting	det
4	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 greeting	amod
5	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 elders	case
7	elders	elder	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 greeting	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a formal greeting				to elders	tree rules

Option 2

It is an offensive term to be avoided in all company

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	5 term	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 term	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 term	det
4	offensive	offensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 term	amod
5	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	8 avoided	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 avoided	aux:pass
8	avoided	avoid	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 term	acl
9	in	in	ADP	_	11 company	case
10	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	11 company	det
11	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 avoided	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a offensive term					tree rules
2	avoid	to-infinitive · passive				all company			vn avoid-52 «NP V S_ING»

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

It is an innocent filler employed while seeking a word

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	5 filler	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 filler	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 filler	det
4	innocent	innocent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 filler	amod
5	filler	filler	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 filler	acl
7	while	while	SCONJ	_	8 seeking	mark
8	seeking	seek	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 employed	advcl
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 seeking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a innocent filler	tree rules
2	employ	participle		a innocent filler not said here	vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	seek	gerund		a word	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme

Option 4

It is a command to look

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	4 command	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 command	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 command	det
4	command	command	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 look	mark
6	look	look	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 command	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a command					tree rules
2	look	to-infinitive							vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus

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/chinese-street/30-street-chatter-wow-really-cool/e4/