Exam question 1 · The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door

Identify the principal reason, as established in the lesson, for the initial hostility of the neighbour Mr Grimshaw towards the children.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, establish · To what, where: principal reason, lesson

This is exam question 1 of lesson 473 «The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door» 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 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 established	punct
6	as	as	SCONJ	_	7 established	mark
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 lesson	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 lesson	det
10	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 established	obl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 hostility	punct
12	for	for	ADP	_	15 hostility	case
13	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 hostility	det
14	initial	initial	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 hostility	amod
15	hostility	hostility	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	18 neighbour	case
17	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	18 neighbour	det
18	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 hostility	nmod
19	Mr	Mr	PROPN	Number=Sing	18 neighbour	appos
20	Grimshaw	Grimshaw	PROPN	Number=Sing	19 Mr	flat
21	towards	towards	ADP	_	23 children	case
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 children	det
23	children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Identify	obl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal reason				for the initial hostility of the neighbour; towards the children	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	establish	participle		the principal reason not said here		the lesson			vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot

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 · ← Mova's choice

A dispute concerning the ownership of a fence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 dispute	det
2	dispute	dispute	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 dispute	acl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 ownership	det
5	ownership	ownership	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 concerning	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 fence	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 fence	det
8	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 ownership	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	concern	gerund	a dispute not said here	the ownership of a fence					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus ownership=Experiencer

Option 2

An inherent dislike of all young persons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 dislike	det
2	inherent	inherent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 dislike	amod
3	dislike	dislike	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	7 persons	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 persons	det
6	young	young	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 persons	amod
7	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 dislike	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dislike			all young persons					nom dislike «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Repeated damage to his tomato plants by footballs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	damage	damage	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Repeated	obj
3	to	to	ADP	_	6 plants	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 plants	nmod:poss
5	tomato	tomato	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 plants	compound
6	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Repeated	obl
7	by	by	ADP	_	8 footballs	case
8	footballs	football	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Repeated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	participle		damage	his tomato plants			by footballs	vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent damage=Topic to plant=Recipient

Option 4

A complaint from the municipal council

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 complaint	det
2	complaint	complaint	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	from	from	ADP	_	6 council	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 council	det
5	municipal	municipal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 council	amod
6	council	council	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 complaint	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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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