Exam question 1 · Vocabulary in context

Identify the principal means by which a reader may determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word without recourse to a dictionary.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, principal, reader · What happens: identify, mean, determine · To what, where: meaning, unfamiliar word · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 20 «Vocabulary in context» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 principal	det
3	principal	principal	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 means	nsubj
4	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Identify	ccomp
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 determine	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 reader	det
8	reader	reader	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 determine	nsubj
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 determine	aux
10	determine	determine	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 means	ccomp
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 meaning	det
12	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 determine	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	16 word	case
14	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 word	det
15	unfamiliar	unfamiliar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 word	amod
16	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 meaning	nmod
17	without	without	ADP	_	18 recourse	case
18	recourse	recourse	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 word	nmod
19	to	to	ADP	_	21 dictionary	case
20	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	21 dictionary	det
21	dictionary	dictionary	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 word	nmod
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	mean	present	the principal		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	determine	may	a reader	the meaning of a unfamiliar word without recourse to a dictionary	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
4	mean			a unfamiliar word without recourse to a dictionary	nom meaning «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice

Reference to the length of the word alone, longer words generally denoting larger things

The tree, 14 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Reference	reference	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 length	nsubj
2	to	to	ADP	_	4 length	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 length	det
4	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 word	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 word	det
7	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 length	nmod
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	7 word	advmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 words	punct
10	longer	long	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	11 words	amod
11	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 length	conj
12	generally	generally	ADV	_	13 denoting	advmod
13	denoting	denote	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 length	parataxis
14	larger	large	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	15 things	amod
15	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 denoting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	gerund		larger things				generally property	vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot thing=Topic

Option 2

Omission of the sentence altogether

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Omission	omission	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 sentence	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 sentence	det
4	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Omission	nmod
5	altogether	altogether	ADV	_	1 Omission	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	omit			the sentence					nom omission «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Consideration of the context in which it appears

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Consideration	consideration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	4 context	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 context	det
4	context	context	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Consideration	nmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 appears	obl
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 appears	nsubj
8	appears	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 context	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appear	present	it			the context			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in which=Location
2	consider			the context					nom consideration «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Examination of the book's cover

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Examination	examination	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	of	of	ADP	_	6 cover	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 book	det
4	book	book	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 cover	nmod:poss
5	's	's	PART	_	4 book	case
6	cover	cover	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Examination	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	examine			the book's cover					nom examination «act 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/20-vocabulary-in-context/e1/