Exam question 4 · Confession, prayer and making amends at church

State the measure recommended as most conducive to the alteration of a habit of idle mischief.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: state, recommend, alter · To what, where: measure, habit

This is exam question 4 of lesson 365 «Confession, prayer and making amends at church» 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	State	state	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 measure	det
3	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 State	obj
4	recommended	recommend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 measure	acl
5	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 conducive	mark
6	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 conducive	amod
7	conducive	conducive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 recommended	xcomp
8	to	to	ADP	_	10 alteration	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 alteration	det
10	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 conducive	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 habit	case
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 habit	det
13	habit	habit	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 alteration	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 mischief	case
15	idle	idle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 mischief	amod
16	mischief	mischief	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 habit	nmod
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 State	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	imperative	you not said here	the measure		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent measure=Topic
2	recommend	participle		the measure not said here	conducive property	vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent
3	alter			a habit of idle mischief		nom alteration «event 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

The confinement of the child indoors indefinitely

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 confinement	det
2	confinement	confinement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 child	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 child	det
5	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 confinement	nmod
6	indoors	indoors	ADV	_	2 confinement	advmod
7	indefinitely	indefinitely	ADV	_	2 confinement	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine			the child					nom confinement «state transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

The repetition of promises without any change in the child's circumstances

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 repetition	det
2	repetition	repetition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 promises	case
4	promises	promise	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 repetition	nmod
5	without	without	ADP	_	7 change	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 change	det
7	change	change	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 promises	nmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	12 circumstances	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 child	det
10	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 circumstances	nmod:poss
11	's	's	PART	_	10 child	case
12	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 change	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat		promises without any change in the child's circumstances						nom repetition «event intransitive»: of=agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The reduction of idle time and of the company of those who encourage mischief

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 reduction	det
2	reduction	reduction	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 time	case
4	idle	idle	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 time	amod
5	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduction	nmod
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 company	cc
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 company	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 company	det
9	company	company	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reduction	conj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 those	case
11	those	that	PRON	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	9 company	nmod
12	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	13 encourage	nsubj
13	encourage	encourage	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 those	acl:relcl
14	mischief	mischief	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 encourage	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	encourage	present		mischief					vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mischief=Theme
2	reduce			idle time					nom reduction «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

The avoidance of all friends whatsoever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 avoidance	det
2	avoidance	avoidance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 friends	case
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 friends	det
5	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 avoidance	nmod
6	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	5 friends	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	avoid			all friends					nom avoidance «act 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.

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