Exam question 1 · Standing by a friend

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the conduct of the pupil Maddie upon finding Sam surrounded by other boys?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Sam · What happens: follow, characteris, find, surround, conduct · To what, where: conduct, Sam, pupil

This is exam question 1 of lesson 370 «Standing by a friend» 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	1 Which	nmod
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 conduct	det
10	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 pupil	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 pupil	det
13	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 conduct	nmod
14	Maddie	Maddie	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
15	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	16 finding	mark
16	finding	find	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 characterises	advcl
17	Sam	Sam	PROPN	Number=Sing	16 finding	obj
18	surrounded	surround	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 finding	xcomp
19	by	by	ADP	_	21 boys	case
20	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 boys	amod
21	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 surrounded	obl:agent
22	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the conduct of the pupil	accurately property	tree rules
3	find	gerund		Sam		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent sam=Attribute clause=Theme
4	surround	participle	Sam not said here			vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme
5	conduct			the pupil		nom conduct «act 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

She struck the boys and thereby resolved the matter

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 struck	nsubj
2	struck	strike	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 boys	det
4	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 struck	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 resolved	cc
6	thereby	thereby	ADV	_	7 resolved	advmod
7	resolved	resolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 struck	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 matter	det
9	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 resolved	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strike	past	She	the boys					vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent boy=Instrument
2	resolve	past	She not said here	the matter				thereby property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

She withdrew from the scene in order to avoid trouble

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 withdrew	nsubj
2	withdrew	withdraw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 scene	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 scene	det
5	scene	scene	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 withdrew	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 order	case
7	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 withdrew	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 avoid	mark
9	avoid	avoid	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 withdrew	advcl
10	trouble	trouble	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 avoid	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	withdraw	past	She			the scene		in order	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from scene=Initial_Location
2	avoid	to-infinitive	She not said here	trouble					vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent trouble=Location

Option 3

She summoned the police by means of a telephone carried for that purpose

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 summoned	nsubj
2	summoned	summon	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	6 means	nsubj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 police	det
4	police	police	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 summoned	obj
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 means	case
6	means	mean	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 telephone	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 telephone	det
9	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 means	obl
10	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 telephone	acl
11	for	for	ADP	_	13 purpose	case
12	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 purpose	det
13	purpose	purpose	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	summon	past	She	the police		vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent police=Recipient
2	mean	present			of a telephone	vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent
3	carry	participle		a telephone not said here	for that purpose	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Her silent presence beside him caused the boys to disperse without violence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	3 presence	nmod:poss
2	silent	silent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 presence	amod
3	presence	presence	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 caused	nsubj
4	beside	beside	ADP	_	5 him	case
5	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 presence	nmod
6	caused	cause	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 boys	det
8	boys	boy	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 caused	obj
9	to	to	PART	_	10 disperse	mark
10	disperse	disperse	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 caused	xcomp
11	without	without	ADP	_	12 violence	case
12	violence	violence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 disperse	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cause	past	Her silent presence beside him	the boys					tree rules
2	disperse	to-infinitive	the boys not said here					without violence	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/370-standing-by-a-friend/e1/