Exam question 4 · Telling when someone may be lying

Ascertain the step that most reliably defeats a trick based on a surprising story.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, defeat, base · To what, where: step, trick, surprising story

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 step	det
3	step	step	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 defeats	obj
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 reliably	advmod
6	reliably	reliably	ADV	_	7 defeats	advmod
7	defeats	defeat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 step	acl:relcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 trick	det
9	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 defeats	obj
10	based	base	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 trick	acl
11	on	on	ADP	_	14 story	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 story	det
13	surprising	surprising	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 story	amod
14	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 based	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the step			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent step=Topic
2	defeat	present		the step		reliably property	tree rules
3	base	participle		a trick not said here	a surprising story		vn base-97.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on story=Source

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

Asking the stranger to promise it is true

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Asking	ask	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 true	csubj
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 stranger	det
3	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Asking	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 promise	mark
5	promise	promise	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Asking	xcomp
6	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 promise	obj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 true	cop
8	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ask speech: ask	gerund		the stranger		vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent stranger=Recipient clause=Topic
2	promise speech: promise not said to happen	to-infinitive	the stranger not said here	stranger		vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent it=Theme
3	is	present	Asking		true property	tree rules

Option 2

Acting quickly before the chance is gone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Acting	act	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	7 gone	csubj
2	quickly	quickly	ADV	_	1 Acting	advmod
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 chance	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 chance	det
5	chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Acting	obl
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 gone	cop
7	gone	gone	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	act	gerund					before the chance	quickly property	vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	Acting					gone property	tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Keeping the story a secret from everyone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Keeping	keep	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 story	det
3	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Keeping	obj
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 secret	det
5	secret	secret	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Keeping	xcomp
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 everyone	case
7	everyone	everyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Tot	1 Keeping	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	gerund		the story		everyone			vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer story=Beneficiary from everyone=Eventuality

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Checking with a trusted adult before acting

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Checking	check	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	with	with	ADP	_	5 adult	case
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 adult	det
4	trusted	trust	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 adult	amod
5	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Checking	obl
6	before	before	SCONJ	_	7 acting	mark
7	acting	act	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Checking	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	other	roles by
1	check	gerund	with a trusted adult	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	trust	participle		vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	act	gerund		vn act-114-1-1 «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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/198-telling-when-someone-may-be-lying/e4/