Exam question 1 · Getting help is not telling tales

Which of the following statements most accurately distinguishes «telling tales» from «seeking assistance»?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: telling tales · What happens: follow, distinguish, tell, seek · To what, where: telling tales, assistance · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 1 of lesson 369 «Getting help is not telling tales» 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 distinguishes	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 distinguishes	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 distinguishes	advmod
8	distinguishes	distinguish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	11 tales	punct
10	telling	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 tales	amod
11	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 distinguishes	obj
12	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 tales	punct
13	from	from	SCONJ	_	15 seeking	mark
14	«	«	PUNCT	_	15 seeking	punct
15	seeking	seek	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 tales	acl
16	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 seeking	obj
17	»	»	PUNCT	_	11 tales	punct
18	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 distinguishes	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	distinguish	present		telling tales	of the following statements; accurately property	vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Attribute tale=Theme
3	tell speech: assert in a quote	gerund				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	seek in a quote	gerund	telling tales not said here	assistance		vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assistance=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 · ✓ the right answer

Seeking assistance concerns harm, danger or repeated bullying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Seeking	seek	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 concerns	compound
3	concerns	concern	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Seeking	obj
4	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Seeking	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 danger	punct
6	danger	danger	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 harm	conj
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	9 bullying	cc
8	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 bullying	amod
9	bullying	bullying	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 harm	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seek	gerund		assistance concerns					tree rules
2	repeat	participle							vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

Option 2

Seeking assistance concerns trivial matters only

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Seeking	seek	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 matters	csubj
2	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 concerns	compound
3	concerns	concern	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Seeking	obj
4	trivial	trivial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Seeking	xcomp
5	matters	matter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	only	only	ADV	_	5 matters	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	seek	gerund		assistance concerns				trivial property	vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent concern=Theme
2	matter	present	Seeking						vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Telling tales concerns injuries requiring a doctor

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Telling	tell	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 injuries	csubj
2	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Telling	obj
3	concerns	concern	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 injuries	compound
4	injuries	injury	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
5	requiring	require	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 injuries	acl
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 doctor	det
7	doctor	doctor	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 requiring	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	gerund		tales					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient
2	require	gerund	concerns injuries not said here	a doctor					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme doctor=Precondition

Option 4

The two terms are entirely interchangeable in ordinary usage

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 terms	det
2	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	3 terms	nummod
3	terms	term	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 interchangeable	nsubj
4	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 interchangeable	cop
5	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	6 interchangeable	advmod
6	interchangeable	interchangeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 usage	case
8	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 usage	amod
9	usage	usage	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 interchangeable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	the two terms			ordinary usage		entirely, interchangeable property	tree rules

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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