Exam question 2 · Coins, pocket money, saving, spending wisely and planning…

Identify the principal reason for which a cheap item that breaks quickly may prove costly.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, cheap item · What happens: identify, break, prove · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 2 of lesson 308 «Coins, pocket money, saving, spending wisely and planning time» 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	Identify	identify	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 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 prove	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 item	det
8	cheap	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 item	amod
9	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 prove	nsubj
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 breaks	nsubj
11	breaks	break	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 item	acl:relcl
12	quickly	quickly	ADV	_	11 breaks	advmod
13	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 prove	aux
14	prove	prove	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
15	costly	costly	ADV	_	14 prove	advmod
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	break	present	a cheap item		quickly property	vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
3	prove	may	a cheap item		for the principal reason; costly property	vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=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

Cheap items lose value at once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cheap	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 lose	nsubj
3	lose	lose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	value	value	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 lose	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 once	case
6	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	3 lose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lose	present	Cheap items	value					vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent value=Eventuality

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It may cost more over time than one item that lasts

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 cost	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 cost	aux
3	cost	cost	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 cost	obj
5	over	over	ADP	_	6 time	case
6	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cost	obl
7	than	than	ADP	_	9 item	case
8	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 item	nummod
9	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cost	obl
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 lasts	nsubj
11	lasts	last	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 item	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cost	may	It	more			time	than one item	vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme more=Value
2	last	present	one item						vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Cheap items cannot be returned

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cheap	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 returned	nsubj:pass
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 returned	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	6 returned	advmod
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 returned	aux:pass
6	returned	return	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not return	can · passive		Cheap items					vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

Cheap items are taxed more heavily

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cheap	cheap	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 items	amod
2	items	item	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 taxed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 taxed	aux:pass
4	taxed	tax	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 taxed	advmod
6	heavily	heavily	ADV	_	4 taxed	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tax	present · passive		Cheap items				heavily property	vn bill-54.5-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient

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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