Exam question 1 · White lies and kind silence

Which of the following constitutes the recommended response upon receiving a gift one does not like?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: recommended response · What happens: follow, constitute, recommend, receive, not like · To what, where: gift one

This is exam question 1 of lesson 196 «White lies and kind silence» 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	5 constitutes	obj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	5 constitutes	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 following	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 constitutes	nsubj
5	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 response	det
7	recommended	recommend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 response	amod
8	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 like	nsubj
9	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	10 receiving	mark
10	receiving	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 response	acl
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 one	det
12	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 one	compound
13	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 receiving	obj
14	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 like	aux
15	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	16 like	advmod
16	like	like	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 constitutes	ccomp
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 constitutes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	constitute	present			tree rules
3	recommend	participle			vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
4	receive	gerund	the recommended response not said here	a gift one	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme
5	not like	present · do-support	the recommended response		vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

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

Tell the giver plainly that the gift is not liked

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Tell	tell	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 giver	det
3	giver	giver	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Tell	iobj
4	plainly	plainly	ADV	_	1 Tell	advmod
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 liked	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 gift	det
7	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 liked	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 liked	aux:pass
9	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	10 liked	advmod
10	liked	like	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Tell	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	imperative	you not said here		the giver			plainly property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent giver=Recipient
2	not like	present · passive		the gift					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme

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

Thank the giver warmly for their thought and effort

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Thank	thank	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 giver	det
3	giver	giver	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Thank	obj
4	warmly	warmly	ADV	_	1 Thank	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 thought	case
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 thought	nmod:poss
7	thought	thought	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Thank	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 effort	cc
9	effort	effort	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 thought	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	thank speech: thank	present		the giver				for their thought and effort; warmly property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent giver=Theme for thought=Attribute
2	think		their = they						nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=agent

Option 3

Return the gift without saying anything at all

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Return	return	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 gift	det
3	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Return	obj
4	without	without	SCONJ	_	5 saying	mark
5	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Return	advcl
6	anything	anything	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	5 saying	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 all	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 saying	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	return	imperative	you not said here	the gift					vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gift=Theme
2	say speech: assert	gerund	you not said here	anything		all			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent anything=Topic

Option 4

Say the gift is perfect and the best ever made

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Say	say	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 gift	det
3	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 perfect	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 perfect	cop
5	perfect	perfect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Say	ccomp
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 best	cc
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 best	det
8	best	good	ADJ	Degree=Sup	5 perfect	obl
9	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	10 made	advmod
10	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 best	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	when	other	roles by
1	say speech: assert	imperative	you not said here			vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	the gift		the best obl; perfect property	tree rules
3	make	participle	the gift not said here	ever		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

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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