Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and schoo…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a parent's description of a child as "a free spirit"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: parent · What happens: follow, characteris, describe · To what, where: description, child

This is exam question 4 of lesson 15 «Soft words for hard things: children's behaviour and school reports and teachers» of the euphemisms 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	1 Which	nmod
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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 parent	det
10	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 description	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 parent	case
12	description	description	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 child	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 child	det
15	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 description	nmod
16	as	as	ADP	_	20 spirit	case
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	20 spirit	punct
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	20 spirit	det
19	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 spirit	amod
20	spirit	spirit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
21	"	"	PUNCT	_	20 spirit	punct
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a parent's description of a child	as a free spirit; accurately property	tree rules
3	describe		a parent	a child		nom description «communication transitive»: poss=agent 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 · ← Mova's choice

The child prefers solitude to company

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prefers	nsubj
3	prefers	prefer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	solitude	solitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prefers	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	6 company	case
6	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prefers	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prefer	present	the child	solitude				to company	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer solitude=Stimulus

Option 2

The child professes belief in apparitions

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 professes	nsubj
3	professes	profess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 professes	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 apparitions	case
6	apparitions	apparition	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 professes	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	profess	present	the child	belief		apparitions			vn declare-29.4-1-1-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent belief=Theme

Option 3

The child is provided without charge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 provided	aux:pass
4	provided	provide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	without	without	ADP	_	6 charge	case
6	charge	charge	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	present · passive		the child				without charge	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The child does not readily conform to rules

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 conform	nsubj
3	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 conform	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 conform	advmod
5	readily	readily	ADV	_	6 conform	advmod
6	conform	conform	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	8 rules	case
8	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 conform	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not conform	present · do-support	the child					to rules goal; readily property	vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent to rule=Goal

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/euphemisms/15-behaviour-and-school-reports/e4/