Exam question 4 · The only child: a quiet house

Whereas a child expresses both reluctance and curiosity regarding a prospective sibling, state the correct characterisation of such feelings.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: child · What happens: express, regard, characterise · To what, where: reluctance, such feelings

This is exam question 4 of lesson 498 «The only child: a quiet house» 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	Whereas	whereas	SCONJ	_	4 expresses	mark
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 child	det
3	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expresses	nsubj
4	expresses	express	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	both	both	CCONJ	_	6 reluctance	cc:preconj
6	reluctance	reluctance	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expresses	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 curiosity	cc
8	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 reluctance	conj
9	regarding	regard	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	12 sibling	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 sibling	det
11	prospective	prospective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 sibling	amod
12	sibling	sibling	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 curiosity	nmod
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 state	punct
14	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 reluctance	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 characterisation	det
16	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	17 characterisation	amod
17	characterisation	characterisation	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 expresses	obj
18	of	of	ADP	_	20 feelings	case
19	such	such	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 feelings	amod
20	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	17 characterisation	nmod
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 expresses	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	express	present	a child	reluctance and curiosity regard a prospective sibling and state	vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent reluctance=Destination characterisation=Theme
2	regard	gerund			vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	characterise			such feelings	nom characterisation «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

They demonstrate that the child is untruthful

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 demonstrate	nsubj
2	demonstrate	demonstrate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	7 untruthful	mark
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 child	det
5	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 untruthful	nsubj
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 untruthful	cop
7	untruthful	untruthful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 demonstrate	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	demonstrate	present	They						vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	is	present	the child					untruthful property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

They indicate the child wishes to be rid of the parents

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicate	nsubj
2	indicate	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wishes	nsubj
5	wishes	wish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	2 indicate	ccomp
6	to	to	PART	_	8 rid	mark
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 rid	cop
8	rid	rid	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 wishes	ccomp
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 parents	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 parents	det
11	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 rid	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	They		vn indicate-78-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot clause=Topic
2	wish	present	the child		vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot
3	is not said to happen	to-infinitive		of the parents; rid property	tree rules

Option 3

They oblige the parents to defer to the child's decision

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 oblige	nsubj
2	oblige	oblige	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 parents	det
4	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 oblige	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 defer	mark
6	defer	defer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 oblige	advcl
7	to	to	ADP	_	11 decision	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 child	det
9	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 decision	nmod:poss
10	's	's	PART	_	9 child	case
11	decision	decision	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 defer	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	oblige	present	They	the parents		vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent parent=Patient
2	defer	to-infinitive	They not said here		to the child's decision	vn acquiesce-95.1 «NP V PP.pivot»: agent=Agent to decision=Pivot
3	decide		the child			nom decision «act transitive»: poss=agent

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Mixed feelings of this kind are normal

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Mixed	mix	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 feelings	amod
2	feelings	feeling	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 normal	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 kind	case
4	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	5 kind	det
5	kind	kind	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 feelings	nmod
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 normal	cop
7	normal	normal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	mix	participle							vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	is	present	Mixed feelings of this kind					normal property	tree rules

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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