Exam question 4 · The ball over the fence and the grumpy old man next door

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a neighbour who remains disagreeable notwithstanding repeated kindness?

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: neighbour · What happens: follow, characteris, remain, notwithstand, repeat · To what, where: neighbour, disagreeable notwithstanding repeated kindness

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	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	8 characterises	obl
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	root	root
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 neighbour	det
10	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 remains	nsubj
12	remains	remain	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 neighbour	acl:relcl
13	disagreeable	disagreeable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 kindness	amod
14	notwithstanding	notwithstand	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	16 kindness	amod
15	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	16 kindness	amod
16	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 remains	obj
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	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		a neighbour	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	remain	present	a neighbour	disagreeable notwithstanding repeated kindness		vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme kindness=Attribute
4	notwithstand	gerund				tree rules
5	repeat	participle				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality

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

She ought to be subjected to retaliation

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	She	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	5 subjected	nsubj:pass
2	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 subjected	aux
3	to	to	PART	_	5 subjected	mark
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 subjected	aux:pass
5	subjected	subject	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	to	to	ADP	_	7 retaliation	case
7	retaliation	retaliation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 subjected	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	subject	ought · passive		She				to retaliation	tree rules

Option 2

Children are obliged to continue until she relents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Children	child	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 obliged	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 obliged	aux:pass
3	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 continue	mark
5	continue	continue	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 obliged	xcomp
6	until	until	SCONJ	_	8 relents	mark
7	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 relents	nsubj
8	relents	relent	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 continue	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive		Children	vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	continue	to-infinitive			vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	relent	present	she		tree rules

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

Her conduct proves that kindness is always futile

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 conduct	nmod:poss
2	conduct	conduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 proves	nsubj
3	proves	prove	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	8 futile	mark
5	kindness	kindness	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 futile	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 futile	cop
7	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	8 futile	advmod
8	futile	futile	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 proves	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	prove	present	Her conduct		vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	kindness	always, futile property	tree rules
3	conduct		Her = she		nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It is acceptable to accept the situation and play elsewhere

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 acceptable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acceptable	cop
3	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 accept	mark
5	accept	accept	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 acceptable	xcomp
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 situation	det
7	situation	situation	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 accept	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 play	cc
9	play	play	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 accept	conj
10	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	_	9 play	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	is	present	It		acceptable property	tree rules
2	accept	to-infinitive		the situation		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent situation=Theme
3	play	infinitive			elsewhere property	vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=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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