Exam question 3 · Inference: reading between the lines

Ascertain which of the following constitutes a complete two-mark response to an inference question.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, constitute · To what, where: complete mark response

This is exam question 3 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	1 Ascertain	obj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 the	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 which	nmod
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 constitutes	nsubj
6	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 the	acl:relcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 response	det
8	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 response	amod
9	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 mark	nummod
10	-	-	PUNCT	_	9 two	punct
11	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 response	compound
12	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 constitutes	obj
13	to	to	ADP	_	16 question	case
14	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 question	det
15	inference	inference	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 question	compound
16	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 response	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Topic
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	constitute	present		a complete mark response	to a inference question	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme response=Pivot

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 statement of the inferred idea together with supporting evidence from the text

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 idea	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 idea	det
5	inferred	infer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 idea	amod
6	idea	idea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 statement	nmod
7	together	together	ADV	_	2 statement	advmod
8	with	with	SCONJ	_	9 supporting	mark
9	supporting	support	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 statement	acl
10	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 supporting	obj
11	from	from	ADP	_	13 text	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 text	det
13	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 supporting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	infer	participle				vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	support	gerund	a statement of the inferred idea not said here	evidence	the text	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer evidence=Stimulus
3	state			the inferred idea		nom statement «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

A description of one's own feelings unconnected with the text whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 description	det
2	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 unconnected	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 feelings	case
4	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 feelings	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 one	case
6	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 feelings	amod
7	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 description	nmod
8	unconnected	unconnected	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 text	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 text	det
11	text	text	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 unconnected	obl
12	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	8 unconnected	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	describe			one's own feelings					nom description «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

A copy of the question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 copy	det
2	copy	copy	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 question	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 question	det
5	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 copy	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	copy			the question					nom copy «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

A statement of the idea alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 idea	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 idea	det
5	idea	idea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 statement	nmod
6	alone	alone	ADV	_	5 idea	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state			the idea					nom statement «communication transitive»: of=patient

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/e3/