Exam question 1 · Adults who help and adults who don't

Identify the principal reason for which a member of staff who records the times and locations of altercations may prevent their recurrence.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, staff, member, altercations · What happens: identify, record, prevent, recur · To what, where: principal reason, recurrence

This is exam question 1 of lesson 392 «Adults who help and adults who don't» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	20 prevent	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 member	det
8	member	member	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 prevent	nsubj
9	of	of	ADP	_	10 staff	case
10	staff	staff	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 member	nmod
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 records	nsubj
12	records	record	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 staff	acl:relcl
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 times	det
14	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 records	obl:unmarked
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 locations	cc
16	locations	location	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 times	conj
17	of	of	ADP	_	18 altercations	case
18	altercations	altercation	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 locations	nmod
19	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	20 prevent	aux
20	prevent	prevent	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl:relcl
21	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	22 recurrence	nmod:poss
22	recurrence	recurrence	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 prevent	obj
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	record	present	staff		time		vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	prevent	may	a member of staff	altercations's recurrence		for the principal reason	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer recurrence=Theme
4	recur		altercations = altercation				nom recurrence «event intransitive»: poss=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

Pupils cease fighting once observed writing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 cease	nsubj
2	cease	cease	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	fighting	fight	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 cease	xcomp
4	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	5 observed	advmod
5	observed	observe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 writing	amod
6	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 fighting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	cease	present	Pupils			vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality
2	fight	gerund	Pupils not said here	observed writing		vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent writing=Co-Agent
3	observe	participle			once property	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

A discernible pattern permits alteration of the circumstances that precede them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 pattern	det
2	discernible	discernible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 pattern	amod
3	pattern	pattern	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permits	nsubj
4	permits	permit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 permits	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 circumstances	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 circumstances	det
8	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 alteration	nmod
9	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 precede	nsubj
10	precede	precede	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 circumstances	acl:relcl
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 precede	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	permit	present	a discernible pattern	alteration of the circumstances	vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent alteration=Theme
2	precede	present	the circumstances	circumstances = circumstance	vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme
3	alter			the circumstances	nom alteration «event transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Records are required solely for disciplinary exclusion from school

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Records	record	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 required	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 required	advmod
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 exclusion	case
6	disciplinary	disciplinary	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 exclusion	amod
7	exclusion	exclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 required	obl
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 school	case
9	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 exclusion	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		Records				for disciplinary exclusion from school; solely property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition

Option 4

Records are of themselves a deterrent to all pupils who might fight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Records	record	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 deterrent	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 deterrent	cop
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 themselves	case
4	themselves	themselves	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 are	obl
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 deterrent	det
6	deterrent	deterrent	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	to	to	ADP	_	9 pupils	case
8	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	9 pupils	det
9	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 deterrent	nmod
10	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 fight	nsubj
11	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 fight	aux
12	fight	fight	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 pupils	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	Records	a deterrent				to all pupils	tree rules
2	fight	might	all pupils						vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

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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