Exam question 4 · Too many details, too few

Determine which of the following does NOT constitute a sound conclusion concerning an evasive reply such as «stuff».

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, sound conclusion · What happens: determine, follow, not constitute, concern · To what, where: sound conclusion, evasive reply

This is exam question 4 of lesson 450 «Too many details, too few» 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	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 constitute	nsubj
3	of	of	SCONJ	_	8 constitute	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 constitute	det
5	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 constitute	nsubj
6	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 constitute	aux
7	NOT	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	8 constitute	advmod
8	constitute	constitute	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Determine	ccomp
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 conclusion	det
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 conclusion	compound
11	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 constitute	obj
12	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 conclusion	acl
13	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 reply	det
14	evasive	evasive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 reply	amod
15	reply	reply	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 concerning	obj
16	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos ExtPos=ADP	19 stuff	case
17	as	as	ADP	_	16 such	fixed
18	«	«	PUNCT	_	19 stuff	punct
19	stuff	stuff	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 reply	nmod
20	»	»	PUNCT	_	19 stuff	punct
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here			vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
2	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	not constitute	present · do-support		a sound conclusion		vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme conclusion=Pivot
4	concern	gerund	a sound conclusion not said here	a evasive reply	such stuff	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus reply=Experiencer

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

That giving the speaker space may be appropriate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	2 giving	nsubj
2	giving	give	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 appropriate	csubj
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 space	det
4	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 space	compound
5	space	space	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 giving	obj
6	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 appropriate	aux
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 appropriate	cop
8	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	give	gerund	That	the speaker space					vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent space=Theme
2	is	may	giving					appropriate property	tree rules

Option 2

That it may conceal a falsehood

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 conceal	nsubj
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 conceal	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 conceal	aux
4	conceal	conceal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 falsehood	det
6	falsehood	falsehood	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conceal	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	may	That	a falsehood					vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent falsehood=Patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

That it proves the speaker to be lying

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	3 proves	nsubj
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 proves	nsubj
3	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 speaker	det
5	speaker	speaker	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 proves	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	8 lying	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 lying	aux
8	lying	lie	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 proves	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prove	present	That	the speaker					vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speaker=Theme
2	lie	to-infinitive · progressive	That not said here						vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4

That it may conceal a private difficulty

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	That	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 conceal	nsubj
2	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 conceal	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 conceal	aux
4	conceal	conceal	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 difficulty	det
6	private	private	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 difficulty	amod
7	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 conceal	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	may	That	a private difficulty					vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent difficulty=Patient

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/450-too-many-details-too-few/e4/