Exam question 3 · Chores and broken things

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the superstition whereby the breakage of a mirror occasions seven years of misfortune?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: breakage · What happens: follow, characteris, occasion · To what, where: superstition

This is exam question 3 of lesson 111 «Chores and broken things» 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	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	8 characterises	obl
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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 superstition	det
10	superstition	superstition	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	whereby	whereby	ADV	PronType=Int	17 occasions	advmod
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 breakage	det
13	breakage	breakage	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 occasions	nsubj
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 mirror	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 mirror	det
16	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 breakage	nmod
17	occasions	occasion	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	advcl
18	seven	seven	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	19 years	nummod
19	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 occasions	obj
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 misfortune	case
21	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 years	nmod
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the superstition		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	occasion	present	the breakage of a mirror		year	whereby property	tree rules

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

It is untrue; the sole hazard is the broken glass

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 untrue	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 untrue	cop
3	untrue	untrue	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 glass	punct
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hazard	det
6	sole	sole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 hazard	amod
7	hazard	hazard	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 glass	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 glass	cop
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 glass	det
10	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 glass	amod
11	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 untrue	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		untrue property	tree rules
2	break	participle				vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
3	is a	present	the sole hazard	the broken glass		tree rules

Option 2

It is true only where the mirror was exceedingly old

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 true	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	cop
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	10 old	advmod
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	10 old	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mirror	det
7	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 old	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 old	cop
9	exceedingly	exceedingly	ADV	_	10 old	advmod
10	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 true	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					true property	tree rules
2	is	past	the mirror					exceedingly, old property	tree rules

Option 3

It is true, as broken glass draws misfortune to it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 true	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	cop
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 draws	punct
5	as	as	SCONJ	_	8 draws	mark
6	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 glass	amod
7	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 draws	nsubj
8	draws	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	parataxis
9	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 draws	obj
10	to	to	ADP	_	11 it	case
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 draws	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present	It			true property	tree rules
2	break	participle					vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
3	draw	present	broken glass	misfortune	misfortune		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent misfortune=Theme to it=Destination

Option 4

It is true unless the fragments are buried promptly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 true	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	cop
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	unless	unless	SCONJ	_	8 buried	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 fragments	det
6	fragments	fragment	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 buried	nsubj:pass
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 buried	aux:pass
8	buried	bury	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 true	advcl
9	promptly	promptly	ADV	_	8 buried	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					true property	tree rules
2	bury a condition, not said to happen	present · passive		the fragments				promptly property	vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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/111-chores-and-broken-things/e3/