Exam question 4 · Litter and caring for nature

Ascertain the appropriate action upon seeing a person start a fire in the countryside.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, see, start · To what, where: appropriate action, person, fire, countryside

This is exam question 4 of lesson 239 «Litter and caring for nature» 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 action	det
3	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 action	amod
4	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
5	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	6 seeing	mark
6	seeing	see	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Ascertain	advcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 person	det
8	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 seeing	obj
9	start	start	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	1 Ascertain	conj
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 fire	det
11	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 start	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 countryside	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 countryside	det
14	countryside	countryside	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 start	obl
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate action		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent action=Topic
2	see	gerund	you not said here	a person		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer person=Stimulus
3	start	infinitive	you not said here	a fire	the countryside	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Eventuality

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

To ignore the matter entirely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 ignore	mark
2	ignore	ignore	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 matter	det
4	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ignore	obj
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 ignore	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ignore	to-infinitive		the matter				entirely property	vn neglect-75.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

To put out the fire with one's bare hands as fast as possible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 put	mark
2	put	put	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	out	out	ADP	_	2 put	compound:prt
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fire	det
5	fire	fire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 put	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	10 hands	case
7	one	one	PRON	Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 hands	nmod:poss
8	's	's	PART	_	7 one	case
9	bare	bare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 hands	amod
10	hands	hand	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 put	obl
11	as	as	ADV	_	12 fast	advmod
12	fast	fast	ADV	Degree=Pos	2 put	advmod
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	14 possible	mark
14	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 fast	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	put out	to-infinitive		the fire				with one's bare hands; fast property	vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent fire=Goal

Option 3

To argue with the person at once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 argue	mark
2	argue	argue	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	with	with	ADP	_	5 person	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 person	det
5	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 argue	obl
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 once	case
7	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	2 argue	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	argue speech: disagree	to-infinitive						with the person	vn chit_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with person=Co-Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To inform an adult, a ranger or the police without arguing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 inform	mark
2	inform	inform	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 adult	det
4	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inform	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 ranger	punct
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 ranger	det
7	ranger	ranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 adult	conj
8	or	or	CCONJ	_	10 police	cc
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 police	det
10	police	police	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 adult	conj
11	without	without	SCONJ	_	12 arguing	mark
12	arguing	argue	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 inform	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	to-infinitive			a adult and a ranger or the police				vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent adult=Recipient
2	argue speech: disagree	gerund							vn correspond-36.1-1 «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/239-litter-and-caring-for-nature/e4/