Exam question 1 · Rumours and gossip

Identify the principal reason for which second-hand stories are frequently inaccurate.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, hand stories · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 202 «Rumours and gossip» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 inaccurate	obl
7	second	second	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	9 hand	amod
8	-	-	PUNCT	_	7 second	punct
9	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 stories	compound
10	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 inaccurate	nsubj
11	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 inaccurate	cop
12	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	13 inaccurate	advmod
13	inaccurate	inaccurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	is	present	hand stories					for the principal reason; frequently, inaccurate 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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A message is altered each time it is passed on

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 message	det
2	message	message	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 altered	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 altered	aux:pass
4	altered	alter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	6 time	det
6	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 altered	obl:unmarked
7	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 passed	nsubj:pass
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 passed	aux:pass
9	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 time	acl:relcl
10	on	on	ADP	_	9 passed	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	alter	present · passive		a message			time		vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient
2	pass on	present · passive	each time not said here	message					vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 2

Stories become more accurate with each telling

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 become	nsubj
2	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 accurate	advmod
4	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 become	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 telling	case
6	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	7 telling	det
7	telling	telling	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 accurate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	become	present	Stories					accurate property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

Option 3

Persons who repeat stories invariably intend to lie

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 intend	nsubj
2	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 repeat	nsubj
3	repeat	repeat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Persons	acl:relcl
4	stories	story	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 repeat	obj
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 intend	advmod
6	intend	intend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	to	to	PART	_	8 lie	mark
8	lie	lie	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 intend	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	repeat	present	Persons	stories		vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Eventuality
2	intend	present	Persons		invariably property	vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	lie not said to happen	to-infinitive	Persons not said here			vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

Rumours are generally fabricated by adults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Rumours	rumour	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fabricated	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 fabricated	aux:pass
3	generally	generally	ADV	_	4 fabricated	advmod
4	fabricated	fabricate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 adults	case
6	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 fabricated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fabricate	present · passive	adults	Rumours				generally property	vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result

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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