Exam question 1 · Telling when someone may be lying

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the evidence that a person is lying?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: person · What happens: follow, characteris, lie · To what, where: evidence

This is exam question 1 of lesson 198 «Telling when someone may be lying» 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	10 evidence	det
10	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 lying	mark
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 person	det
13	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 lying	nsubj
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 lying	aux
15	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 evidence	acl
16	?	?	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 evidence	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	lie	present · progressive	a person	the evidence not said here		vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location evidence=Theme

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

Swearing "cross my heart" proves one tells the truth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Swearing	swear	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 proves	csubj
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 cross	punct
3	cross	cross	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Swearing	ccomp
4	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 heart	nmod:poss
5	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cross	obj
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 cross	punct
7	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 tells	nsubj
9	tells	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 proves	ccomp
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 truth	det
11	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 tells	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	swear	gerund			vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	cross in a quote	infinitive		my heart	vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Patient
3	prove	present	Swearing		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	tell speech: assert	present	one	the truth	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Recipient

Option 2

A lie detector reliably shows who is lying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 detector	det
2	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 detector	compound
3	detector	detector	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 shows	nsubj
4	reliably	reliably	ADV	_	5 shows	advmod
5	shows	show	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 lying	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 lying	aux
8	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 shows	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	show	present	a lie detector					reliably property	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	lie	present · progressive							vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Avoiding eye contact proves that someone is lying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Avoiding	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 proves	csubj
2	eye	eye	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 contact	compound
3	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Avoiding	obj
4	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 lying	mark
6	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	8 lying	nsubj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 lying	aux
8	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 proves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	avoid	gerund		eye contact	vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent contact=Location
2	prove	present	Avoiding		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
3	lie	present · progressive	someone		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

No single body sign proves that someone is lying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 sign	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 sign	amod
3	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 sign	compound
4	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 proves	nsubj
5	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 lying	mark
7	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	9 lying	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 lying	aux
9	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 proves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	no single body sign						vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	lie	present · progressive	someone						vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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