Exam question 4 · Self-defence or just stupid?

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning insults directed at a pupil's family member.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: select, establish, direct · To what, where: response, concerning insults

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concerning	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 insults	amod
10	insults	insult	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 facts	conj
11	directed	direct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 insults	acl
12	at	at	ADP	_	17 member	case
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 pupil	det
14	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 member	nmod:poss
15	's	's	PART	_	14 pupil	case
16	family	family	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 member	compound
17	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 directed	obl:agent
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	direct	participle		concerning insults not said here		vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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

They are permissible only when uttered in jest

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 permissible	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 permissible	cop
3	permissible	permissible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	6 uttered	advmod
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	6 uttered	advmod
6	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 permissible	advcl
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 jest	case
8	jest	jest	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 uttered	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	They					permissible property	tree rules
2	utter speech: other	participle	They not said here			jest			vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent

Option 2

They justify a single blow but no more

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 justify	nsubj
2	justify	justify	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 blow	det
4	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 blow	amod
5	blow	blow	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 justify	obj
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 more	cc
7	no	no	ADV	_	8 more	advmod
8	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 justify	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	justify speech: other	present	They	a single blow					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Topic

Option 3

They constitute an assault upon the person which warrants an immediate physical response

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitute	nsubj
2	constitute	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 assault	det
4	assault	assault	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitute	obj
5	upon	upon	ADP	_	7 person	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 person	det
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitute	obl
8	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 warrants	nsubj
9	warrants	warrant	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 person	acl:relcl
10	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 response	det
11	immediate	immediate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 response	amod
12	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 response	amod
13	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 warrants	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	They	a assault				upon the person	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme assault=Pivot
2	warrant	present	the person	a immediate physical response					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They do not constitute a physical attack and do not justify striking another

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 constitute	nsubj
2	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 constitute	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 constitute	advmod
4	constitute	constitute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 attack	det
6	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 attack	amod
7	attack	attack	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 constitute	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 justify	cc
9	do	do	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 justify	aux
10	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	11 justify	advmod
11	justify	justify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 constitute	conj
12	striking	strike	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 justify	xcomp
13	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	12 striking	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	not constitute	present · do-support	They	a physical attack	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme attack=Pivot
2	not justify speech: other	infinitive · do-support	They not said here		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
3	strike	gerund	They not said here	another	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=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.

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