Exam question 4 · Chores and broken things

Given that an old glass thermometer has been broken, ascertain by whom the resulting spill ought to be cleaned, and for what reason.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: give, break, ascertain, result, clean · To what, where: old glass thermometer, resulting spill

This is exam question 4 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 broken	mark
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 broken	mark
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 thermometer	det
4	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 thermometer	amod
5	glass	glass	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 thermometer	compound
6	thermometer	thermometer	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 broken	nsubj:pass
7	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 broken	aux
8	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	9 broken	aux:pass
9	broken	break	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 ascertain	advcl
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 broken	punct
11	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
12	by	by	ADP	_	13 whom	case
13	whom	whom	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 ascertain	obl
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 spill	det
15	resulting	result	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 spill	amod
16	spill	spill	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 cleaned	nsubj:pass
17	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	20 cleaned	aux
18	to	to	PART	_	20 cleaned	mark
19	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	20 cleaned	aux:pass
20	cleaned	clean	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	13 whom	acl:relcl
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	24 what	punct
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 what	cc
23	for	for	ADP	_	24 what	case
24	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	11 ascertain	parataxis
25	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	24 what	nsubj
26	.	.	PUNCT	_	11 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	give	participle			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	break	present · perfect · passive		a old glass thermometer	vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient
3	ascertain	imperative	you not said here		vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
4	result	gerund			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	clean	ought · passive	you not said here	the resulting spill	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

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

By no one, since the liquid simply evaporates harmlessly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 one	case
2	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 one	det
3	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 evaporates	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 one	punct
5	since	since	ADP	_	7 liquid	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 liquid	det
7	liquid	liquid	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 evaporates	obl
8	simply	simply	ADV	_	9 evaporates	advmod
9	evaporates	evaporate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	harmlessly	harmlessly	ADV	_	9 evaporates	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	evaporate	present					since the liquid	by no one; harmlessly, simply property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

By an adult, since it may contain poisonous mercury

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 adult	case
2	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 adult	det
3	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 contain	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 contain	punct
5	since	since	SCONJ	_	8 contain	mark
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 contain	nsubj
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 contain	aux
8	contain	contain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
9	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 mercury	amod
10	mercury	mercury	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 contain	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	contain	may	adult	poisonous mercury				by a adult	vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot mercury=Theme

Option 3

By the child, provided that thick rubber gloves are worn

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 child	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 child	det
3	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 provided	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 child	punct
5	provided	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	11 worn	mark
7	thick	thick	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 gloves	amod
8	rubber	rubber	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 gloves	compound
9	gloves	glove	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 worn	nsubj:pass
10	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 worn	aux:pass
11	worn	wear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 provided	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	provide	past						by the child	vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition
2	wear	present · passive		thick rubber gloves					vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme

Option 4

By the child, since the liquid is merely coloured water

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	By	by	ADP	_	3 child	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 child	det
3	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 water	obl
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 child	punct
5	since	since	ADP	_	7 liquid	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 liquid	det
7	liquid	liquid	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 child	nmod
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 water	cop
9	merely	merely	ADV	_	10 coloured	advmod
10	coloured	coloured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 water	amod
11	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		coloured water				by the child since the liquid	tree rules

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/e4/