Exam question 3 · Stories that change

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises an account that alters as the speaker becomes uncertain?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: account, speaker · What happens: follow, characteris, alter, become · To what, where: account

This is exam question 3 of lesson 449 «Stories that change» 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	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 account	det
10	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 alters	nsubj
12	alters	alter	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 account	acl:relcl
13	as	as	SCONJ	_	16 becomes	mark
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 speaker	det
15	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 becomes	nsubj
16	becomes	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 alters	advcl
17	uncertain	uncertain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 becomes	xcomp
18	?	?	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		a account	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	alter	present	a account			vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient
4	become	present	the speaker		uncertain property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

It is invariably entirely accurate

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	5 accurate	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 accurate	cop
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 accurate	advmod
4	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 accurate	advmod
5	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					accurate, entirely, invariably property	tree rules

Option 2

It is invariably a deliberate falsehood, the beach being a familiar place

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	6 falsehood	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 falsehood	cop
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	6 falsehood	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 falsehood	det
5	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 falsehood	amod
6	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 place	punct
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 beach	det
9	beach	beach	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 place	nsubj
10	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	13 place	cop
11	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 place	det
12	familiar	familiar	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 place	amod
13	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 falsehood	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a deliberate falsehood				invariably property	tree rules
2	is a	gerund	the beach	a familiar place					tree rules

Option 3

It cannot be examined further

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	5 examined	nsubj:pass
2	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 examined	aux
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 examined	advmod
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 examined	aux:pass
5	examined	examine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	further	further	ADV	_	5 examined	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not examine	can · passive		It				further property	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It may reflect genuine uncertainty rather than deliberate falsehood

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 reflect	nsubj
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	3 reflect	aux
3	reflect	reflect	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
4	genuine	genuine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 uncertainty	amod
5	uncertainty	uncertainty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflect	obj
6	rather	rather	ADV	_	3 reflect	advmod
7	than	than	ADP	_	9 falsehood	case
8	deliberate	deliberate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 falsehood	amod
9	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 reflect	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reflect	may	It	genuine uncertainty				than deliberate falsehood	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/449-stories-that-change/e3/