Exam question 3 · Reading non-fiction: recount, instructions, report

Select the response that accurately identifies a statement of opinion.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, response · What happens: select, identify, state · To what, where: response, statement, opinion

This is exam question 3 of lesson 23 «Reading non-fiction: recount, instructions, report» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 identifies	nsubj
5	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	6 identifies	advmod
6	identifies	identify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 response	acl:relcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 statement	det
8	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 identifies	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 opinion	case
10	opinion	opinion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 statement	nmod
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	identify	present	the response	a statement of opinion	accurately property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent statement=Theme
3	state			opinion		nom statement «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 · ✓ the right answer

Owls are the finest of all birds

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Owls	owl	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 finest	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 finest	cop
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 finest	det
4	finest	fine	ADJ	Degree=Sup	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 birds	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 birds	det
7	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 finest	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Owls					of all birds; fine property	tree rules

Option 2

The majority of owls hunt nocturnally

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 majority	det
2	majority	majority	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 hunt	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 owls	case
4	owls	owl	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 majority	nmod
5	hunt	hunt	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	nocturnally	nocturnally	ADV	_	5 hunt	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hunt	present	the majority of owls					nocturnally property	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Barn owls possess heart-shaped faces

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Barn	barn	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 owls	compound
2	owls	owl	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	nsubj
3	possess	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 shaped	compound
5	-	-	PUNCT	_	4 heart	punct
6	shaped	shape	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 faces	amod
7	faces	face	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 possess	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	possess	present	Barn owls	shaped faces					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot face=Theme
2	shape	participle							vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

Owls are birds, which is to say feathered creatures that lay eggs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Owls	owl	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 birds	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 birds	cop
3	birds	bird	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 say	punct
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 say	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 say	cop
7	to	to	PART	_	8 say	mark
8	say	say	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 birds	parataxis
9	feathered	feathered	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 creatures	amod
10	creatures	creature	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 say	obj
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 lay	nsubj
12	lay	lay	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 creatures	acl:relcl
13	eggs	egg	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 lay	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Owls	birds		tree rules
2	is	present	birds		say property	tree rules
3	lay	present	feathered creatures	eggs		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Result

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/23-reading-non-fiction-recount-instructions-report/e3/