Exam question 2 · Excuses and the lies that grow

Identify the principal reason for which parents require accurate knowledge of the whereabouts of a child.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, parents · What happens: identify, require · To what, where: principal reason, accurate knowledge

This is exam question 2 of lesson 337 «Excuses and the lies that grow» 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	8 require	obl
7	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 require	nsubj
8	require	require	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl:relcl
9	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 knowledge	amod
10	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 require	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 whereabouts	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 whereabouts	det
13	whereabouts	whereabouts	NOUN	Number=Ptan	10 knowledge	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 child	case
15	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 child	det
16	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 whereabouts	nmod
17	.	.	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	require	present	parents	accurate knowledge of the whereabouts of a child				for the principal reason	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme knowledge=Precondition

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 of no practical significance

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	6 significance	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 significance	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 significance	case
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 significance	det
5	practical	practical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 significance	amod
6	significance	significance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of no practical significance	tree rules

Option 2

It enables them to regulate his friendships entirely and to forbid any visits

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 enables	nsubj
2	enables	enable	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 enables	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 regulate	mark
5	regulate	regulate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 enables	xcomp
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 friendships	nmod:poss
7	friendships	friendship	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 regulate	obj
8	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 regulate	advmod
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 forbid	cc
10	to	to	PART	_	11 forbid	mark
11	forbid	forbid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 regulate	conj
12	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	13 visits	det
13	visits	visit	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 forbid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	enable	present	It	them = they		tree rules
2	regulate	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	his friendships	entirely property	tree rules
3	forbid	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	any visits		vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer visit=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It enables them to ensure his safety and to locate him in an emergency

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 enables	nsubj
2	enables	enable	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 enables	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 ensure	mark
5	ensure	ensure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 enables	xcomp
6	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 safety	nmod:poss
7	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ensure	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 locate	cc
9	to	to	PART	_	10 locate	mark
10	locate	locate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 ensure	conj
11	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 locate	obj
12	in	in	ADP	_	14 emergency	case
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 emergency	det
14	emergency	emergency	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 locate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	enable	present	It	them = they		tree rules
2	ensure	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	his safety		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition safety=Theme
3	locate	to-infinitive	them = they not said here	him = he	a emergency	tree rules

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is required solely for the purpose of punishment

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 required	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 required	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 purpose	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 purpose	det
7	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 required	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 punishment	case
9	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 purpose	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		It				for the purpose of punishment; solely property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition
2	purpose		punishment						nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

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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