Exam question 1 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

Whereas correspondence informs a candidate that the organisation "has decided to go in a different direction", identify the outcome conveyed thereby.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: inform, decide, go, identify, convey · To what, where: candidate, organisation, different direction, outcome · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 34 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» 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	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	2 correspondence	case
2	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 informs	obl
3	informs	inform	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 candidate	det
5	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 informs	obj
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 decided	mark
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 organisation	det
8	organisation	organisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 decided	nsubj:pass
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 organisation	punct
10	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 decided	aux
11	decided	decide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 informs	advcl
12	to	to	PART	_	13 go	mark
13	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	11 decided	xcomp
14	in	in	ADP	_	17 direction	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 direction	det
16	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 direction	amod
17	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 go	obl
18	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 direction	punct
19	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 identify	punct
20	identify	identify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 go	advcl
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 outcome	det
22	outcome	outcome	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 identify	obj
23	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	22 outcome	acl
24	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	23 conveyed	advmod
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 informs	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	present	a candidate		whereas correspondence	vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent candidate=Recipient
2	decide in a quote	present · perfect · passive	the organisation			vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic
3	go not said to happen, in a quote	to-infinitive		a different direction		vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in direction=Location
4	identify	infinitive	the outcome			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent outcome=Theme
5	convey	participle	the outcome not said here		thereby property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

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 candidate has been appointed to the position

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 candidate	det
2	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 appointed	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 appointed	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	5 appointed	aux:pass
5	appointed	appoint	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 position	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 position	det
8	position	position	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 appointed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	appoint	present · perfect · passive		the candidate				to the position	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme to position=Attribute

Option 2

The organisation requests the candidate's travel itinerary

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 organisation	det
2	organisation	organisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 requests	nsubj
3	requests	request	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 candidate	det
5	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 itinerary	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 candidate	case
7	travel	travel	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 itinerary	compound
8	itinerary	itinerary	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 requests	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	request	present	the organisation	the candidate's travel itinerary					vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent itinerary=Recipient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The candidate's application has been rejected

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 candidate	det
2	candidate	candidate	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 application	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 candidate	case
4	application	application	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rejected	nsubj:pass
5	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 rejected	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	7 rejected	aux:pass
7	rejected	reject	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reject	present · perfect · passive		the candidate's application					vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	apply		the candidate						nom application «act intransitive»: poss=agent

Option 4

The organisation has relocated its premises

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 organisation	det
2	organisation	organisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 relocated	nsubj:pass
3	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 relocated	aux
4	relocated	relocate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 premises	nmod:poss
6	premises	premise	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 relocated	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	relocate	present · perfect · passive		the organisation					tree rules
2	premise		organisation						nom premise «communication transitive»: poss=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.

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