Exam question 1 · Rude words at the table

Identify the principal reason for which a word of unknown meaning may nonetheless cause offence when uttered.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, word, offence · What happens: identify, cause, utter, word · To what, where: principal reason, offence, unknown meaning

This is exam question 1 of lesson 354 «Rude words at the table» 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	14 cause	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 word	det
8	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 cause	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 meaning	case
10	unknown	unknown	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 meaning	amod
11	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 word	nmod
12	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	14 cause	aux
13	nonetheless	nonetheless	ADV	_	14 cause	advmod
14	cause	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
15	offence	offence	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 cause	obj
16	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	17 uttered	advmod
17	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 cause	xcomp
18	.	.	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	cause	may	a word of unknown meaning	offence	for the principal reason; nonetheless property	tree rules
3	utter speech: other	participle	offence not said here			vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
4	word			unknown meaning		nom word «communication 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 · ← Mova's choice

Words can cause offence only when the speaker knows precisely what they mean

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cause	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 cause	aux
3	cause	cause	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	offence	offence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cause	obj
5	only	only	ADV	_	9 knows	advmod
6	when	when	SCONJ	_	9 knows	mark
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 speaker	det
8	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 knows	nsubj
9	knows	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 cause	conj
10	precisely	precisely	ADV	_	11 what	advmod
11	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	13 mean	obj
12	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 mean	nsubj
13	mean	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 knows	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	cause	can	Words	offence	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition offence=Patient
2	know	present	the speaker		vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
3	mean	present	Words = word		vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Its offensiveness depends on the listener and not on the speaker's knowledge

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 offensiveness	nmod:poss
2	offensiveness	offensiveness	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 depends	nsubj
3	depends	depend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	on	on	ADP	_	6 listener	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 listener	det
6	listener	listener	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 depends	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	13 knowledge	cc
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	13 knowledge	advmod
9	on	on	ADP	_	13 knowledge	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 speaker	det
11	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 knowledge	nmod:poss
12	's	's	PART	_	11 speaker	case
13	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 listener	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depend	present	Its offensiveness					on the listener and the speaker's knowledge	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent on listener=Theme

Option 3

Offence is caused solely by volume

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Offence	offence	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 caused	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 caused	aux:pass
3	caused	cause	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 caused	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 volume	case
6	volume	volume	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 caused	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	present · passive	volume	Offence				solely property	vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient

Option 4

Words uttered at mealtimes cannot offend

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 offend	nsubj
2	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Words	acl
3	at	at	ADP	_	4 mealtimes	case
4	mealtimes	mealtime	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 uttered	obl
5	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 offend	aux
6	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	7 offend	advmod
7	offend	offend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		Words not said here		mealtimes			vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	not offend	can	Words						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

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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