Exam question 4 · Olympiad: Breakthrough puzzles in made-up languages

Select the response consistent with the data concerning the meaning of the Vor word "selral".

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, data · What happens: select, concern, mean · To what, where: response, meaning, Vor word

This is exam question 4 of lesson 58 «Olympiad: Breakthrough puzzles in made-up languages» 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	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 response	amod
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 data	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 data	det
7	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 consistent	obl
8	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 data	acl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 meaning	det
10	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 concerning	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 word	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 word	det
13	Vor	Vor	PROPN	Number=Sing	14 word	compound
14	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 meaning	nmod
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 selral	punct
16	selral	selral	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 word	appos
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 selral	punct
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	concern	gerund	the data not said here	the meaning of the Vor word	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus meaning=Experiencer
3	mean			the Vor word	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

It denotes the colour green

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 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 green	det
4	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 green	compound
5	green	green	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	the colour green					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot green=Topic

Option 2

It denotes the absence of colour

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 denotes	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 absence	det
4	absence	absence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denotes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 colour	case
6	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 absence	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	present	It	the absence of colour					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot absence=Topic
2	absent			colour					nom absence «state transitive»: of=patient

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

The data do not establish its meaning

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 data	det
2	data	data	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 establish	nsubj
3	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 establish	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 establish	advmod
5	establish	establish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 meaning	nmod:poss
7	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 establish	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not establish	present · do-support	the data	data's meaning					vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Patient
2	mean		data						nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

It denotes purple beyond all doubt

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 purple	nsubj
2	denotes	denote	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 purple	cop
3	purple	purple	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	6 doubt	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 doubt	det
6	doubt	doubt	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 purple	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					beyond all doubt; purple property	tree rules

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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