Exam question 4 · The big sister: bossy, protective, borrowing your stuff
It is given that an elder sister has customarily purchased a beverage for her sibling each week and has ceased to do so for want of funds. State the correct characterisation of the practice.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: elder sister · What happens: give, purchase, cease, do, want, characterise · To what, where: It, beverage, funds, practice
This is exam question 4 of lesson 500 «The big sister: bossy, protective, borrowing your stuff» 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
Sentence 1: It is given that an elder sister has customarily purchased a beverage for her sibling each week and has ceased to do so for want of funds.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 given | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 given | aux:pass |
| 3 | given | give | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 10 purchased | mark |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 sister | det |
| 6 | elder | elder | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 sister | amod |
| 7 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 purchased | nsubj |
| 8 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 purchased | aux |
| 9 | customarily | customarily | ADV | _ | 10 purchased | advmod |
| 10 | purchased | purchase | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 given | advcl |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 beverage | det |
| 12 | beverage | beverage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 purchased | obj |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 sibling | case |
| 14 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 sibling | nmod:poss |
| 15 | sibling | sibling | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 purchased | obl |
| 16 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 17 week | det |
| 17 | week | week | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 purchased | obl:unmarked |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 ceased | cc |
| 19 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 ceased | aux |
| 20 | ceased | cease | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 given | conj |
| 21 | to | to | PART | _ | 22 do | mark |
| 22 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 ceased | xcomp |
| 23 | so | so | ADV | _ | 22 do | advmod |
| 24 | for | for | ADP | _ | 25 want | case |
| 25 | want | want | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 do | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 funds | case |
| 27 | funds | fund | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 want | nmod |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 given | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | present · passive | It | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 2 | purchase | present · perfect | a elder sister | a beverage | week | for sister's sibling; customarily property | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent beverage=Theme for sibling=Asset | ||
| 3 | cease | present · perfect | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | ||||||
| 4 | do | to-infinitive | for want of funds | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | want | funds | nom want «state 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.
Sentence 2: State the correct characterisation of the practice.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State | state | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 characterisation | det |
| 3 | correct | correct | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 characterisation | amod |
| 4 | characterisation | characterisation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 State | appos |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 practice | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 practice | det |
| 7 | practice | practice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 characterisation | nmod |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 State | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | characterise | the practice | nom characterisation «communication transitive»: of=patient |
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
A gift rather than an obligation
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 gift | det |
| 2 | gift | gift | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | rather | rather | ADV | ExtPos=CCONJ | 6 obligation | cc |
| 4 | than | than | ADP | _ | 3 rather | fixed |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 obligation | det |
| 6 | obligation | obligation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 gift | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 2
A payment due under contract
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 payment | det |
| 2 | payment | payment | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | due | due | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 payment | amod |
| 4 | under | under | ADP | _ | 5 contract | case |
| 5 | contract | contract | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 payment | nmod |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
A debt enforceable against the sister
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 debt | det |
| 2 | debt | debt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 enforceable | nsubj |
| 3 | enforceable | enforceable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | against | against | ADP | _ | 6 sister | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 sister | det |
| 6 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 enforceable | obl |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4
A rule of the household
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 rule | det |
| 2 | rule | rule | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 household | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 household | det |
| 5 | household | household | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 rule | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | rule | the household | nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/everyday/500-the-big-sister-bossy-protective-borrowing-your-stuff/e4/