Exam question 1 · The friend who only calls when they need something

Identify the principal characteristic of a friendship described as running «one way».

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, describe, run · To what, where: principal characteristic, friendship, one way

This is exam question 1 of lesson 470 «The friend who only calls when they need something» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 characteristic	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 characteristic	amod
4	characteristic	characteristic	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 friendship	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 friendship	det
7	friendship	friendship	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 characteristic	nmod
8	described	describe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 friendship	acl
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 running	mark
10	running	run	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 described	advcl
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 way	punct
12	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	13 way	nummod
13	way	way	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 running	obl
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 way	punct
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal characteristic of a friendship	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent characteristic=Theme
2	describe	participle		a friendship not said here	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	run	gerund		one way	vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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

Neither party requests any assistance

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Neither	neither	DET	PronType=Neg	2 party	det
2	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 requests	nsubj
3	requests	request	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 assistance	det
5	assistance	assistance	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 requests	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	request	present	neither party	any assistance					vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent assistance=Recipient

Option 2

Both parties exchange favours in equal measure

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	2 parties	det
2	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 exchange	nsubj
3	exchange	exchange	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	favours	favour	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 exchange	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	7 measure	case
6	equal	equal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 measure	amod
7	measure	measure	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 exchange	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	exchange	present	both parties	favours		equal measure			vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent favour=Theme

Option 3

The parties communicate solely by telephone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 parties	det
2	parties	party	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 communicate	nsubj
3	communicate	communicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	solely	solely	ADV	_	3 communicate	advmod
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 telephone	case
6	telephone	telephone	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 communicate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	communicate	present	the parties					by telephone; solely property	vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

One party habitually receives favours whilst giving nothing in return

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	One	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 party	nummod
2	party	party	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 receives	nsubj
3	habitually	habitually	ADV	_	4 receives	advmod
4	receives	receive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	favours	favour	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 receives	obj
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	_	7 giving	mark
7	giving	give	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	4 receives	advcl
8	nothing	nothing	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Neg	7 giving	obj
9	in	in	ADP	_	10 return	case
10	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 nothing	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	present	One party	favours				habitually property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent favour=Theme
2	give	gerund	One party not said here	nothing		return			vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Theme

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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