Exam question 3 · Tense consistency and verb forms

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the words "might", "could" and "should"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: words

This is exam question 3 of lesson 31 «Tense consistency and verb forms» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 words	det
10	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 might	punct
12	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 words	conj
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 might	punct
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 could	punct
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 could	punct
16	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 words	nmod
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 could	punct
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 should	cc
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	20 should	punct
20	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	16 could	conj
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 could	punct
22	?	?	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		the words				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

They are adverbs modifying nouns

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 adverbs	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 adverbs	cop
3	adverbs	adverb	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	modifying	modify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 adverbs	acl
5	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 modifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	adverbs					tree rules
2	modify	gerund	adverbs not said here	nouns					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent noun=Patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They are modal verbs expressing degrees of certainty or obligation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 verbs	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 verbs	cop
3	modal	modal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 verbs	amod
4	verbs	verb	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	expressing	express	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 verbs	acl
6	degrees	degree	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 expressing	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 certainty	case
8	certainty	certainty	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 degrees	nmod
9	or	or	CCONJ	_	10 obligation	cc
10	obligation	obligation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 certainty	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	modal verbs					tree rules
2	express	gerund	modal verbs not said here	degrees of certainty or obligation					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent degree=Theme

Option 3

They are tense markers denoting the future in English

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 markers	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 markers	cop
3	tense	tense	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 markers	amod
4	markers	marker	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 markers	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 future	det
7	future	future	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 denoting	obj
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 English	case
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 denoting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	tense markers					tree rules
2	denote	gerund	tense markers not said here	the future				in English	vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot future=Theme in english=Attribute

Option 4

They are conjunctions joining two clauses

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 conjunctions	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 conjunctions	cop
3	conjunctions	conjunction	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
4	joining	join	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	3 conjunctions	acl
5	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	6 clauses	nummod
6	clauses	clause	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 joining	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	They	conjunctions					tree rules
2	join	gerund	conjunctions not said here	two clauses					vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clause=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.

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