Exam question 4 · The bulldog next door who never likes you

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the belief that the jaws of a bulldog lock upon biting.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts, jaws · What happens: select, establish, concern, bite · To what, where: response, belief

This is exam question 4 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 belief	det
11	belief	belief	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	that	that	SCONJ	_	20 biting	mark
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 jaws	det
14	jaws	jaw	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 biting	nsubj
15	of	of	ADP	_	18 lock	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 lock	det
17	bulldog	bulldog	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 lock	compound
18	lock	lock	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 jaws	nmod
19	upon	upon	SCONJ	_	20 biting	mark
20	biting	bite	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	11 belief	acl
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the belief		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus belief=Experiencer
4	bite	gerund	the jaws of a bulldog lock	the belief not said here		vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent belief=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

It is true solely of dogs rescued from sheds

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 true	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 true	cop
3	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 true	advmod
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 dogs	case
6	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 true	obl
7	rescued	rescue	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 dogs	acl
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 sheds	case
9	sheds	shed	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 rescued	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					of dogs; solely, true property	tree rules
2	rescue	participle		dogs not said here		sheds			vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from shed=Source

Option 2

It is a myth, and dog bites are invariably trivial

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	4 myth	expl
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 myth	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 myth	det
4	myth	myth	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 trivial	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 trivial	cc
7	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 bites	compound
8	bites	bite	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 trivial	nsubj
9	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 trivial	cop
10	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	11 trivial	advmod
11	trivial	trivial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 myth	parataxis

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		a myth					tree rules
2	is	present	dog bites					invariably, trivial property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a myth, though any dog bite is to be treated as serious

The tree, 14 words

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	4 myth	expl
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 myth	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 myth	det
4	myth	myth	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 treated	punct
6	though	though	SCONJ	_	13 treated	mark
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 bite	det
8	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 bite	compound
9	bite	bite	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 treated	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 treated	aux:pass
11	to	to	PART	_	13 treated	mark
12	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	13 treated	aux:pass
13	treated	treat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 myth	parataxis
14	as	as	ADP	_	15 serious	case
15	serious	serious	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 treated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present		a myth					tree rules
2	treat	present · passive		any dog bite				as serious	vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Theme as serious=Attribute

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

It is established fact requiring no medical attention

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	4 fact	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 fact	cop
3	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 fact	amod
4	fact	fact	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	requiring	require	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 fact	acl
6	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	8 attention	det
7	medical	medical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 attention	amod
8	attention	attention	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 requiring	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	establish	participle			vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
2	is a	present	It	established fact	tree rules
3	require	gerund	established fact not said here	no medical attention	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme attention=Precondition

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/e4/