Exam question 1 · When the story falls apart

Identify the principal reason for which a fabricated account frequently fails under questioning.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, fabricated account · What happens: identify, fail, question · To what, where: principal reason

This is exam question 1 of lesson 431 «When the story falls apart» 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	11 fails	obl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 account	det
8	fabricated	fabricated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 account	amod
9	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 fails	nsubj
10	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	11 fails	advmod
11	fails	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reason	acl
12	under	under	ADP	_	13 questioning	mark
13	questioning	question	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	11 fails	advcl
14	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	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	fail	present	a fabricated account		for the principal reason; frequently property	vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
3	question speech: other	gerund	a fabricated account not said here			vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: 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

Fabricated accounts are always shorter than true accounts

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fabricated	fabricate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 accounts	amod
2	accounts	account	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 shorter	nsubj
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 shorter	cop
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	5 shorter	advmod
5	shorter	short	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	root	root
6	than	than	ADP	_	8 accounts	case
7	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 accounts	amod
8	accounts	account	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 shorter	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fabricate	participle							vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	Fabricated accounts					than true accounts; always, short property	tree rules

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

It is not supported by genuine recollection

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 supported	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 supported	aux:pass
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	4 supported	advmod
4	supported	support	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 recollection	case
6	genuine	genuine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 recollection	amod
7	recollection	recollection	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 supported	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not support	present · passive	genuine recollection	It					vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus

Option 3

Questions are prohibited in respect of fabrications

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Questions	question	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	in	in	ADP	_	5 respect	case
5	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 fabrications	case
7	fabrications	fabrication	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 respect	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive		Questions		respect of fabrications			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	respect			fabrications					nom respect «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

Listeners are invariably informed of the fabrication in advance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Listeners	listener	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 informed	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 informed	aux:pass
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 informed	advmod
4	informed	inform	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 fabrication	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 fabrication	det
7	fabrication	fabrication	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 informed	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 advance	case
9	advance	advance	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 fabrication	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	present · passive		Listeners				of the fabrication in advance; invariably property	vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: subject=Recipient of fabrication=Topic

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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