Exam question 3 · Lies that grow: one lie needs three more

It is given that a pupil reported a mark of nine in place of an actual mark of four. Select the response consistent with the established facts.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: pupil, you · What happens: give, report, select, establish · To what, where: It, mark, response

This is exam question 3 of lesson 430 «Lies that grow: one lie needs three more» 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

Sentence 1: It is given that a pupil reported a mark of nine in place of an actual mark of four.

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 given	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 given	aux:pass
3	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 reported	mark
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 pupil	det
6	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reported	nsubj
7	reported	report	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 given	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 mark	det
9	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 reported	obj
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 nine	case
11	nine	nine	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 mark	nmod
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 place	case
13	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 nine	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	17 mark	case
15	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 mark	det
16	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 mark	amod
17	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 place	nmod
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 four	case
19	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	17 mark	nmod
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	present · passive		It					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	report	past	a pupil	a mark of nine in place of a actual mark of four					vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mark=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.

Sentence 2: Select the response consistent with the established facts.

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	3 response	amod
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	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response					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

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The parents could assist with the mark of four, but the false report occasioned disappointment

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 parents	det
2	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 assist	nsubj
3	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 assist	aux
4	assist	assist	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	with	with	ADP	_	7 mark	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 mark	det
7	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assist	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	9 four	case
9	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 mark	nmod
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 report	punct
11	but	but	CCONJ	_	14 report	cc
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 report	det
13	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 report	amod
14	report	report	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 assist	obl
15	occasioned	occasion	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	14 report	acl
16	disappointment	disappointment	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 occasioned	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	assist	could	the parents	the false report				with the mark of four	vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with mark=Theme
2	occasion	participle	the false report not said here	disappointment					tree rules

Option 2

The false mark improved the pupil's understanding of the subject

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 mark	det
2	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 mark	amod
3	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 improved	nsubj
4	improved	improve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 pupil	det
6	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 understanding	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 pupil	case
8	understanding	understanding	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 improved	obj
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 subject	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 subject	det
11	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 understanding	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	improve	past	the false mark	the pupil's understanding of the subject					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent understanding=Patient
2	understand		the pupil	the subject					nom understanding «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient

Option 3

The actual mark was of no importance whatever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 mark	det
2	actual	actual	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 mark	amod
3	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 importance	nsubj
4	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 importance	cop
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 importance	case
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 importance	det
7	importance	importance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 importance	appos

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the actual mark					of no importance	tree rules

Option 4

The parents preferred the false mark, it being the higher of the two and so a cause for pride

The tree, 19 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 parents	det
2	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 preferred	nsubj
3	preferred	prefer	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 mark	det
5	false	false	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 mark	amod
6	mark	mark	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 preferred	obj
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 higher	punct
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	11 higher	nsubj
9	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 higher	cop
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 higher	det
11	higher	high	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 preferred	parataxis
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 two	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 two	det
14	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 higher	obl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 cause	cc
16	so	so	ADV	_	18 cause	advmod
17	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 cause	det
18	cause	cause	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 higher	conj
19	for	for	ADP	_	20 pride	case
20	pride	pride	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 cause	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prefer	past	the parents	the false mark					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mark=Stimulus
2	is	gerund	mark					of the two; high property	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.

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