Exam question 4 · Excuses and the lies that grow

Ascertain the purpose of minimum age and height requirements applicable to amusement rides.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, minimum age · What happens: ascertain, purpose · To what, where: purpose

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 purpose	det
3	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 age	case
5	minimum	minimum	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 age	amod
6	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 purpose	nmod
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 requirements	cc
8	height	height	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 requirements	compound
9	requirements	requirement	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 age	conj
10	applicable	applicable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 requirements	amod
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 rides	case
12	amusement	amusement	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 rides	compound
13	rides	ride	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 applicable	obl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the purpose of minimum age and height requirements					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Topic
2	purpose		minimum age and height requirements						nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice

They serve no purpose whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	4 purpose	det
4	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 serve	obj
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They	no purpose				whatsoever property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent purpose=Attribute

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

They serve to protect the safety of riders

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 protect	mark
4	protect	protect	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 safety	det
6	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 protect	obj
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 riders	case
8	riders	rider	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 safety	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They						vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	protect	to-infinitive	They not said here	the safety of riders					vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent safety=Beneficiary

Option 3

They serve exclusively to increase the revenue of the operator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 increase	mark
5	increase	increase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 revenue	det
7	revenue	revenue	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 increase	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 operator	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 operator	det
10	operator	operator	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 revenue	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They					exclusively property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	increase	to-infinitive	They not said here	the revenue of the operator					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer revenue=Patient

Option 4

They serve solely to diminish the enjoyment of younger children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 serve	nsubj
2	serve	serve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	solely	solely	ADV	_	2 serve	advmod
4	to	to	PART	_	5 diminish	mark
5	diminish	diminish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 serve	advcl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 enjoyment	det
7	enjoyment	enjoyment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 diminish	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 children	case
9	younger	young	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	10 children	amod
10	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 enjoyment	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	serve	present	They		solely property	vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent
2	diminish	to-infinitive	They not said here	the enjoyment of younger children		vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer enjoyment=Patient
3	enjoy			younger children		nom enjoyment «feeling transitive»: of=patient

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/337-excuses-and-the-lies-that-grow/e4/