Exam question 1 · Standing up for yourself, nightmares and the dark

Identify the principal reason for which calm and clear words are preferred to physical retaliation when one's possessions are repeatedly taken.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, one · What happens: identify, prefer, take, possess · To what, where: principal reason, calm words, possessions

This is exam question 1 of lesson 100 «Standing up for yourself, nightmares and the dark» of the everyday 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 preferred	obl
7	calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 words	amod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 clear	cc
9	clear	clear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 calm	conj
10	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 preferred	nsubj:pass
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 preferred	aux:pass
12	preferred	prefer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 retaliation	case
14	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 retaliation	amod
15	retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 preferred	obl
16	when	when	SCONJ	_	22 taken	mark
17	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 possessions	nmod:poss
18	's	's	PART	_	17 one	case
19	possessions	possession	NOUN	Number=Plur	22 taken	nsubj:pass
20	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	22 taken	aux:pass
21	repeatedly	repeatedly	ADV	_	22 taken	advmod
22	taken	take	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 preferred	advcl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	prefer	present · passive		calm words	for the principal reason; to physical retaliation	vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus for which=Attribute
3	take	present · passive		one's possessions	repeatedly property	vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
4	possess		one			nom possession «act transitive»: poss=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 right answer

Calm words are more effective, whereas retaliation aggravates matters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 words	amod
2	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 effective	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 effective	cop
4	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 effective	advmod
5	effective	effective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 aggravates	punct
7	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	9 aggravates	mark
8	retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 aggravates	nsubj
9	aggravates	aggravate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 effective	conj
10	matters	matter	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 aggravates	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Calm words					effective property	tree rules
2	aggravate	present	retaliation	matters					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus matter=Experiencer

Option 2

Physical retaliation is permitted on a second occasion only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 retaliation	amod
2	retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permitted	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 permitted	aux:pass
4	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	on	on	ADP	_	8 occasion	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 occasion	det
7	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	8 occasion	amod
8	occasion	occasion	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permitted	obl
9	only	only	ADV	_	8 occasion	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	present · passive		Physical retaliation		a second occasion			vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme on occasion=Location

Option 3

Retaliation is preferred, as it concludes the matter at once and for good

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 preferred	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 preferred	aux:pass
3	preferred	prefer	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 concludes	punct
5	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 concludes	mark
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 concludes	nsubj
7	concludes	conclude	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 preferred	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 matter	det
9	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 concludes	obj
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 once	case
11	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	7 concludes	obl
12	and	and	CCONJ	_	14 good	cc
13	for	for	ADP	_	14 good	case
14	good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 once	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prefer	present · passive		Retaliation					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus
2	conclude	present	Retaliation	the matter					vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Theme

Option 4

Calm words oblige the other party to pay compensation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Calm	calm	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 words	amod
2	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 oblige	nsubj
3	oblige	oblige	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 party	det
5	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 party	amod
6	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 oblige	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 pay	mark
8	pay	pay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 oblige	advcl
9	compensation	compensation	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pay	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present	Calm words	the other party					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent party=Patient
2	pay	to-infinitive	Calm words not said here	compensation					vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent compensation=Asset

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/everyday/100-standing-up-nightmares-and-the-dark/e1/