Exam question 1 · Flossing and caring for your teeth

Identify the principal reason for which dental floss or an interdental brush is employed daily.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, employ · To what, where: principal reason, dental floss

This is exam question 1 of lesson 74 «Flossing and caring for your teeth» 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	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	14 employed	obl
7	dental	dental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 floss	amod
8	floss	floss	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 employed	nsubj:pass
9	or	or	CCONJ	_	12 brush	cc
10	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 brush	det
11	interdental	interdental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 brush	amod
12	brush	brush	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 floss	conj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	14 employed	aux:pass
14	employed	employ	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 reason	acl:relcl
15	daily	daily	ADV	_	14 employed	advmod
16	.	.	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 principal reason					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	employ	present · passive		dental floss or a interdental brush				for the principal reason; daily property	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for which=Eventuality

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

Floss strengthens the roots of the teeth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Floss	floss	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 strengthens	nsubj
2	strengthens	strengthen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 roots	det
4	roots	root	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 strengthens	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 teeth	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 teeth	det
7	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 roots	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	strengthen	present	Floss	the roots of the teeth					vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent root=Patient

Option 2

Floss whitens the teeth more effectively than brushing

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Floss	floss	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 whitens	nsubj
2	whitens	whiten	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 teeth	det
4	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 whitens	obj
5	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	6 effectively	advmod
6	effectively	effectively	ADV	_	2 whitens	advmod
7	than	than	SCONJ	_	8 brushing	mark
8	brushing	brush	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 effectively	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	whiten	present	Floss	the teeth				effectively property	vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tooth=Patient
2	brush	gerund	Floss not said here						vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 3

Floss replaces the need to brush altogether

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Floss	floss	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 replaces	nsubj
2	replaces	replace	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 need	det
4	need	need	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 replaces	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 brush	mark
6	brush	brush	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 replaces	xcomp
7	altogether	altogether	ADV	_	6 brush	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	replace	present	Floss	the need					tree rules
2	brush	to-infinitive	Floss not said here					altogether property	vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

A toothbrush cannot reach the gaps between the teeth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 toothbrush	det
2	toothbrush	toothbrush	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 reach	nsubj
3	can	can	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 reach	aux
4	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 reach	advmod
5	reach	reach	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 gaps	det
7	gaps	gap	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 reach	obj
8	between	between	ADP	_	10 teeth	case
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 teeth	det
10	teeth	tooth	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 gaps	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not reach	can	a toothbrush	the gaps				between the teeth	vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent gap=Theme

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/74-flossing-and-caring-for-teeth/e1/