Exam question 4 · Money is tight: free school meals and second-hand uniform

Ascertain the most appropriate course for a pupil whose swimming costume no longer fits and whose parent cannot purchase another until payday.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, swimming costume, parent · What happens: ascertain, fit, not purchase · To what, where: appropriate course, another

This is exam question 4 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 course	det
3	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	4 appropriate	advmod
4	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 course	amod
5	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 pupil	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 pupil	det
8	pupil	pupil	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obl
9	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	11 costume	nmod:poss
10	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 costume	compound
11	costume	costume	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 pupil	nmod
12	no	no	ADV	_	13 longer	advmod
13	longer	long	ADV	Degree=Cmp	14 fits	advmod
14	fits	fit	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 costume	acl:relcl
15	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 purchase	cc
16	whose	whose	PRON	Poss=Yes PronType=Rel	17 parent	nmod:poss
17	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 purchase	nsubj
18	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	20 purchase	aux
19	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	20 purchase	advmod
20	purchase	purchase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	14 fits	conj
21	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	20 purchase	obj
22	until	until	ADP	_	23 payday	case
23	payday	payday	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 purchase	obl
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the appropriate course		for a pupil a pupil a pupil's swimming costume's swimming costume	vn ensure-99 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Precondition course=Theme for pupil=Beneficiary
2	fit	present	a pupil a pupil swimming costume's swimming costume's swimming costume not said here			long property	vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent
3	not purchase	can	parent	another	until payday		vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=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 · ✓ the right answer

To inform a teacher, who may lend spare kit

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 inform	mark
2	inform	inform	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 teacher	det
4	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inform	obj
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 lend	punct
6	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 lend	nsubj
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 lend	aux
8	lend	lend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 teacher	acl:relcl
9	spare	spare	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 kit	amod
10	kit	kit	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 lend	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	to-infinitive			a teacher				vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent teacher=Recipient
2	lend	may	a teacher	spare kit					vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kit=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

To borrow money from a classmate for a new one

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 borrow	mark
2	borrow	borrow	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 borrow	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	6 classmate	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 classmate	det
6	classmate	classmate	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 borrow	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	10 one	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 one	det
9	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 one	amod
10	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 borrow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	borrow	to-infinitive		money		a classmate		for a new one	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent money=Theme from classmate=Source

Option 3

To absent himself from every swimming lesson

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 absent	mark
2	absent	absent	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	2 absent	obj
4	from	from	ADP	_	7 lesson	case
5	every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	7 lesson	det
6	swimming	swimming	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 lesson	compound
7	lesson	lesson	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 absent	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	absent	to-infinitive		himself = he		every swimming lesson			tree rules

Option 4

To swim in his school uniform without asking

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 swim	mark
2	swim	swim	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	in	in	ADP	_	6 uniform	case
4	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 uniform	nmod:poss
5	school	school	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 uniform	compound
6	uniform	uniform	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 swim	obl
7	without	without	SCONJ	_	8 asking	mark
8	asking	ask	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	2 swim	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swim	to-infinitive				his school uniform			vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in uniform=Trajectory
2	ask speech: ask	gerund							vn inquire-37.1.2 «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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