Exam question 3 · Olympiad: decoding a short French text ★★★

Select the rendering most consistent with the notice "Défense de marcher sur la pelouse".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, Défense · What happens: select, render, pelouse · To what, where: consistent

This is exam question 3 of lesson 39 «Olympiad: decoding a short French text ★★★» 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 rendering	det
3	rendering	render	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	1 Select	advcl
4	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	5 consistent	advmod
5	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 rendering	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 notice	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 notice	det
8	notice	notice	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 consistent	obl
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	10 Défense	punct
10	Défense	Défense	PROPN	Number=Sing	15 pelouse	nsubj
11	de	de	X	Foreign=Yes	10 Défense	flat:foreign
12	marcher	marcher	X	Foreign=Yes	10 Défense	flat:foreign
13	sur	sur	X	Foreign=Yes	15 pelouse	compound
14	la	la	X	Foreign=Yes	15 pelouse	compound
15	pelouse	pelouse	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 notice	appos
16	"	"	PUNCT	_	15 pelouse	punct
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here		vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	render	gerund	you not said here	consistent	vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consistent=Theme
3	pelouse in a quote		Défense		tree rules

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 lawn is to be defended by the public

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 lawn	det
2	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 defended	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 defended	aux:pass
4	to	to	PART	_	6 defended	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 defended	aux:pass
6	defended	defend	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 public	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 public	det
9	public	public	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 defended	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	defend	present · passive	the public	the lawn					vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Walking upon the lawn is prohibited

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Walking	walk	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 prohibited	csubj:pass
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	4 lawn	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 lawn	det
4	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Walking	obl
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 prohibited	aux:pass
6	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	walk	gerund				the lawn			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon lawn=Trajectory
2	prohibit	present · passive	Walking						vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S_ING»

Option 3

Marching upon the lawn is encouraged

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Marching	march	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	6 encouraged	csubj:pass
2	upon	upon	ADP	_	4 lawn	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 lawn	det
4	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Marching	obl
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	6 encouraged	aux:pass
6	encouraged	encourage	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	march	gerund				the lawn			vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon lawn=Trajectory
2	encourage	present · passive	Marching						vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»

Option 4

The lawn is reserved for military exercises

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 lawn	det
2	lawn	lawn	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reserved	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reserved	aux:pass
4	reserved	reserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	for	for	ADP	_	7 exercises	case
6	military	military	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 exercises	amod
7	exercises	exercise	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 reserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reserve	present · passive		the lawn				for military exercises	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for exercise=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/french/39-olympiad-decoding-a-short-french-text/e3/