Exam question 4 · Why people lie, and what is not a lie

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning loyalty to a friend.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern · To what, where: response, loyalty

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 friend	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 friend	det
13	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	loyalty	to a friend	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus loyalty=Experiencer

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

It means always covering for them, whatever they have done

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	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	2 means	advmod
4	covering	cover	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 means	xcomp
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 them	case
6	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 covering	obl
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 whatever	punct
8	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	2 means	conj
9	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 done	nsubj
10	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 done	aux
11	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 whatever	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It	always property	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	cover not said to happen	gerund		for them = they	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
3	do	present · perfect	they		vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It means lying for them only when an adult is asking

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	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	lying	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 means	xcomp
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 them	case
5	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 lying	obl
6	only	only	ADV	_	11 asking	advmod
7	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	11 asking	advmod
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 adult	det
9	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 asking	nsubj
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 asking	aux
11	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 lying	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	lie not said to happen	gerund		for them = they	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	ask speech: ask	present · progressive	a adult		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It does not mean lying for them, since cover-ups let harm go on

The tree, 14 words

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	4 mean	nsubj
2	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 mean	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 mean	advmod
4	mean	mean	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	lying	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 mean	xcomp
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 them	case
7	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 lying	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 let	punct
9	since	since	SCONJ	_	13 let	mark
10	cover	cover	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ups	compound
11	-	-	PUNCT	_	10 cover	punct
12	ups	up	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 let	nsubj
13	let	let	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 mean	conj
14	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 let	obj
15	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 let	xcomp
16	on	on	ADV	_	15 go	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	not mean	present · do-support	It			vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	lie not said to happen	gerund			for them = they	vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	let	infinitive	cover ups	harm		tree rules
4	go on	infinitive	harm not said here			vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 4

It means repeating whatever story the friend has told

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	2 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	repeating	repeat	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 means	xcomp
4	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 story	det:predet
5	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 repeating	obj
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 friend	det
7	friend	friend	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 told	nsubj:pass
8	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 told	aux
9	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 repeating	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	mean	present	It		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	repeat not said to happen	gerund		whatever story	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Eventuality
3	tell speech: assert	present · perfect · passive		the friend	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=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/e4/