Exam question 3 · Maddie and Chloe's plaits

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises embarrassment as a cause of physical harm inflicted upon another?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris, inflict, cause · To what, where: embarrassment, physical harm

This is exam question 3 of lesson 380 «Maddie and Chloe's plaits» 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	embarrassment	embarrassment	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	as	as	ADP	_	12 cause	case
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 cause	det
12	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
13	of	of	ADP	_	15 harm	case
14	physical	physical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 harm	amod
15	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 cause	nmod
16	inflicted	inflict	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	15 harm	acl
17	upon	upon	ADP	_	18 another	case
18	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	16 inflicted	obl
19	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present	embarrassment	of the following statements; as a cause of physical harm; accurately property	tree rules
3	inflict	participle	physical harm not said here	upon another	tree rules
4	cause		physical harm		nom cause «event 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

It renders the act harmless

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 renders	nsubj
2	renders	render	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 act	det
4	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 renders	obj
5	harmless	harmless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 renders	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	render	present	It	the act				harmless property	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent act=Theme

Option 2

It constitutes a complete justification

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	5 justification	det
4	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 justification	amod
5	justification	justification	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a complete justification					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme justification=Pivot

Option 3

It transfers responsibility to the injured party

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 transfers	nsubj
2	transfers	transfer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	responsibility	responsibility	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transfers	obj
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 party	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 party	det
6	injured	injured	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 party	amod
7	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 transfers	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	transfer	present	It	responsibility	the injured party				vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent responsibility=Theme to party=Recipient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It may explain the act but does not excuse it

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	3 explain	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 explain	aux
3	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 act	det
5	act	act	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 explain	obj
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 excuse	cc
7	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 excuse	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 excuse	advmod
9	excuse	excuse	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 explain	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 excuse	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	explain speech: assert	may	It	the act					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent act=Topic
2	not excuse	present · do-support		act					vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

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/380-maddie-and-chloes-plaits/e3/