Exam question 1 · Why people lie, and what is not a lie

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a lie?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: lie

This is exam question 1 of lesson 195 «Why people lie, and what is not a lie» 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	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 lie	det
10	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a lie				of the following statements; accurately 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

Saying anything untrue, whether or not anyone is being fooled

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	1 Saying	obj
3	untrue	untrue	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 anything	amod
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Saying	punct
5	whether	whether	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	11 fooled	mark
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	5 whether	fixed
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 whether	fixed
8	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	11 fooled	nsubj:pass
9	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 fooled	aux
10	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 fooled	aux:pass
11	fooled	fool	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Saying	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	gerund		anything					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent anything=Topic
2	fool	present · progressive · passive		anyone					vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

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

Saying what one knows is false in order to make someone believe it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 false	csubj
2	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	4 knows	obj
3	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	4 knows	nsubj
4	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Saying	ccomp
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 false	cop
6	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	in	in	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	10 make	mark
8	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 in	fixed
9	to	to	PART	_	10 make	mark
10	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 false	advcl
11	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	10 make	obj
12	believe	believe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 make	xcomp
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 believe	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	gerund				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	know	present	one			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus
3	is	present	Saying		false property	tree rules
4	make	to-infinitive	Saying not said here	someone		tree rules
5	believe	infinitive	someone not said here	order		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus

Option 3

Telling a story or acting in a play that everyone knows

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 knows	csubj
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 story	det
3	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Telling	obj
4	or	or	CCONJ	_	5 acting	cc
5	acting	act	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Telling	conj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 play	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 play	det
8	play	play	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 acting	obl
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 everyone	det
10	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	8 play	nmod:unmarked
11	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	gerund		a story		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient
2	act	gerund			a play everyone	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	know	present	Telling			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

Exaggerating, as in "I've told you a million times"

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Exaggerating	exaggerate	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 told	advcl
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	1 Exaggerating	punct
3	as	as	SCONJ	_	8 told	mark
4	in	in	ADP	_	3 as	fixed
5	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 told	punct
6	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	8 told	nsubj
7	've	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 told	aux
8	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
9	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	8 told	iobj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 million	det
11	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 times	nummod
12	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 told	obl:unmarked
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 told	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exaggerate	gerund	I not said here						tree rules
2	tell speech: assert in a quote	present · perfect	I		you		time		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient

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/195-why-people-lie/e1/