Exam question 1 · Little lies at home

Identify the principal reason for which a parent may impose a sanction more severe for a falsehood than for the minor offence it was intended to conceal.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, parent, minor offence · What happens: identify, impose, intend, conceal · To what, where: principal reason, sanction, parent

This is exam question 1 of lesson 336 «Little lies 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	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	10 impose	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 parent	det
8	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 impose	nsubj
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	10 impose	aux
10	impose	impose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	parataxis
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 sanction	det
12	sanction	sanction	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 impose	obj
13	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	14 severe	advmod
14	severe	severe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 impose	advcl
15	for	for	ADP	_	17 falsehood	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 falsehood	det
17	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 impose	obl
18	than	than	ADP	_	22 offence	case
19	for	for	ADP	_	22 offence	case
20	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 offence	det
21	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 offence	amod
22	offence	offence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 impose	obl
23	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	25 intended	nsubj:pass
24	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	25 intended	aux:pass
25	intended	intend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	22 offence	acl:relcl
26	to	to	PART	_	27 conceal	mark
27	conceal	conceal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	25 intended	xcomp
28	.	.	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	impose	may	a parent	a sanction	for the principal reason; for a falsehood; than the minor offence	vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sanction=Theme
3	intend	past · passive	the minor offence not said here	parent		tree rules
4	conceal not said to happen	to-infinitive	the minor offence not said here			vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: 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

Parents are obliged by law to punish all falsehoods more severely than other faults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 obliged	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obliged	aux:pass
3	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	5 law	case
5	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 obliged	obl
6	to	to	PART	_	7 punish	mark
7	punish	punish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 obliged	advcl
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 falsehoods	det
9	falsehoods	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 punish	obj
10	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	11 severely	advmod
11	severely	severely	ADV	_	7 punish	advmod
12	than	than	ADP	_	14 faults	case
13	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 faults	amod
14	faults	fault	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 severely	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive	law	Parents					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient
2	punish	to-infinitive	law not said here	all falsehoods				severely property	vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent falsehood=Patient

Option 2

The falsehood is of no consequence whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 consequence	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 consequence	cop
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 consequence	case
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 consequence	det
6	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	6 consequence	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the falsehood					of no consequence; whatsoever property	tree rules

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

The falsehood undermines the trust upon which the relationship depends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 undermines	nsubj
3	undermines	undermine	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 trust	det
5	trust	trust	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 undermines	obj
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 depends	obl
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 relationship	det
9	relationship	relationship	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 depends	nsubj
10	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 trust	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	undermine	present	the falsehood	the trust					tree rules
2	depend	present	the relationship					upon the trust	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

Option 4

The minor offence is invariably of great financial consequence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 offence	det
2	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 offence	amod
3	offence	offence	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 consequence	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 consequence	cop
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	9 consequence	advmod
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 consequence	case
7	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 consequence	amod
8	financial	financial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 consequence	amod
9	consequence	consequence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the minor offence					of great financial consequence; invariably property	tree rules

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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