Exam question 2 · Wimp, scaredy-cat and other labels

Identify the principal reason why the pupil Sam was prudent in declining to enter the building site.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, pupil · What happens: identify, be, decline, not enter · To what, where: principal reason, building site

This is exam question 2 of lesson 367 «Wimp, scaredy-cat and other labels» 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	why	why	ADV	PronType=Int	10 prudent	advmod
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 pupil	det
7	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 prudent	nsubj
8	Sam	Sam	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 pupil	appos
9	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	10 prudent	cop
10	prudent	prudent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Identify	parataxis
11	in	in	SCONJ	_	12 declining	mark
12	declining	decline	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 prudent	advcl
13	to	to	PART	_	14 enter	mark
14	enter	enter	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 declining	xcomp
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 site	det
16	building	building	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 site	compound
17	site	site	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 enter	obj
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	is	past	the pupil		prudent property	tree rules
3	decline	gerund	the pupil not said here			vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
4	not enter	to-infinitive	the pupil not said here	the building site		vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme site=Destination

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 fence had been recently painted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fence	det
2	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 painted	nsubj:pass
3	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 painted	aux
4	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	6 painted	aux:pass
5	recently	recently	ADV	_	6 painted	advmod
6	painted	paint	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	paint	past · perfect · passive		the fence				recently property	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination

Option 2

Construction sites are open to the public at weekends

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Construction	construction	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sites	compound
2	sites	site	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 open	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 open	cop
4	open	open	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	7 public	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 public	det
7	public	public	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 open	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	9 weekends	case
9	weekends	weekend	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 open	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Construction sites				weekend	to the public; open property	tree rules

Option 3

His companions were unwilling to accompany him over the fence at that hour

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 companions	nmod:poss
2	companions	companion	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 unwilling	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 unwilling	aux
4	unwilling	unwill	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 accompany	mark
6	accompany	accompany	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 unwilling	xcomp
7	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 accompany	obj
8	over	over	ADP	_	10 fence	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 fence	det
10	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 accompany	obl
11	at	at	ADP	_	13 hour	case
12	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 hour	det
13	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 accompany	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	unwill	past · progressive	His companions						tree rules
2	accompany	to-infinitive	His companions not said here	him = he		the fence	hour		vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme over fence=Destination

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Building sites present serious hazards and are prohibited

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Building	building	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sites	compound
2	sites	site	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 present	nsubj
3	present	present	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	serious	serious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 hazards	amod
5	hazards	hazard	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 present	obj
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 prohibited	cc
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 prohibited	aux:pass
8	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 present	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	present	present	Building sites	serious hazards					vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hazard=Theme
2	prohibit	present · passive	Building sites not said here						vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»

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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