Exam question 1 · Speaking up is bravery too

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the act of reporting a witnessed incident to the head teacher in the presence of the assembled school?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: act · What happens: follow, characteris, report, witness, assemble · To what, where: act, witnessed incident, head teacher, presence

This is exam question 1 of lesson 368 «Speaking up is bravery too» 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 act	det
10	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 reporting	mark
12	reporting	report	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 act	acl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 incident	det
14	witnessed	witness	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 incident	amod
15	incident	incident	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 reporting	obj
16	to	to	ADP	_	19 teacher	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 teacher	det
18	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 teacher	compound
19	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 reporting	obl
20	in	in	ADP	_	22 presence	case
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 presence	det
22	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 reporting	obl
23	of	of	ADP	_	26 school	case
24	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	26 school	det
25	assembled	assemble	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	26 school	amod
26	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 presence	nmod
27	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund						vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the act			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	report	gerund	the act not said here	a witnessed incident	the head teacher	the presence of the assembled school		vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent incident=Topic to teacher=Recipient
4	witness	participle						vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent
5	assemble	participle						vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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 indicates chiefly a desire to obtain favour with the members of staff present

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 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	_	5 desire	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 desire	det
5	desire	desire	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 obtain	mark
7	obtain	obtain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 indicates	advcl
8	favour	favour	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 obtain	obj
9	with	with	ADP	_	11 members	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 members	det
11	members	member	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 obtain	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 present	case
13	staff	staff	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 present	compound
14	present	present	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 members	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It	a desire					vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot desire=Topic
2	obtain	to-infinitive		favour				with the members of staff present	vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset favour=Theme

Option 2

It is an act of disloyalty towards other pupils

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 act	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 act	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 act	det
4	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 disloyalty	case
6	disloyalty	disloyalty	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 act	nmod
7	towards	towards	ADP	_	9 pupils	case
8	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 pupils	amod
9	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 act	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a act				of disloyalty; towards other pupils	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It constitutes a form of courage notwithstanding visible nervousness

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 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 form	det
4	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 courage	case
6	courage	courage	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 form	nmod
7	notwithstanding	notwithstand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 courage	acl
8	visible	visible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 nervousness	amod
9	nervousness	nervousness	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 notwithstanding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a form of courage	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme form=Pivot
2	notwithstand	gerund	courage not said here	visible nervousness	tree rules
3	form			courage	nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It is of no value unless performed without fear

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	5 value	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 value	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 value	case
4	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	5 value	det
5	value	value	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	unless	unless	SCONJ	_	7 performed	mark
7	performed	perform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 value	acl
8	without	without	ADP	_	9 fear	case
9	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 performed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of no value	tree rules
2	perform a condition, not said to happen	participle		no value not said here				without fear	vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: 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.

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