Exam question 2 · A pet is a responsibility

Identify the reason for which an animal ought never to be given as a surprise gift.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, not give · To what, where: reason, animal

This is exam question 2 of lesson 65 «A pet is a responsibility» 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	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 given	obl
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 animal	det
7	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 given	nsubj:pass
8	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 given	aux
9	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	12 given	advmod
10	to	to	PART	_	12 given	mark
11	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	12 given	aux:pass
12	given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl
13	as	as	ADP	_	16 gift	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	16 gift	det
15	surprise	surprise	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 gift	compound
16	gift	gift	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 given	obl
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	not give	ought · passive	you not said here	a animal				for the reason; as a surprise gift	vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: subject=Theme for which=Asset

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 · ← Mova's choice

Gifts must be inanimate by law

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Gifts	gift	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 inanimate	nsubj
2	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 inanimate	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 inanimate	cop
4	inanimate	inanimate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	6 law	case
6	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 inanimate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	must	Gifts					by law; inanimate property	tree rules

Option 2

Animals are distressed by wrapping paper and ribbons

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 distressed	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 distressed	aux:pass
3	distressed	distress	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	SCONJ	_	5 wrapping	mark
5	wrapping	wrap	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	3 distressed	advcl
6	paper	paper	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 wrapping	obj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 ribbons	cc
8	ribbons	ribbon	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 paper	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	distress	present · passive		Animals					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer
2	wrap	gerund		paper and ribbons					vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent paper=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

The recipient may be unable to care for it

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 recipient	det
2	recipient	recipient	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 unable	nsubj
3	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 unable	aux
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 unable	cop
5	unable	unable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 care	mark
7	care	care	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 unable	xcomp
8	for	for	ADP	_	9 it	case
9	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 care	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	may	the recipient					unable property	tree rules
2	care	to-infinitive	the recipient not said here					for recipient	vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for it=Theme

Option 4

Surprise animals cost considerably more to purchase

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Surprise	surprise	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 animals	compound
2	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 cost	nsubj
3	cost	cost	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	considerably	considerably	ADV	_	5 more	advmod
5	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	3 cost	obj
6	to	to	PART	_	7 purchase	mark
7	purchase	purchase	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 cost	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cost	present	Surprise animals	more					vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme more=Value
2	purchase	to-infinitive	Surprise animals not said here						vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset

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/65-a-pet-is-a-responsibility/e2/