Exam question 1 · «The dog ate it»: excuses for homework

Identify the principal reason for which an excuse capable of immediate verification is commonly unsuccessful.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, excuse · What happens: identify, be · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 426 ««The dog ate it»: excuses for homework» 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	15 unsuccessful	obl
7	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 excuse	det
8	excuse	excuse	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 unsuccessful	nsubj
9	capable	capable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 excuse	amod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 verification	case
11	immediate	immediate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 verification	amod
12	verification	verification	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 capable	obl
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 unsuccessful	cop
14	commonly	commonly	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 unsuccessful	amod
15	unsuccessful	unsuccessful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	acl:relcl
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	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	is	present	a excuse					for the principal reason; unsuccessful property	tree rules

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

Excuses are never permitted in schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Excuses	excuse	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 permitted	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 permitted	aux:pass
3	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	4 permitted	advmod
4	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 schools	case
6	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 permitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not permit	present · passive		Excuses		schools			vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in school=Location

Option 2

Teachers are prohibited from believing pupils

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Teachers	teacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 pupils	case
5	believing	believe	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 pupils	amod
6	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive		Teachers				from believing pupils	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Beneficiary from pupil=Eventuality
2	believe	gerund							vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The teacher may verify it at once, as by requesting that the work be sent electronically

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 teacher	det
2	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 verify	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 verify	aux
4	verify	verify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 verify	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 once	case
7	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	4 verify	obl
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 requesting	punct
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	11 requesting	mark
10	by	by	SCONJ	_	11 requesting	mark
11	requesting	request	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 verify	advcl
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	16 sent	mark
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 work	det
14	work	work	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 sent	nsubj:pass
15	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	16 sent	aux:pass
16	sent	send	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 requesting	advcl
17	electronically	electronically	ADV	_	16 sent	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	verify	may	the teacher	it		vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Topic
2	request	gerund	the teacher not said here			vn beg-58.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent
3	send	infinitive · passive		the work	electronically property	vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4

Electronic devices do not malfunction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Electronic	electronic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 devices	amod
2	devices	device	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 malfunction	nsubj
3	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 malfunction	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 malfunction	advmod
5	malfunction	malfunction	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not malfunction	present · do-support	Electronic devices						tree rules

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/426-the-dog-ate-it-excuses-for-homework/e1/