Exam question 2 · Teeth, nails, baths and toilets

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the cutting of toenails?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · Who acts: toenails · What happens: follow, characteris, cut · To what, where: cutting

This is exam question 2 of lesson 208 «Teeth, nails, baths and toilets» 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 cutting	det
10	cutting	cutting	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 toenails	case
12	toenails	toenail	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 cutting	nmod
13	?	?	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 cutting of toenails	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	cut		toenails			nom cutting «act intransitive»: of=agent

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

They are torn by hand to avoid tools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 torn	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 torn	aux:pass
3	torn	tear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 hand	case
5	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 torn	obl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 avoid	mark
7	avoid	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 torn	advcl
8	tools	tool	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 avoid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tear	present · passive	hand	They					vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location subject=Theme
2	avoid	to-infinitive	hand not said here	tools					vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent tool=Location

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

They are cut straight across, lest they grow into the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cut	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	aux:pass
3	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	straight	straight	ADV	_	5 across	advmod
5	across	across	ADV	_	3 cut	advmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 grow	punct
7	lest	lest	SCONJ	_	9 grow	mark
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 grow	nsubj
9	grow	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	conj
10	into	into	ADP	_	12 skin	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 skin	det
12	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	present · passive		They				across property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	grow	present	they					into the skin result	vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into skin=Result

Option 3

They are cut in a deep curve, as close to the skin as can be managed

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cut	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	aux:pass
3	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	7 curve	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 curve	det
6	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 curve	amod
7	curve	curve	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cut	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 close	punct
9	as	as	ADP	_	10 close	case
10	close	close	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cut	parataxis
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 skin	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 skin	det
13	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 close	obl
14	as	as	ADV	_	10 close	advmod
15	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	17 managed	aux
16	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	17 managed	aux:pass
17	managed	manage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 cut	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	present · passive		They		a deep curve			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	manage	can · passive							vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V»

Option 4

They are cut as short as is possible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 cut	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cut	aux:pass
3	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	as	as	ADV	_	5 short	advmod
5	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cut	xcomp
6	as	as	ADP	_	5 short	fixed
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 possible	cop
8	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 cut	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	present · passive		They				short property	vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
2	is	present						possible property	tree rules

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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