Exam question 2 · Nice alone, mean in a group

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises teasing that is described by its author as «banter»?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: following statements, author · What happens: follow, characteris, describe · To what, where: teasing

This is exam question 2 of lesson 468 «Nice alone, mean in a group» 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	5 statements	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	root	root
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	5 statements	acl:relcl
9	teasing	teasing	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
10	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 described	nsubj:pass
11	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 described	aux:pass
12	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 teasing	acl:relcl
13	by	by	ADP	_	15 author	case
14	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	15 author	nmod:poss
15	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 described	obl
16	as	as	ADP	_	18 banter	case
17	«	«	PUNCT	_	18 banter	punct
18	banter	banter	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 author	nmod
19	»	»	PUNCT	_	15 author	punct
20	?	?	PUNCT	_	5 statements	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	the following statements not said here	teasing	accurately property	tree rules
3	describe	present · passive	teasing's author as banter	teasing		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent subject=Theme

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 banter whenever its author so declares, irrespective of the subject's feelings

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	3 banter	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 banter	cop
3	banter	banter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	8 declares	advmod
5	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 author	nmod:poss
6	author	author	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 declares	nsubj
7	so	so	ADV	_	8 declares	advmod
8	declares	declare	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 banter	acl:relcl
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 feelings	punct
10	irrespective	irrespective	ADV	_	15 feelings	advmod
11	of	of	ADP	_	15 feelings	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 subject	det
13	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 feelings	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 subject	case
15	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 declares	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	banter					tree rules
2	declare speech: other	present	banter's author	the subject's feelings				whenever property	vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feeling=Attribute

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

It is banter provided it occurs on school premises

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 banter	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 banter	cop
3	banter	banter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 provided	nsubj
4	provided	provide	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	6 occurs	nsubj
6	occurs	occur	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 provided	ccomp
7	on	on	ADP	_	9 premises	case
8	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 premises	compound
9	premises	premise	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 occurs	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	is a	present	It	banter		tree rules
2	provide	past	banter			vn ensure-99 «NP V that S»: agent=Precondition clause=Theme
3	occur	present	banter		school premises	vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on premise=Location

Option 3

It is banter whenever older pupils are present

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 banter	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 banter	cop
3	banter	banter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	8 present	advmod
5	older	old	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	6 pupils	amod
6	pupils	pupil	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 present	nsubj
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 present	cop
8	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 banter	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	banter					tree rules
2	is	present	older pupils					present, whenever property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is banter only if all parties, including its subject, find it amusing

The tree, 13 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	3 banter	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 banter	cop
3	banter	banter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	only	only	ADV	_	7 parties	advmod
5	if	if	SCONJ	_	7 parties	mark
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 parties	det
7	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 banter	nmod
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 subject	punct
9	including	including	ADP	_	11 subject	case
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 subject	nmod:poss
11	subject	subject	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 banter	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 find	punct
13	find	find	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 banter	conj
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 find	obj
15	amusing	amusing	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 find	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	banter and its subject				all parties nmod	tree rules
2	find	infinitive		subject				amusing property	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic

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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