Exam question 3 · The bulldog next door who never likes you

Given that a loose dog approaches a child at speed, ascertain the conduct most likely to avert injury.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: loose dog, you · What happens: give, approach, ascertain, avert · To what, where: child, speed, conduct, injury

This is exam question 3 of lesson 456 «The bulldog next door who never likes you» 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 approaches	mark
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 approaches	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 dog	det
4	loose	loose	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 dog	amod
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 approaches	nsubj
6	approaches	approach	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 ascertain	advcl
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 child	det
8	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 approaches	obj
9	at	at	ADP	_	10 speed	case
10	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 child	nmod
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 ascertain	punct
12	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 conduct	det
14	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ascertain	obj
15	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	16 likely	advmod
16	likely	likely	ADV	_	18 avert	advmod
17	to	to	PART	_	18 avert	mark
18	avert	avert	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 conduct	acl:relcl
19	injury	injury	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 avert	obj
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	12 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	give	participle					vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	approach	present	a loose dog	a child	speed		vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme
3	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the conduct			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Topic
4	avert	to-infinitive	you not said here	injury		likely 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

Maintaining a fixed stare until the animal at last retreats

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Maintaining	maintain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 stare	det
3	fixed	fix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 stare	amod
4	stare	stare	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Maintaining	obj
5	until	until	ADP	_	7 animal	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 animal	det
7	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Maintaining	obl
8	at	at	ADP	_	10 retreats	case
9	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 retreats	amod
10	retreats	retreat	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Maintaining	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	maintain	gerund		a fixed stare		last retreats	until the animal		vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent stare=Theme
2	fix	participle							vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient

Option 2

Waving the arms and shouting loudly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Waving	wave	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 arms	det
3	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Waving	obj
4	and	and	CCONJ	_	5 shouting	cc
5	shouting	shout	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Waving	conj
6	loudly	loudly	ADV	_	5 shouting	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	wave	gerund		the arms					vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Patient
2	shout speech: express	gerund						loudly property	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Remaining motionless with arms lowered and gaze averted

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Remaining	remain	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	motionless	motionless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Remaining	xcomp
3	with	with	ADP	_	4 arms	case
4	arms	arm	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Remaining	obl
5	lowered	lower	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 arms	acl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 gaze	cc
7	gaze	gaze	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 lowered	conj
8	averted	avert	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 lowered	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	remain	gerund		with arms; motionless property	vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	lower	participle	arms not said here		tree rules
3	gaze	infinitive			vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
4	avert	participle			tree rules

Option 4

Running at maximum speed in the opposite direction

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Running	run	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	root	root
2	at	at	ADP	_	4 speed	case
3	maximum	maximum	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 speed	amod
4	speed	speed	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Running	obl
5	in	in	ADP	_	8 direction	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 direction	det
7	opposite	opposite	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 direction	amod
8	direction	direction	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Running	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	run	gerund				maximum speed		in the opposite direction	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at speed=Trajectory

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/456-the-bulldog-next-door-who-never-likes-you/e3/