Exam question 4 · Debating and discussion

Ascertain which of the following is consistent with the conduct of a good thinker in discussion.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, follow, be, conduct · To what, where: good thinker

This is exam question 4 of lesson 49 «Debating and discussion» 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	7 consistent	nsubj
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 consistent	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 consistent	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 consistent	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 consistent	cop
7	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Ascertain	ccomp
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 conduct	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 conduct	det
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 consistent	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 thinker	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 thinker	det
13	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 thinker	amod
14	thinker	thinker	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 conduct	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	16 discussion	case
16	discussion	discussion	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 thinker	nmod
17	.	.	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
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	is	present			with the conduct of a good thinker in discussion; consistent property	tree rules
4	conduct			a good thinker in discussion		nom conduct «act 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

Disregarding the opposing side entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Disregarding	disregard	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 side	det
3	opposing	oppose	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 side	amod
4	side	side	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Disregarding	obj
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	1 Disregarding	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disregard	gerund		the opposing side				entirely property	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent side=Theme
2	oppose	gerund							vn amalgamate-22.2-3 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Maintaining one's view regardless of all reasons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Maintaining	maintain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 view	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 one	case
4	view	view	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Maintaining	obj
5	regardless	regardless	ADV	_	1 Maintaining	advmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 reasons	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 reasons	det
8	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 regardless	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	gerund		one's view				regardless property	vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent view=Theme
2	view		one						nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Revising one's view upon hearing a better reason

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Revising	revise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 view	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 one	case
4	view	view	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Revising	obj
5	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	6 hearing	mark
6	hearing	hear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Revising	advcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 reason	det
8	better	good	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	9 reason	amod
9	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 hearing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	revise	gerund		one's view	vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent view=Patient
2	hear	gerund		a better reason	vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer reason=Stimulus
3	view		one		nom view «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

Interrupting opponents so as to save time

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Interrupting	interrupt	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 save	csubj
2	opponents	opponent	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Interrupting	obj
3	so	so	ADV	_	6 save	advmod
4	as	as	SCONJ	_	6 save	mark
5	to	to	PART	_	6 save	mark
6	save	save	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 save	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	interrupt	gerund		opponents					tree rules
2	save	to-infinitive	Interrupting				time		vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

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/49-debating-and-discussion/e4/