Exam question 3 · Sore losers and button-mashers

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning success achieved by random pressing of buttons.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, achieve, press · To what, where: response, success

This is exam question 3 of lesson 398 «Sore losers and button-mashers» 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	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	success	success	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
11	achieved	achieve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	10 success	acl
12	by	by	SCONJ	_	14 pressing	mark
13	random	random	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 pressing	amod
14	pressing	press	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 achieved	advcl
15	of	of	ADP	_	16 buttons	case
16	buttons	button	NOUN	Number=Plur	14 pressing	obl
17	.	.	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	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	success		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus success=Experiencer
4	achieve	participle		success not said here		vn complete-55.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
5	press	gerund			of buttons	vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: 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

It constitutes a breach of the rules of the game

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	4 breach	det
4	breach	breach	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 rules	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 rules	det
7	rules	rule	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 breach	nmod
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 game	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 game	det
10	game	game	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 rules	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a breach of the rules of the game	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme breach=Pivot
2	breach			the rules of the game	nom breach «act transitive»: of=patient
3	rule		the game		nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

It cannot prevail against any opponent whatsoever

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	4 prevail	nsubj
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 prevail	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 prevail	advmod
4	prevail	prevail	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	against	against	ADP	_	7 opponent	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 opponent	det
7	opponent	opponent	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prevail	obl
8	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	4 prevail	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not prevail	can	It			any opponent		whatsoever property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against opponent=Location

Option 3

It prevails more often than practised skill in all cases

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 prevails	nsubj
2	prevails	prevail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	4 often	advmod
4	often	often	ADV	_	2 prevails	advmod
5	than	than	ADP	_	7 skill	case
6	practised	practise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 skill	amod
7	skill	skill	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 often	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 cases	case
9	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	10 cases	det
10	cases	case	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 prevails	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail	present	It			all cases		often property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in case=Location
2	practise	participle							tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It may prevail occasionally, whereas practice prevails more often over time

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 prevail	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 prevail	aux
3	prevail	prevail	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	occasionally	occasionally	ADV	_	3 prevail	advmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 prevails	punct
6	whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	8 prevails	mark
7	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 prevails	nsubj
8	prevails	prevail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prevail	conj
9	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	10 often	advmod
10	often	often	ADV	_	8 prevails	advmod
11	over	over	ADP	_	12 time	case
12	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 prevails	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prevail	may	It					occasionally property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	prevail	present	practice				time	often property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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.

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