Exam question 2 · Hair, nails and ears

Which of the following most accurately characterises the correct manner of cutting toenails?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 1 · right ✓ · Who acts: correct manner · What happens: follow, characteris, cut · To what, where: correct manner, toenails

This is exam question 2 of lesson 77 «Hair, nails and ears» 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	SCONJ	_	7 characterises	mark
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 characterises	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 characterises	csubj
5	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	6 accurately	advmod
6	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	7 characterises	advmod
7	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 manner	det
9	correct	correct	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 manner	amod
10	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 characterises	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 cutting	mark
12	cutting	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 manner	acl
13	toenails	toenail	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 cutting	obj
14	?	?	PUNCT	_	7 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the correct manner	accurately property	tree rules
3	cut	gerund	the correct manner not said here	toenails		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset toenail=Product

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 · ✓ the right answer

Straight across, so that they do not grow into the skin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Straight	straight	ADV	_	2 across	advmod
2	across	across	ADV	_	9 grow	advmod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	9 grow	punct
4	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	9 grow	mark
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	4 so	fixed
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 grow	nsubj
7	do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 grow	aux
8	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 grow	advmod
9	grow	grow	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
10	into	into	ADP	_	12 skin	case
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 skin	det
12	skin	skin	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 grow	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not grow	present · do-support	they					into the skin result; across property	vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into skin=Result

Option 2

Filed from beneath until they are thin

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Filed	file	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
2	from	from	ADP	_	3 beneath	case
3	beneath	beneath	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	1 Filed	obl
4	until	until	SCONJ	_	7 thin	mark
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 thin	nsubj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 thin	cop
7	thin	thin	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Filed	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	file	participle							vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from beneath=Initial_Location
2	is	present	they					thin property	tree rules

Option 3

In a deep curve, cut as short as possible

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	In	in	ADP	_	4 curve	case
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 curve	det
3	deep	deep	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 curve	amod
4	curve	curve	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 cut	punct
6	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 curve	acl
7	as	as	ADV	_	8 short	advmod
8	short	short	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 cut	xcomp
9	as	as	SCONJ	_	10 possible	mark
10	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 short	advcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	cut	participle		a deep curve not said here				short property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Option 4

Torn off by hand when they become long

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Torn	tear	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	7 become	advcl
2	off	off	ADP	_	1 Torn	compound:prt
3	by	by	ADP	_	4 hand	case
4	hand	hand	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Torn	obl
5	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 become	advmod
6	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 become	nsubj
7	become	become	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	long	long	ADV	Degree=Pos	7 become	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	tear off	participle	they not said here					by hand	vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by hand=Trajectory
2	become	present	they					long property	vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient

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/77-hair-nails-and-ears/e2/