Exam question 4 · The electric meter, the food bank and «we can't afford it»

Given that a child is frequently alone and frightened in the evenings while a parent works, ascertain the most appropriate course.

Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: child, parent · What happens: give, be, frighten, work, ascertain · To what, where: appropriate course

This is exam question 4 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 alone	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 alone	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 alone	cop
6	frequently	frequently	ADV	_	7 alone	advmod
7	alone	alone	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Given	advcl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 frightened	cc
9	frightened	frighten	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Given	conj
10	in	in	ADP	_	12 evenings	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 evenings	det
12	evenings	evening	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 frightened	obl
13	while	while	SCONJ	_	16 works	mark
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	15 parent	det
15	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 works	nsubj
16	works	work	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 frightened	advcl
17	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 ascertain	punct
18	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 works	conj
19	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 course	det
20	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	21 appropriate	advmod
21	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 course	amod
22	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 ascertain	obj
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Given	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	when	other	roles by
1	give	participle					vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	is	present	a child			alone, frequently property	tree rules
3	frighten	participle			evening		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer
4	work	present	a parent				vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
5	ascertain	infinitive	a parent not said here	the appropriate course			vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Topic

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 admit any visitor who knocks

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 admit	mark
2	admit	admit	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	4 visitor	det
4	visitor	visitor	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 admit	obj
5	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	6 knocks	nsubj
6	knocks	knock	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 visitor	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	admit speech: other	to-infinitive		any visitor					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent visitor=Theme
2	knock	present	any visitor						vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient

Option 2

To leave the house in search of the parent

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 leave	mark
2	leave	leave	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 house	det
4	house	house	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 leave	obj
5	in	in	ADP	_	6 search	case
6	search	search	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 leave	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 parent	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 parent	det
9	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 search	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	leave	to-infinitive		the house		search of the parent			vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent house=Theme in search=Location
2	search			the parent					nom search «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ← Mova's choice

To conceal the matter from all adults

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 conceal	mark
2	conceal	conceal	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 matter	det
4	matter	matter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 conceal	obj
5	from	from	ADP	_	7 adults	case
6	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	7 adults	det
7	adults	adult	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 conceal	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	conceal	to-infinitive		the matter				from all adults	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent matter=Patient from adult=Beneficiary

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

To inform the parent or a teacher

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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 parent	det
4	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 inform	obj
5	or	or	CCONJ	_	7 teacher	cc
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 teacher	det
7	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 parent	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inform speech: other	to-infinitive			the parent or a teacher				vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent parent=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/488-the-electric-meter-the-food-bank-and-we-cant-afford-it/e4/