Exam question 2 · Saying no honestly, harmful lies, cheating in games and te…
Identify the principal reason for which a person need not invent an excuse when declining an invitation.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, person · What happens: identify, not invent, decline · To what, where: principal reason, excuse, invitation
This is exam question 2 of lesson 333 «Saying no honestly, harmful lies, cheating in games and tests, jokes and teasing» 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 | 11 invent | obl |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 person | det |
| 8 | person | person | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 invent | nsubj |
| 9 | need | need | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 11 invent | aux |
| 10 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 invent | advmod |
| 11 | invent | invent | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 reason | acl |
| 12 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 excuse | det |
| 13 | excuse | excuse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 invent | obj |
| 14 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 15 declining | advmod |
| 15 | declining | decline | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 invent | advcl |
| 16 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 invitation | det |
| 17 | invitation | invitation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 declining | obj |
| 18 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | 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 | not invent | present | a person | a excuse | for the principal reason | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent excuse=Result for which=Beneficiary | |||
| 3 | decline | gerund | a person not said here | a invitation | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent invitation=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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
One does not owe everyone a reason for saying no
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 4 owe | nsubj |
| 2 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 owe | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 owe | advmod |
| 4 | owe | owe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | everyone | everyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 4 owe | iobj |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 reason | det |
| 7 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 owe | obj |
| 8 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 9 saying | mark |
| 9 | saying | say | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 reason | acl |
| 10 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 9 saying | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not owe | present · do-support | One | a reason | everyone | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent everyone=Goal reason=Theme | |||
| 2 | say speech: assert | gerund | a reason not said here | no | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent no=Topic |
Option 2
Excuses are prohibited by law
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Excuses | excuse | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 prohibited | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 prohibited | aux:pass |
| 3 | prohibited | prohibit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | by | by | ADP | _ | 5 law | case |
| 5 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 prohibited | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prohibit | present · passive | law | Excuses | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme |
Option 3
Invitations cannot be refused
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invitations | invitation | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 refused | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 refused | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 refused | advmod |
| 4 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 refused | aux:pass |
| 5 | refused | refuse | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not refuse | can · passive | Invitations | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
Option 4
Excuses are always discovered by the host in the end
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Excuses | excuse | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 discovered | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 discovered | aux:pass |
| 3 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 4 discovered | advmod |
| 4 | discovered | discover | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 host | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 host | det |
| 7 | host | host | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 discovered | obl:agent |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 end | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 end | det |
| 10 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 discovered | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | discover | present · passive | the host | Excuses | in the end | always property | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
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/333-saying-no-honestly-harmful-lies-cheating-jokes-and-teasing/e2/