Exam question 1 · Inference: reading between the lines

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises inference in reading?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: inference, reading

This is exam question 1 of lesson 18 «Inference: reading between the lines» of the English 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	inference	inference	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	in	in	ADP	_	11 reading	case
11	reading	reading	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
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		inference		reading		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 · ← Mova's choice

The verbatim reproduction of words appearing in the text

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reproduction	det
2	verbatim	verbatim	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reproduction	compound
3	reproduction	reproduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 words	case
5	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 reproduction	nmod
6	appearing	appear	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 words	acl
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 text	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 text	det
9	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 appearing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appear	gerund	words not said here			the text			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in text=Location
2	reproduce		words						nom reproduction «process intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

Recollection of facts from beyond the text in question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Recollection	recollection	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 facts	case
3	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Recollection	nmod
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 text	case
5	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	7 text	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 text	det
7	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 facts	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 question	case
9	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 text	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	recollect			facts from the text in question					nom recollection «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

Unsupported conjecture

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Unsupported	unsupported	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 conjecture	amod
2	conjecture	conjecture	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The deduction of meaning not explicitly stated, on the basis of evidence within the text

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 deduction	det
2	deduction	deduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 stated	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 meaning	case
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 deduction	nmod
5	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 stated	advmod
6	explicitly	explicitly	ADV	_	7 stated	advmod
7	stated	state	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 basis	punct
9	on	on	ADP	_	11 basis	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 basis	det
11	basis	basis	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 stated	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 evidence	case
13	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 basis	nmod
14	within	within	ADP	_	16 text	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 text	det
16	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 stated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not state speech: other	participle · passive		the deduction of meaning		the basis of evidence		within the text; explicitly property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic
2	deduct		meaning						nom deduction «possession intransitive»: of=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/english/18-inference-reading-between-the-lines/e1/