Exam question 4 · Lies that grow: one lie needs three more

Determine the most advantageous juncture at which to abandon a falsehood.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: determine, abandon · To what, where: advantageous juncture, falsehood

This is exam question 4 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 juncture	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 advantageous	advmod
4	advantageous	advantageous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 juncture	amod
5	juncture	juncture	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
6	at	at	ADP	_	7 which	case
7	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 abandon	obl
8	to	to	PART	_	9 abandon	mark
9	abandon	abandon	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 juncture	acl:relcl
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 falsehood	det
11	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 abandon	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the advantageous juncture					vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent juncture=Topic
2	abandon	to-infinitive	you not said here	a falsehood		the advantageous juncture			vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme falsehood=Source

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

Solely upon discovery of the falsehood by another person

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Solely	solely	ADV	_	3 discovery	advmod
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	3 discovery	case
3	discovery	discovery	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 falsehood	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 falsehood	det
6	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 discovery	nmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 person	case
8	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	9 person	det
9	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 falsehood	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	discover			the falsehood by another person					nom discovery «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Upon first perceiving the need for a further falsehood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Upon	upon	SCONJ	_	3 perceiving	mark
2	first	first	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	3 perceiving	advmod
3	perceiving	perceive	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 need	det
5	need	need	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceiving	obj
6	for	for	ADP	_	9 falsehood	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 falsehood	det
8	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 falsehood	amod
9	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceiving	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	gerund		the need				for a further falsehood; first property	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer need=Stimulus

Option 3

Upon the telling of a third falsehood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Upon	upon	ADP	_	3 telling	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 telling	det
3	telling	telling	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 falsehood	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 falsehood	det
6	third	third	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	7 falsehood	amod
7	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 telling	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell			a third falsehood					nom telling «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

At no juncture whatever

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	At	at	ADP	_	3 juncture	case
2	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	3 juncture	det
3	juncture	juncture	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 whatever	obl
4	whatever	whatever	PRON	PronType=Rel	root	root

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

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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