Exam question 4 · Standing up for yourself, nightmares and the dark

Ascertain the course of action most likely to prevent the recurrence of a repeated nightmare.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, repeated nightmare · What happens: ascertain, prevent, repeat, recur · To what, where: course, recurrence

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 course	det
3	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 action	case
5	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 course	nmod
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 likely	advmod
7	likely	likely	ADV	_	1 Ascertain	advmod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 prevent	mark
9	prevent	prevent	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Ascertain	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 recurrence	det
11	recurrence	recurrence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 prevent	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	15 nightmare	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 nightmare	det
14	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 nightmare	amod
15	nightmare	nightmare	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 recurrence	nmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the course of action	likely property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic
2	prevent	to-infinitive	you not said here	the recurrence of a repeated nightmare		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer recurrence=Theme
3	repeat	participle				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality
4	recur		a repeated nightmare			nom recurrence «event intransitive»: of=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

Remaining awake throughout the night to avoid dreaming

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Remaining	remain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	awake	awake	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Remaining	xcomp
3	throughout	throughout	ADP	_	5 night	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 night	det
5	night	night	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Remaining	obl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 avoid	mark
7	avoid	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Remaining	advcl
8	dreaming	dream	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 avoid	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	when	other	roles by
1	remain	gerund	night	awake property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	avoid	to-infinitive			vn avoid-52 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
3	dream	gerund			vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Viewing a frightening film immediately before retiring to bed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Viewing	view	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 film	det
3	frightening	frightening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 film	amod
4	film	film	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Viewing	obj
5	immediately	immediately	ADV	_	1 Viewing	advmod
6	before	before	SCONJ	_	7 retiring	mark
7	retiring	retire	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Viewing	advcl
8	to	to	ADP	_	9 bed	case
9	bed	bed	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 retiring	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	view	gerund		a frightening film				immediately property	vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer film=Stimulus
2	retire	gerund						to bed	vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Declining to mention the dream to any person at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Declining	decline	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	to	to	PART	_	3 mention	mark
3	mention	mention	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Declining	xcomp
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dream	det
5	dream	dream	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mention	obj
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 person	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 mention	obl
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 all	case
10	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	3 mention	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	decline	gerund							vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not mention speech: other	to-infinitive		the dream	any person	all			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent dream=Topic to person=Recipient

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Drawing the dream and imagining a more agreeable ending

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Drawing	draw	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 dream	det
3	dream	dream	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Drawing	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 imagining	cc
5	imagining	imagine	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Drawing	conj
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 ending	det
7	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	8 agreeable	advmod
8	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 ending	amod
9	ending	ending	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 imagining	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	draw	gerund		the dream					vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dream=Theme
2	imagine	gerund		a agreeable ending					vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot ending=Theme

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/e4/