Exam question 2 · The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door

Ascertain the most appropriate conduct of a child whose ball has entered a neighbouring garden.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, enter, conduct · To what, where: appropriate conduct, ball, child

This is exam question 2 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 conduct	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 appropriate	advmod
4	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 conduct	amod
5	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 child	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 child	det
8	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 conduct	nmod
9	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	10 ball	nmod:poss
10	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 entered	nsubj:pass
11	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	12 entered	aux
12	entered	enter	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 child	acl:relcl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 garden	det
14	neighbouring	neighbouring	ADJ	Degree=Pos	15 garden	amod
15	garden	garden	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 entered	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate conduct of a child	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Topic
2	enter	present · perfect · passive		ball	tree rules
3	conduct			a child	nom conduct «act transitive»: of=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

To send a younger child to retrieve it secretly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 send	mark
2	send	send	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 child	det
4	younger	young	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	5 child	amod
5	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 send	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 retrieve	mark
7	retrieve	retrieve	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 send	advcl
8	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 retrieve	obj
9	secretly	secretly	ADV	_	7 retrieve	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	send	to-infinitive		a younger child					vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme
2	retrieve	to-infinitive		child				secretly property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

Option 2

To abandon the ball permanently

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 abandon	mark
2	abandon	abandon	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 ball	det
4	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abandon	obj
5	permanently	permanently	ADV	_	2 abandon	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	abandon	to-infinitive		the ball				permanently property	vn leave-51.2 «NP V NP.initial_location»: agent=Theme ball=Source

Option 3

To climb the boundary fence without permission and retrieve it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 climb	mark
2	climb	climb	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 fence	det
4	boundary	boundary	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 fence	compound
5	fence	fence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 climb	obj
6	without	without	ADP	_	7 permission	case
7	permission	permission	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 climb	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 retrieve	cc
9	retrieve	retrieve	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	2 climb	conj
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 retrieve	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	climb	to-infinitive		the boundary fence				without permission	vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location fence=Theme
2	retrieve	infinitive		fence					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme

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

To knock at the neighbour's door and request its return

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 knock	mark
2	knock	knock	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	at	at	ADP	_	7 door	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 neighbour	det
5	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 door	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 neighbour	case
7	door	door	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 knock	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 request	cc
9	request	request	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 knock	conj
10	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	11 return	nmod:poss
11	return	return	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 request	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	knock	to-infinitive			at the neighbour's door	vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at door=Patient
2	request	present		door's return		vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent return=Recipient
3	return		door			nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent

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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