Exam question 2 · Money is tight: free school meals and second-hand uniform

Given that a pupil withholds from his parent a letter concerning a school excursion on the grounds of cost, identify the principal error.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: pupil, letter, you · What happens: give, withhold, concern, identify · To what, where: school excursion, grounds, principal error

This is exam question 2 of lesson 487 «Money is tight: free school meals and second-hand uniform» 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 withholds	mark
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	5 withholds	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 pupil	det
4	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 withholds	nsubj
5	withholds	withhold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 identify	advcl
6	from	from	ADP	_	8 parent	case
7	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	8 parent	nmod:poss
8	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 withholds	obl
9	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 letter	det
10	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 parent	conj
11	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 letter	acl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 excursion	det
13	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 excursion	compound
14	excursion	excursion	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 concerning	obj
15	on	on	ADP	_	17 grounds	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 grounds	det
17	grounds	grounds	NOUN	Number=Ptan	14 excursion	nmod
18	of	of	ADP	_	19 cost	case
19	cost	cost	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 grounds	nmod
20	,	,	PUNCT	_	21 identify	punct
21	identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 error	det
23	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	24 error	amod
24	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 identify	obj
25	.	.	PUNCT	_	21 identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	give	participle					vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	withhold	present	a pupil			from pupil's parent and a letter	tree rules
3	concern	gerund	a letter not said here	a school excursion	the grounds of cost		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus excursion=Experiencer
4	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal error			vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent error=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

He neglected to pay the sum from his savings

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 neglected	nsubj
2	neglected	neglect	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 pay	mark
4	pay	pay	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 neglected	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 sum	det
6	sum	sum	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 pay	obj
7	from	from	ADP	_	9 savings	case
8	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	9 savings	nmod:poss
9	savings	savings	NOUN	Number=Ptan	4 pay	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	neglect	past	He			vn neglect-75.1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not pay	to-infinitive	He not said here	the sum	his savings	vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sum=Asset
3	save		his = he			nom savings «possession transitive»: poss=agent

Option 2

He should have destroyed the letter at once

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 destroyed	nsubj
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 destroyed	aux
3	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 destroyed	aux
4	destroyed	destroy	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 letter	det
6	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 destroyed	obj
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 once	case
8	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	4 destroyed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	destroy	should · perfect	He	the letter					vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent letter=Patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

He failed to forge the parent's signature

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 failed	nsubj
2	failed	fail	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	to	to	PART	_	4 forge	mark
4	forge	forge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 failed	xcomp
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 parent	det
6	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 signature	nmod:poss
7	's	's	PART	_	6 parent	case
8	signature	signature	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 forge	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	fail	past	He		vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	not forge	to-infinitive	He not said here	the parent's signature	vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent signature=Product
3	sign		the parent		nom signature «communication transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

He denied the parent the chance to request help

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 denied	nsubj
2	denied	deny	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 parent	det
4	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denied	obj
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 chance	det
6	chance	chance	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 denied	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 request	mark
8	request	request	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 chance	acl
9	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 request	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	deny	past	He	the parent					vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent parent=Theme chance=Eventuality
2	request	to-infinitive	He not said here	help					vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent help=Recipient

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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/487-money-is-tight-free-meals-and-second-hand-uniform/e2/