Exam question 3 · The dog that wags at last, and the one that never does

Given that a dog has previously bitten a small child, ascertain the most appropriate household rule.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: give, bite, ascertain · To what, where: dog, appropriate household rule

This is exam question 3 of lesson 459 «The dog that wags at last, and the one that never does» 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	12 ascertain	advcl
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 bitten	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 dog	det
4	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bitten	nsubj:pass
5	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 bitten	aux
6	previously	previously	ADV	_	7 bitten	advmod
7	bitten	bite	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	12 ascertain	advcl
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 child	det
9	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 child	amod
10	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 bitten	obj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 bitten	punct
12	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 rule	det
14	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	15 appropriate	advmod
15	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 rule	amod
16	household	household	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 rule	compound
17	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 ascertain	obj
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	12 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	give	participle	you not said here			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	bite	present · perfect · passive		a dog	previously property	vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient child=Result
3	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate household rule		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rule=Topic

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

The child shall be instructed to pull its ears gently

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 instructed	nsubj:pass
3	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 instructed	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 instructed	aux:pass
5	instructed	instruct	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 pull	mark
7	pull	pull	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 instructed	xcomp
8	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 ears	nmod:poss
9	ears	ear	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 pull	obj
10	gently	gently	ADV	_	7 pull	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	instruct speech: other	shall · passive		the child					vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	pull	to-infinitive		child's ears				gently property	vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Theme

Option 2

No rule is required since dogs bite but once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	No	no	DET	PronType=Neg	2 rule	det
2	rule	rule	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	aux:pass
4	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	since	since	SCONJ	_	7 bite	mark
6	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 bite	nsubj
7	bite	bite	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	advcl
8	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 once	cc
9	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	4 required	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		no rule					vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Precondition
2	bite	present	dogs						vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent

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

The dog shall never be left alone with small children

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 left	nsubj:pass
3	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 left	aux
4	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	6 left	advmod
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 left	aux:pass
6	left	leave	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	alone	alone	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 left	xcomp
8	with	with	ADP	_	10 children	case
9	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 children	amod
10	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 left	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not leave	shall · passive		the dog				with small children; alone property	vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP.theme»: subject=Recipient with child=Theme

Option 4

The dog shall be permitted all contact as before

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 dog	det
2	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 permitted	nsubj:pass
3	shall	shall	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 permitted	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 permitted	aux:pass
5	permitted	permit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 contact	det
7	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 permitted	obj
8	as	as	ADP	_	9 before	case
9	before	before	ADV	_	5 permitted	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	permit	shall · passive		the dog					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme contact=Location

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.

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