Exam question 4 · Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell

Ascertain which of the following most accurately characterises nervousness prior to a presentation.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, characteris · To what, where: nervousness

This is exam question 4 of lesson 48 «Spoken language: presenting and show-and-tell» 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	5 following	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 following	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 following	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Ascertain	ccomp
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	5 following	advcl
9	nervousness	nervousness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 nervousness	amod
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 presentation	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 presentation	det
13	presentation	presentation	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 prior	obl
14	.	.	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 how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	characteris	present		nervousness	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

It is confined to young children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 confined	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 confined	aux:pass
3	confined	confine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 children	case
5	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 children	amod
6	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 confined	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine	present · passive		It	young children				vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to child=Destination

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is normal, even among adults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 normal	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 normal	cop
3	normal	normal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 adults	punct
5	even	even	ADV	_	7 adults	advmod
6	among	among	ADP	_	7 adults	case
7	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 normal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					among adults; normal property	tree rules

Option 3

It afflicts only the unprepared

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 afflicts	nsubj
2	afflicts	afflict	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 unprepared	advmod
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 unprepared	det
5	unprepared	unprepar	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 afflicts	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	afflict	present	It						tree rules
2	unprepar	participle							tree rules

Option 4

It indicates an absence of ability

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 absence	det
4	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 ability	case
6	ability	ability	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It	a absence of ability					vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot absence=Topic
2	absent			ability					nom absence «state 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/48-spoken-language-presenting-and-show-and-tell/e4/