Exam question 4 · Teeth, nails, baths and toilets

Ascertain the principal reason for which the hands are washed with soap after use of the toilet.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, wash, use · To what, where: principal reason, hands, toilet

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	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 Ascertain	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 washed	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 hands	det
8	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 washed	nsubj:pass
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 washed	aux:pass
10	washed	wash	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
11	with	with	ADP	_	12 soap	case
12	soap	soap	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 washed	obl
13	after	after	ADP	_	14 use	case
14	use	use	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 washed	obl
15	of	of	ADP	_	17 toilet	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 toilet	det
17	toilet	toilet	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 use	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	wash	present · passive		the hands	after use of the toilet	for the principal reason; with soap	vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with soap=Instrument
3	use			the toilet			nom use «act transitive»: of=patient

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

It is required only in schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 required	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 schools	advmod
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 schools	case
6	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 required	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		It		schools			vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It removes the need to wash before meals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 removes	nsubj
2	removes	remove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 need	det
4	need	need	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 removes	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 wash	mark
6	wash	wash	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 removes	advcl
7	before	before	ADP	_	8 meals	case
8	meals	meal	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 wash	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	remove	present	It	the need					vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent need=Theme
2	wash	to-infinitive					before meals		vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It prevents the spread of germs causing stomach illnesses

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 prevents	nsubj
2	prevents	prevent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 spread	det
4	spread	spread	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prevents	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 germs	case
6	germs	germ	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 spread	nmod
7	causing	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 germs	acl
8	stomach	stomach	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 illnesses	compound
9	illnesses	illness	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 causing	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	prevent	present	It	the spread of germs	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer spread=Theme
2	cause	gerund	germs not said here	stomach illnesses	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition illness=Patient
3	spread			germs	nom spread «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It is a custom of long standing without any benefit to health

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 custom	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 custom	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 custom	det
4	custom	custom	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 standing	case
6	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 standing	amod
7	standing	standing	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 custom	nmod
8	without	without	ADP	_	10 benefit	case
9	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	10 benefit	det
10	benefit	benefit	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 custom	nmod
11	to	to	ADP	_	12 health	case
12	health	health	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 benefit	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a custom				of long standing; without any benefit to health	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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