Exam question 4 · Borrowing without asking

Ascertain why the taking of an article which a parent has expressly refused to purchase constitutes a twofold wrong.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, refuse, not purchase, take · To what, where: taking, constitutes, article

This is exam question 4 of lesson 339 «Borrowing without asking» 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	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	13 refused	advmod
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 taking	det
4	taking	taking	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 refused	nsubj:pass
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 article	case
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 article	det
7	article	article	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 taking	nmod
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 has	obj
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 parent	det
10	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 has	nsubj
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 refused	aux
12	expressly	expressly	ADV	_	13 refused	advmod
13	refused	refuse	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Ascertain	advcl
14	to	to	PART	_	15 purchase	mark
15	purchase	purchase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 refused	xcomp
16	constitutes	constitute	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 purchase	obj
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 twofold	det
18	twofold	twofold	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 purchase	obj
19	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 purchase	xcomp
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	refuse	present · perfect · passive		the taking of a article	expressly property	tree rules
3	not purchase	to-infinitive		constitutes	wrong property	tree rules
4	take			a article		nom taking «act transitive»: of=patient

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 no wrong where the article is inexpensive

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	4 wrong	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 wrong	cop
3	no	no	ADV	_	4 wrong	advmod
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	9 inexpensive	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 article	det
7	article	article	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 inexpensive	nsubj
8	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 inexpensive	cop
9	inexpensive	inexpensive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 wrong	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	present	It					wrong property	tree rules
2	is	present	the article					inexpensive property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It is no wrong where the parent subsequently discovers it

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	4 wrong	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 wrong	cop
3	no	no	ADV	_	4 wrong	advmod
4	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	9 discovers	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 parent	det
7	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 discovers	nsubj
8	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	9 discovers	advmod
9	discovers	discover	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 wrong	advcl
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 discovers	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is	present	It					wrong property	tree rules
2	discover	present	the parent	it				subsequently property	vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic

Option 3

It comprises merely a single minor discourtesy

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	merely	merely	ADV	_	2 comprises	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 discourtesy	det
5	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 discourtesy	amod
6	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 discourtesy	amod
7	discourtesy	discourtesy	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	a single minor discourtesy				merely property	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme discourtesy=Pivot

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It comprises both disobedience to the parent and theft from the shop

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 comprises	nsubj
2	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	4 disobedience	det
4	disobedience	disobedience	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obj
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 parent	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 parent	det
7	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 theft	cc
9	theft	theft	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 parent	conj
10	from	from	ADP	_	12 shop	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 shop	det
12	shop	shop	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 comprises	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	comprise	present	It	both disobedience		the shop		to the parent and theft	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme disobedience=Pivot

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/339-borrowing-without-asking/e4/