Exam question 1 · Scissors, toddlers, medicines, fire and damp at home

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the correct manner of carrying scissors?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: correct manner · What happens: follow, characteris, carry · To what, where: correct manner, scissors

This is exam question 1 of lesson 295 «Scissors, toddlers, medicines, fire and damp at home» 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	11 manner	det
10	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 manner	amod
11	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
12	of	of	SCONJ	_	13 carrying	mark
13	carrying	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 manner	acl
14	scissors	scissors	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 carrying	obj
15	?	?	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 correct manner	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	carry	gerund	the correct manner not said here	scissors		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scissors=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

Open and pointing forwards

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 forwards	amod
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 pointing	cc
3	pointing	point	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Open	conj
4	forwards	forward	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	point	gerund							vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Thrown gently to the recipient across the table

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Thrown	throw	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	gently	gently	ADV	_	1 Thrown	advmod
3	to	to	ADP	_	5 recipient	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 recipient	det
5	recipient	recipient	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Thrown	obl
6	across	across	ADP	_	8 table	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 table	det
8	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Thrown	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	throw	participle				the table		to the recipient; gently property	vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent to recipient=Destination

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Closed and pointing downwards, passed handle first

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Closed	close	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	and	and	CCONJ	_	3 pointing	cc
3	pointing	point	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Closed	conj
4	downwards	downwards	ADV	_	3 pointing	advmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 passed	punct
6	passed	pass	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 pointing	advcl
7	handle	handle	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 passed	obj
8	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	6 passed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	close	participle			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
2	point	gerund		downwards property	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	pass	participle	handle	first property	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme handle=Trajectory

Option 4

Held by the blades

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	by	by	ADP	_	4 blades	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 blades	det
4	blades	blade	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Held	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	hold	participle						by the blades	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by blade=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/295-scissors-toddlers-medicines-fire-and-damp/e1/