Exam question 4 · Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the expected reply to "How's it going?" from a passer-by?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: reply · What happens: follow, characteris, expect, go · To what, where: expected reply

This is exam question 4 of lesson 124 «Handshakes, waves and greetings around the world» 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	11 reply	det
10	expected	expect	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 reply	amod
11	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	to	to	SCONJ	_	17 going	mark
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 going	punct
14	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	17 going	advmod
15	's	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	17 going	aux
16	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	17 going	nsubj
17	going	go	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 characterises	advcl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	17 going	punct
19	"	"	PUNCT	_	17 going	punct
20	from	from	ADP	_	22 passer	case
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	22 passer	det
22	passer	passer	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 going	obl
23	-	-	PUNCT	_	24 by	punct
24	by	by	ADP	_	22 passer	punct
25	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the expected reply	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	expect	participle				vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	go in a quote	present · progressive	reply		from a passer	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from passer=Initial_Location

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

A question as to why they ask

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 question	det
2	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 ask	mark
4	to	to	ADP	_	3 as	fixed
5	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	7 ask	advmod
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 ask	nsubj
7	ask	ask	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 question	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	present	they						vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Silence, as it needs no reply at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Silence	silence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 needs	punct
3	as	as	SCONJ	_	5 needs	mark
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 needs	nsubj
5	needs	need	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Silence	acl:relcl
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 reply	det
7	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 needs	obj
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 all	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 reply	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	need	present	Silence	no reply		all			vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot reply=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

"Good, thanks!", as it is a greeting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 thanks	punct
2	Good	good	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 thanks	amod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 thanks	punct
4	thanks	thanks	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	!	!	PUNCT	_	4 thanks	punct
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	4 thanks	punct
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 greeting	punct
8	as	as	ADP	_	12 greeting	case
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 greeting	nsubj
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 greeting	cop
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 greeting	det
12	greeting	greeting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 thanks	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	thanks					as a greeting	tree rules

Option 4

A full account of one's day so far

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 account	det
2	full	full	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 account	amod
3	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 day	case
5	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 day	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 one	case
7	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 account	nmod
8	so	so	ADV	_	9 far	advmod
9	far	far	ADV	Degree=Pos	3 account	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	account			one's day					nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient

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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