Exam question 2 · Telling the time

Identify the time denoted by the expression cinq heures moins le quart.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, denote · To what, where: cinq heures, time

This is exam question 2 of lesson 12 «Telling the time» of the French 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 time	det
3	time	time	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	denoted	denote	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 time	acl
5	by	by	ADP	_	7 expression	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 expression	det
7	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 denoted	obl
8	cinq	cinq	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	9 heures	nummod
9	heures	heure	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Identify	obj
10	moins	moins	X	Foreign=Yes	1 Identify	parataxis
11	le	le	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 quart	det
12	quart	quart	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 moins	flat
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	cinq heures			time		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent heure=Theme
2	denote	participle		the time not said here				by the expression	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot

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

Five minutes before four o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 minutes	nummod
2	minutes	minute	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	before	before	ADP	_	5 o'clock	case
4	four	four	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 o'clock	nummod
5	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 minutes	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

A quarter of an hour after five o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 quarter	det
2	quarter	quarter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 hour	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 hour	det
5	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quarter	nmod
6	after	after	ADP	_	8 o'clock	case
7	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 o'clock	nummod
8	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quarter	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 3

Five hours less a quarter of a day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	2 hours	nummod
2	hours	hour	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 less	obl:unmarked
3	less	less	ADV	Degree=Cmp	5 quarter	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 quarter	det
5	quarter	quarter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 day	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 day	det
8	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 quarter	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A quarter of an hour before five o'clock

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 quarter	det
2	quarter	quarter	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 hour	case
4	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 hour	det
5	hour	hour	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quarter	nmod
6	before	before	ADP	_	8 o'clock	case
7	five	five	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 o'clock	nummod
8	o'clock	o'clock	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 quarter	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/french/12-telling-the-time/e2/