Exam question 3 · Self-defence or just stupid?

Determine the conduct most consistent with personal safety in respect of an unrestrained dog advancing upon a child.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, unrestrained dog · What happens: determine, advance, respect · To what, where: conduct, unrestrained dog

This is exam question 3 of lesson 377 «Self-defence or just stupid?» 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	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 conduct	det
3	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 consistent	advmod
5	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 conduct	amod
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 safety	case
7	personal	personal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 safety	amod
8	safety	safety	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consistent	obl
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 respect	case
10	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 safety	nmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	14 dog	case
12	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 dog	det
13	unrestrained	unrestrained	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 dog	amod
14	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 respect	nmod
15	advancing	advance	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	14 dog	acl
16	upon	upon	ADP	_	18 child	case
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 child	det
18	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 advancing	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the conduct		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Topic
2	advance	gerund	a unrestrained dog not said here		upon a child	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	respect			a unrestrained dog		nom respect «cognition 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

Waving the arms vigorously and shouting at the animal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waving	wave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 arms	det
3	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Waving	obj
4	vigorously	vigorously	ADV	_	1 Waving	advmod
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 shouting	cc
6	shouting	shout	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Waving	conj
7	at	at	ADP	_	9 animal	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 animal	det
9	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 shouting	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wave	gerund		the arms				vigorously property	vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient
2	shout speech: express	gerund						at the animal	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Fleeing at the greatest possible speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fleeing	flee	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	at	at	ADP	_	6 speed	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 speed	det
4	greatest	great	ADJ	Degree=Sup	6 speed	amod
5	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 speed	amod
6	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Fleeing	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	flee	gerund				the greatest possible speed			vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Remaining motionless with arms lowered and summoning the owner

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Remaining	remain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Remaining	xcomp
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 arms	case
4	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 motionless	obl
5	lowered	lower	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 arms	acl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 summoning	cc
7	summoning	summon	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Remaining	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 owner	det
9	owner	owner	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 summoning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	remain	gerund		motionless property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	lower	participle	arms not said here		vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
3	summon	gerund	the owner		vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent owner=Recipient

Option 4

Advancing steadily towards the dog in order to intimidate it and drive it off

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Advancing	advance	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	steadily	steadily	ADV	_	1 Advancing	advmod
3	towards	towards	ADP	_	5 dog	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 dog	det
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Advancing	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	7 order	case
7	order	order	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Advancing	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 intimidate	mark
9	intimidate	intimidate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Advancing	advcl
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 intimidate	obj
11	and	and	CCONJ	_	12 drive	cc
12	drive	drive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 intimidate	conj
13	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 drive	obj
14	off	off	ADP	_	12 drive	compound:prt

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	advance	gerund		order	towards the dog; steadily property	vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme towards dog=Initial_Location
2	intimidate	to-infinitive	order			vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer
3	drive off	infinitive	order			vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme it=Trajectory

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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