Exam question 4 · When a parent has died

Given that a child is asked by a stranger to explain a parent's death, ascertain the extent of explanation required.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: stranger, you, parent · What happens: give, ask, explain, ascertain, require, die · To what, where: child, death, extent, explanation

This is exam question 4 of lesson 518 «When a parent has died» 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	6 asked	mark
2	that	that	SCONJ	_	6 asked	mark
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 child	det
4	child	child	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 asked	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 asked	aux:pass
6	asked	ask	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 ascertain	advcl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 stranger	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 stranger	det
9	stranger	stranger	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 asked	obl
10	to	to	PART	_	11 explain	mark
11	explain	explain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	17 ascertain	advcl
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 parent	det
13	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 death	nmod:poss
14	's	's	PART	_	13 parent	case
15	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 explain	obj
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 ascertain	punct
17	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 extent	det
19	extent	extent	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 ascertain	obj
20	of	of	ADP	_	21 explanation	case
21	explanation	explanation	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 extent	nmod
22	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	19 extent	acl
23	.	.	PUNCT	_	17 ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	give	participle			vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	ask speech: ask	present · passive	a stranger	a child	vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient
3	explain speech: assert	to-infinitive	you not said here	a parent's death	vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Topic
4	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the extent of explanation	vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent extent=Topic
5	require	participle		the extent of explanation not said here	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme
6	die		a parent		nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent
7	extend			explanation	nom extent «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.

The options

Option 1

The child is obliged to respond in writing within a week

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	4 obliged	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 obliged	aux:pass
4	obliged	oblige	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 respond	mark
6	respond	respond	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 obliged	xcomp
7	in	in	ADP	_	8 writing	case
8	writing	writing	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 respond	obl
9	within	within	ADP	_	11 week	case
10	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	11 week	det
11	week	week	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 respond	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	oblige	present · passive		the child					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	respond speech: other	to-infinitive				writing	week		vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

A complete account of all circumstances must be furnished

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 account	det
2	complete	complete	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 account	amod
3	account	account	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 furnished	nsubj:pass
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 circumstances	case
5	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	6 circumstances	det
6	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 account	nmod
7	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 furnished	aux
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 furnished	aux:pass
9	furnished	furnish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	furnish	must · passive		a complete account of all circumstances					vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient
2	account			all circumstances					nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

A brief statement suffices, and no further detail is owed

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 statement	det
2	brief	brief	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 statement	amod
3	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 suffices	nsubj
4	suffices	suffice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	11 owed	punct
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 owed	cc
7	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	9 detail	det
8	further	further	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 detail	amod
9	detail	detail	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 owed	nsubj:pass
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	11 owed	aux:pass
11	owed	owe	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 suffices	ccomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suffice	present	a brief statement						tree rules
2	owe	present · passive		no further detail					vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The child must decline to acknowledge the parent's death

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	4 decline	nsubj
3	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 decline	aux
4	decline	decline	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 acknowledge	mark
6	acknowledge	acknowledge	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 decline	xcomp
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 parent	det
8	parent	parent	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 death	nmod:poss
9	's	's	PART	_	8 parent	case
10	death	death	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 acknowledge	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	decline	must	the child		vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme
2	not acknowledge	to-infinitive	the child not said here	the parent's death	vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Topic
3	die		the parent		nom death «event intransitive»: poss=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/518-when-a-parent-has-died/e4/