Exam question 1 · Facing fears

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the effect of confronting a fear?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: effect · What happens: follow, characteris, confront · To what, where: effect, fear

This is exam question 1 of lesson 90 «Facing fears» 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	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 effect	det
10	effect	effect	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	of	of	SCONJ	_	12 confronting	mark
12	confronting	confront	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	10 effect	acl
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 fear	det
14	fear	fear	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 confronting	obj
15	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 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 effect	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	confront	gerund	the effect not said here	a fear		vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fear=Theme

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

Fears may only be overcome by confronting them all at once, alone and entirely without help

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fears	fear	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 overcome	nsubj:pass
2	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 overcome	aux
3	only	only	ADV	_	5 overcome	advmod
4	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	5 overcome	aux:pass
5	overcome	overcome	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	by	by	SCONJ	_	7 confronting	mark
7	confronting	confront	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 overcome	advcl
8	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 confronting	obj
9	all	all	ADV	_	11 once	advmod
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 once	case
11	once	once	ADV	NumForm=Word NumType=Mult	7 confronting	advmod
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 alone	punct
13	alone	alone	ADV	_	5 overcome	advmod
14	and	and	CCONJ	_	15 entirely	cc
15	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	13 alone	conj
16	without	without	ADP	_	17 help	case
17	help	help	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 overcome	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	overcome	may · passive		Fears				without help; alone property	vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
2	confront	gerund		Fears = fear				once property	vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Fears generally diminish when they are faced in small and safe steps with support

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fears	fear	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 diminish	nsubj
2	generally	generally	ADV	_	3 diminish	advmod
3	diminish	diminish	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 faced	advmod
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 faced	nsubj:pass
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 faced	aux:pass
7	faced	face	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 diminish	advcl
8	in	in	ADP	_	12 steps	case
9	small	small	ADJ	Degree=Pos	12 steps	amod
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 safe	cc
11	safe	safe	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 small	conj
12	steps	step	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 faced	obl
13	with	with	ADP	_	14 support	case
14	support	support	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 steps	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	diminish	present	Fears					generally property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient
2	face	present · passive		Fears = fear				in small steps with support	vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination in step=Theme

Option 3

Fears are invariably increased by any attempt whatsoever to confront them

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fears	fear	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 increased	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 increased	aux:pass
3	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	4 increased	advmod
4	increased	increase	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 attempt	case
6	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	7 attempt	det
7	attempt	attempt	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 increased	obl
8	whatsoever	whatsoever	ADV	_	10 confront	advmod
9	to	to	PART	_	10 confront	mark
10	confront	confront	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 increased	advcl
11	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	10 confront	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	increase	present · passive	any attempt	Fears				invariably property	vn caused_calibratable_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer subject=Patient
2	confront	to-infinitive	any attempt not said here	Fears = fear				whatsoever property	vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme

Option 4

Fears disappear entirely when they are concealed from parents and teachers

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Fears	fear	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 disappear	nsubj
2	disappear	disappear	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	2 disappear	advmod
4	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	7 concealed	advmod
5	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 concealed	nsubj
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 concealed	aux:pass
7	concealed	conceal	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 disappear	advcl
8	from	from	ADP	_	9 parents	case
9	parents	parent	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 concealed	obl
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	11 teachers	cc
11	teachers	teacher	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 parents	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	disappear	present	Fears					entirely property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	conceal	present · passive		Fears = fear				from parents and teachers	vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Patient from parent=Beneficiary

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/90-facing-fears/e1/