Exam question 4 · Teachers, visitors and the playground

Ascertain the significance of a stranger saying «your mum sent me».

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, stranger, mum · What happens: ascertain, say, send · To what, where: significance, stranger · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 4 of lesson 257 «Teachers, visitors and the playground» 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	3 significance	det
3	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 stranger	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 stranger	det
6	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 significance	nmod
7	saying	say	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 stranger	acl
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 sent	punct
9	your	your	PRON	Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 mum	nmod:poss
10	mum	mum	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 sent	nsubj
11	sent	send	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 saying	ccomp
12	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	11 sent	obj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 sent	punct
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the significance of a stranger	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent significance=Topic
2	say speech: assert	gerund	a stranger not said here		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	send in a quote	past	your mum	a stranger = stranger	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=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

It is a usual message from parents

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	5 message	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 message	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 message	det
4	usual	usual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 message	amod
5	message	message	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	from	from	ADP	_	7 parents	case
7	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 message	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a usual message				from parents	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It proves that the stranger is safe

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 proves	nsubj
2	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 safe	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 stranger	det
5	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 safe	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 safe	cop
7	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 proves	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	It						vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	the stranger					safe property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a warning sign; children go only to named persons

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	5 sign	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 sign	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 sign	det
4	warning	warning	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 sign	compound
5	sign	sign	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 go	punct
7	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 go	nsubj
8	go	go	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 sign	parataxis
9	only	only	ADV	_	12 persons	advmod
10	to	to	ADP	_	12 persons	case
11	named	name	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 persons	amod
12	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 go	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a warning sign		tree rules
2	go	present	children		to named persons	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to person=Initial_Location
3	name	participle				vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4

It means the child must go at once, without question

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 means	nsubj
2	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 go	nsubj
5	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 go	aux
6	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 means	ccomp
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 once	case
8	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	6 go	obl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 question	punct
10	without	without	ADP	_	11 question	case
11	question	question	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 go	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mean	present	It						vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	go	must	the child						vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at once=Location

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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