Exam question 4 · Rumours and gossip

Ascertain which question most effectively tests the veracity of a rumour.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, question · What happens: ascertain, test · To what, where: veracity

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	3 question	det
3	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tests	nsubj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 effectively	advmod
5	effectively	effectively	ADV	_	6 tests	advmod
6	tests	test	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	ccomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 veracity	det
8	veracity	veracity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 tests	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 rumour	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 rumour	det
11	rumour	rumour	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 veracity	nmod
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here						vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	test	present	which question	the veracity of a rumour				effectively property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent veracity=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

«How do you know that?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 know	punct
2	How	how	ADV	PronType=Int	5 know	advmod
3	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 know	aux
4	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	5 know	nsubj
5	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 know	obj
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 know	punct
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 know	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know in a quote	present · do-support	you	that					vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus

Option 2

«Who else has heard this?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 heard	punct
2	Who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 heard	nsubj
3	else	else	ADV	_	2 Who	advmod
4	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 heard	aux
5	heard	hear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
6	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 heard	obj
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 heard	punct
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 heard	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hear in a quote	present · perfect		this					vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus

Option 3

«Is it not exciting?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	5 exciting	punct
2	Is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 exciting	cop
3	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 exciting	nsubj
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 exciting	advmod
5	exciting	exciting	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 exciting	punct
7	»	»	PUNCT	_	5 exciting	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is in a quote	present	it					exciting property	tree rules

Option 4

«May I tell my friends?»

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	«	«	PUNCT	_	4 tell	punct
2	May	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 tell	aux
3	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	4 tell	nsubj
4	tell	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 friends	nmod:poss
6	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 tell	obj
7	?	?	PUNCT	_	4 tell	punct
8	»	»	PUNCT	_	4 tell	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert in a quote	may	I		my friends				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent friend=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.

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