Exam question 3 · The electric meter, the food bank and «we can't afford it»

Identify the principal meaning of the parental statement «we cannot afford it».

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, we · What happens: identify, not afford, mean · To what, where: principal meaning, meaning, parental statement · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 3 of lesson 488 «The electric meter, the food bank and «we can't afford it»» 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 meaning	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 meaning	amod
4	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	8 statement	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 statement	det
7	parental	parental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 statement	amod
8	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 meaning	nmod
9	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 afford	punct
10	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	13 afford	nsubj
11	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	13 afford	aux
12	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	13 afford	advmod
13	afford	afford	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Identify	parataxis
14	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 afford	obj
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 afford	punct
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal meaning of the parental statement	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme clause=Attribute
2	not afford in a quote	can	we	meaning	tree rules
3	mean			the parental statement	nom meaning «communication 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

The parent's affection for the child has diminished

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 parent	det
2	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affection	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 parent	case
4	affection	affection	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 diminished	nsubj:pass
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 child	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 child	det
7	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 affection	nmod
8	has	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 diminished	aux
9	diminished	diminish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present · perfect · passive		the parent's affection for the child					vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient

Option 2

The item is prohibited by law for persons of that age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 item	det
2	item	item	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 prohibited	aux:pass
4	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 law	case
6	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 prohibited	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	8 persons	case
8	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 prohibited	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 age	case
10	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	11 age	det
11	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 persons	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	law	the item				for persons of that age	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Insufficient money remains after rent, food and bills

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Insufficient	insufficient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 remains	amod
2	money	money	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	compound
3	remains	remains	NOUN	Number=Ptan	root	root
4	after	after	ADP	_	5 rent	case
5	rent	rent	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 remains	nmod
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 food	punct
7	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 rent	conj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 bills	cc
9	bills	bill	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 rent	conj

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

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The child is being punished for prior misconduct

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 child	det
2	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 punished	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 punished	aux:pass
4	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 punished	aux:pass
5	punished	punish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	for	for	ADP	_	8 misconduct	case
7	prior	prior	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 misconduct	amod
8	misconduct	misconduct	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 punished	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	punish	present · passive		the child				for prior misconduct	vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Patient for misconduct=Theme

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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