Exam question 3 · The magician's trick explained

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the technique termed «misdirection»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: technique · What happens: follow, characteris, term · To what, where: misdirection

This is exam question 3 of lesson 448 «The magician's trick explained» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 technique	det
10	technique	technique	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	nsubj
11	termed	term	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
12	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 misdirection	punct
13	misdirection	misdirection	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 termed	obj
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 misdirection	punct
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present			of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	term	past	the technique	misdirection		vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent misdirection=Theme

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

The provision of incorrect directions to a location, so that the audience is led astray

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 provision	det
2	provision	provision	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 directions	case
4	incorrect	incorrect	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 directions	amod
5	directions	direction	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 provision	nmod
6	to	to	ADP	_	8 location	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 location	det
8	location	location	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 directions	nmod
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 led	punct
10	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	15 led	mark
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 so	fixed
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 audience	det
13	audience	audience	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 led	nsubj:pass
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	15 led	aux:pass
15	led	lead	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 provision	acl
16	astray	astray	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 led	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	lead	present · passive	the provision of incorrect directions to a location not said here	the audience				astray property	vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	provide		incorrect directions to a location						nom provision «communication intransitive»: of=agent

Option 2

The disclosure of the method prior to performance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 disclosure	det
2	disclosure	disclosure	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 method	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 method	det
5	method	method	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disclosure	nmod
6	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	8 performance	case
7	to	to	ADP	_	6 prior	fixed
8	performance	performance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 disclosure	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disclose			the method				prior performance	nom disclosure «communication transitive»: of=patient prior=obl

Option 3

The performance of a trick at reduced speed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 performance	det
2	performance	performance	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 trick	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 trick	det
5	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 performance	nmod
6	at	at	ADP	_	8 speed	case
7	reduced	reduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 speed	amod
8	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 performance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reduce	participle							vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer
2	perform			a trick		reduced speed			nom performance «communication transitive»: of=patient at=place

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The diversion of attention from the place where the concealed action occurs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 diversion	det
2	diversion	diversion	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 attention	case
4	attention	attention	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diversion	nmod
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 place	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 place	det
7	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 diversion	nmod
8	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	12 occurs	advmod
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 action	det
10	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 action	amod
11	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 occurs	nsubj
12	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 place	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	conceal	participle				vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	occur	present	the concealed action			vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	divert			attention	the place	nom diversion «act transitive»: of=patient from=place

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/448-the-magicians-trick-explained/e3/