Exam question 3 · Grown-ups' little lies: the ice-cream van

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a «white lie»?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: white lie

This is exam question 3 of lesson 443 «Grown-ups' little lies: the ice-cream van» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 lie	det
10	«	«	PUNCT	_	12 lie	punct
11	white	white	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 lie	amod
12	lie	lie	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
13	»	»	PUNCT	_	12 lie	punct
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		a white lie				of the following statements; accurately 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

A falsehood of the gravest possible character, told to harm another

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 told	nsubj:pass
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 character	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 character	det
5	gravest	grave	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 character	amod
6	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 character	amod
7	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 falsehood	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 told	punct
9	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
10	to	to	PART	_	11 harm	mark
11	harm	harm	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 told	xcomp
12	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	11 harm	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tell speech: assert	participle · passive		a falsehood of the gravest possible character					vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	harm not said to happen	to-infinitive	a falsehood of the gravest possible character not said here	another					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus another=Experiencer

Option 2

A falsehood recorded in written form

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 falsehood	det
2	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	recorded	record	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 falsehood	acl
4	in	in	ADP	_	6 form	case
5	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 form	amod
6	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 recorded	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	record	participle		a falsehood not said here		written form			vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in form=Destination
2	write	participle							vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A minor falsehood uttered for reasons of kindness or courtesy

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 falsehood	det
2	minor	minor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 falsehood	amod
3	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	uttered	utter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 falsehood	acl
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 reasons	case
6	reasons	reason	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 uttered	obl:agent
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 kindness	case
8	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 reasons	nmod
9	or	or	CCONJ	_	10 courtesy	cc
10	courtesy	courtesy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 kindness	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	utter speech: other	participle		a minor falsehood not said here					vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

A statement that is invariably true

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 statement	det
2	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 true	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 true	cop
5	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 true	advmod
6	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 statement	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	a statement					invariably, true 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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/443-grown-ups-little-lies-the-ice-cream-van/e3/