Exam question 2 · Promises to friends and to yourself

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the sale of an article previously promised to another?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sale · What happens: follow, characteris, promise · To what, where: another

This is exam question 2 of lesson 359 «Promises to friends and to yourself» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 sale	det
10	sale	sale	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 promised	nsubj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 article	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 article	det
13	article	article	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 sale	nmod
14	previously	previously	ADV	_	15 promised	advmod
15	promised	promise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
16	to	to	ADP	_	17 another	case
17	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	15 promised	obl
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	to whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	promise speech: promise	past	the sale of a article	another	previously property	vn promise-37.13 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Agent to another=Recipient

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

It is permissible if the promise was spoken

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 permissible	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 permissible	cop
3	permissible	permissible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	if	if	SCONJ	_	8 spoken	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 promise	det
6	promise	promise	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 spoken	nsubj:pass
7	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 spoken	aux:pass
8	spoken	speak	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 permissible	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					permissible property	tree rules
2	speak speech: other a condition, not said to happen	past · passive		the promise					tree rules

Option 2

It is permissible provided that the price obtained for the article is a fair one

The tree, 15 words

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 provided	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 provided	aux:pass
3	permissible	permissible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 provided	amod
4	provided	provide	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 one	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 price	det
7	price	price	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 one	nsubj
8	obtained	obtain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 price	acl
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 article	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 article	det
11	article	article	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 obtained	obl
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 one	cop
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 one	det
14	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 one	amod
15	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	provide	present · passive		It		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	obtain	participle		the price not said here	for the article	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent for article=Asset
3	is a	present	the price	a fair one		tree rules

Option 3

It is obligatory where money is needed

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 obligatory	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obligatory	cop
3	obligatory	obligatory	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	7 needed	advmod
5	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 needed	nsubj:pass
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 needed	aux:pass
7	needed	need	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 obligatory	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					obligatory property	tree rules
2	need	present · passive		money					vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is wrong, since the article was no longer the promiser's to dispose of

The tree, 15 words

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 wrong	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 wrong	cop
3	wrong	wrong	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 dispose	punct
5	since	since	SCONJ	_	15 dispose	mark
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 article	det
7	article	article	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 promiser	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 promiser	cop
9	no	no	ADV	_	10 longer	advmod
10	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	12 promiser	advmod
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 promiser	det
12	promiser	promiser	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 dispose	nsubj
13	's	's	PART	_	12 promiser	case
14	to	to	PART	_	15 dispose	mark
15	dispose	dispose	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 wrong	conj
16	of	of	ADP	_	15 dispose	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	It	wrong property	tree rules
2	is	past	the article	's the promiser; long property	tree rules
3	dispose	to-infinitive	the promiser		vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/359-promises-to-friends-and-to-yourself/e2/