Exam question 2 · Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness

Where a school report states that a pupil is "more practical than academic", ascertain the principal assessment conveyed.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: pupil, report states · What happens: be, ascertain, convey · To what, where: principal assessment

This is exam question 2 of lesson 36 «Soft words for hard things: stupidity and madness» 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	Where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	17 ascertain	advmod
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 states	det
3	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 report	compound
4	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 states	compound
5	states	state	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 ascertain	nsubj
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 practical	mark
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 pupil	det
8	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 practical	nsubj
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 practical	cop
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 practical	punct
11	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	12 practical	advmod
12	practical	practical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 ascertain	advcl
13	than	than	ADP	_	14 academic	case
14	academic	academic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 practical	obl
15	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 practical	punct
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 ascertain	punct
17	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 assessment	det
19	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 assessment	amod
20	assessment	assessment	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 ascertain	obj
21	conveyed	convey	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	20 assessment	acl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	17 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is in a quote	present	a pupil		than academic; practical property	tree rules
2	ascertain	infinitive	a report states	the principal assessment		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assessment=Topic
3	convey	participle		the principal assessment not said here		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 pupil declines to undertake practical tasks of any kind

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 declines	nsubj
3	declines	decline	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 undertake	mark
5	undertake	undertake	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 declines	xcomp
6	practical	practical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 tasks	amod
7	tasks	task	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 undertake	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 kind	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 kind	det
10	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 tasks	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	decline	present	the pupil		vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not undertake	to-infinitive	the pupil not said here	practical tasks of any kind	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Eventuality
3	task			any kind	nom task «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

The pupil experiences difficulty with academic work but possesses manual aptitude

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 experiences	nsubj
3	experiences	experience	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 experiences	obj
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 work	case
6	academic	academic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 work	amod
7	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 experiences	obl
8	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 possesses	cc
9	possesses	possess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 experiences	conj
10	manual	manual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 aptitude	amod
11	aptitude	aptitude	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 possesses	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	experience	present	the pupil	difficulty				with academic work	vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer difficulty=Stimulus
2	possess	present	the pupil not said here	manual aptitude					vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot aptitude=Theme

Option 3

The pupil excels in all academic subjects without exception

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 excels	nsubj
3	excels	excel	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 subjects	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 subjects	det
6	academic	academic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 subjects	amod
7	subjects	subject	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 excels	obl
8	without	without	ADP	_	9 exception	case
9	exception	exception	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 subjects	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	excel	present	the pupil			all academic subjects without exception			vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S_ING»: agent=Agent in subject=Eventuality

Option 4

The pupil attends school on an irregular basis

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pupil	det
2	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 attends	nsubj
3	attends	attend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 attends	obj
5	on	on	ADP	_	8 basis	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 basis	det
7	irregular	irregular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 basis	amod
8	basis	basis	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 attends	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	attend	present	the pupil	school		a irregular basis			vn attend-107.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme school=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.

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