Exam question 2 · Nightmares after a scary game

Ascertain which practice is most likely to diminish the incidence of disturbing dreams following exposure to frightening material.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, practice, disturbing dreams · What happens: ascertain, be, diminish, follow · To what, where: incidence, exposure, frightening material

This is exam question 2 of lesson 402 «Nightmares after a scary game» 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	3 practice	det
3	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 likely	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 likely	cop
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 likely	advmod
6	likely	likely	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Ascertain	ccomp
7	to	to	PART	_	8 diminish	mark
8	diminish	diminish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 likely	xcomp
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 incidence	det
10	incidence	incidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 diminish	obj
11	of	of	ADP	_	13 dreams	case
12	disturbing	disturbing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 dreams	amod
13	dreams	dream	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 incidence	nmod
14	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 dreams	acl
15	exposure	exposure	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 following	obj
16	to	to	ADP	_	18 material	case
17	frightening	frightening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 material	amod
18	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 following	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here				vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	which practice			likely property	tree rules
3	diminish	to-infinitive	which practice not said here	the incidence of disturbing dreams			vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer incidence=Patient
4	follow	gerund	disturbing dreams not said here	exposure	frightening material		vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent exposure=Theme to material=Trajectory

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

The prolongation of wakefulness until exhaustion

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 prolongation	det
2	prolongation	prolongation	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 wakefulness	case
4	wakefulness	wakefulness	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prolongation	nmod
5	until	until	ADP	_	6 exhaustion	case
6	exhaustion	exhaustion	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 prolongation	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prolong			wakefulness			until exhaustion		nom prolongation «act transitive»: of=patient until=obl

Option 2

The viewing of further frightening material at bedtime

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 viewing	det
2	viewing	viewing	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	6 material	case
4	further	far	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 frightening	advmod
5	frightening	frightening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 material	amod
6	material	material	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 viewing	nmod
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 bedtime	case
8	bedtime	bedtime	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 material	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The avoidance of screens during the hour preceding sleep

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 avoidance	det
2	avoidance	avoidance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 screens	case
4	screens	screen	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 avoidance	nmod
5	during	during	ADP	_	7 hour	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 hour	det
7	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 avoidance	nmod
8	preceding	precede	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 avoidance	acl
9	sleep	sleep	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 preceding	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	precede	gerund	the avoidance of screens during the hour not said here	sleep					vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme sleep=Co-Theme
2	avoid			screens			during the hour		nom avoidance «act transitive»: of=patient during=obl

Option 4

The concealment of the fear from all adults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 concealment	det
2	concealment	concealment	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 fear	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fear	det
5	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 concealment	nmod
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 adults	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 adults	det
8	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 fear	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal			the fear from all adults					nom concealment «state transitive»: of=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/402-nightmares-and-scary-pictures/e2/