Exam question 4 · Inference: reading between the lines

Given that a character smiles whilst her eyes remain sad, select the response consistent with the evidence.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: character, eyes · What happens: give, smile, remain, select · To what, where: response

This is exam question 4 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 smiles	advcl
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 smiles	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 character	det
4	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 smiles	nsubj
5	smiles	smile	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	9 remain	mark
7	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 eyes	nmod:poss
8	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 remain	nsubj
9	remain	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 smiles	ccomp
10	sad	sad	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 remain	xcomp
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 select	punct
12	select	select	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 remain	conj
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 response	det
14	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 select	obj
15	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 response	amod
16	with	with	ADP	_	18 evidence	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 evidence	det
18	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 consistent	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 smiles	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	give	participle	a character not said here			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	smile	present	a character			vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	remain	present	character's eyes		sad property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
4	select	infinitive	character's eyes not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme

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

She conceals an unhappy feeling behind an outward smile

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 conceals	nsubj
2	conceals	conceal	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 feeling	det
4	unhappy	unhappy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 feeling	amod
5	feeling	feeling	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceals	obj
6	behind	behind	ADP	_	9 smile	case
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 smile	det
8	outward	outward	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 smile	amod
9	smile	smile	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceals	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	present	She	a unhappy feeling		a outward smile			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent feeling=Patient behind smile=Location

Option 2

She is wholly content

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 content	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 content	cop
3	wholly	wholly	ADV	_	4 content	advmod
4	content	content	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	She					content, wholly property	tree rules

Option 3

She is unable to see clearly owing to bright sunlight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 unable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 unable	cop
3	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 see	mark
5	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 unable	xcomp
6	clearly	clearly	ADV	_	5 see	advmod
7	owing	owe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 see	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 sunlight	case
9	bright	bright	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 sunlight	amod
10	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 owing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	She	unable property	tree rules
2	see	to-infinitive	She not said here	clearly property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
3	owe	gerund	She not said here	to bright sunlight goal	vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to sunlight=Goal

Option 4

She is angry

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 angry	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 angry	cop
3	angry	angry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	She					angry property	tree rules

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/e4/