Exam question 4 · Gaols, magistrates and old punishments: from the stocks to…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the principle that a punishment should fit the crime?

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: punishment · What happens: follow, characteris, fit · To what, where: principle, crime

This is exam question 4 of lesson 84 «Gaols, magistrates and old punishments: from the stocks to the Children Act of 1908» of the history 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 principle	det
10	principle	principle	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	that	that	SCONJ	_	15 fit	mark
12	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	13 punishment	det
13	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 fit	nsubj
14	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	15 fit	aux
15	fit	fit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 principle	acl
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 crime	det
17	crime	crime	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 fit	obj
18	?	?	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 principle	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	fit	should	a punishment	the crime		vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crime=Patient

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 · ✓ the right answer

Lesser offences ought to receive lesser punishments and graver offences graver ones

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Lesser	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	2 offences	amod
2	offences	offence	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 receive	nsubj
3	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 receive	aux
4	to	to	PART	_	5 receive	mark
5	receive	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	lesser	less	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	7 punishments	amod
7	punishments	punishment	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 receive	obj
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 offences	cc
9	graver	grave	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	10 offences	amod
10	offences	offence	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 punishments	conj
11	graver	grave	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	12 ones	amod
12	ones	one	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 receive	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	ought	Lesser offences	lesser punishments and graver offences					vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent punishment=Theme one=Location

Option 2

All offences, however slight or however grave, ought to receive identical punishments

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	All	all	DET	PronType=Tot	2 offences	det
2	offences	offence	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 receive	nsubj
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 slight	punct
4	however	however	ADV	_	5 slight	advmod
5	slight	slight	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 offences	amod
6	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 grave	cc
7	however	however	ADV	_	8 grave	advmod
8	grave	grave	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 slight	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 offences	punct
10	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 receive	aux
11	to	to	PART	_	12 receive	mark
12	receive	receive	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
13	identical	identical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 punishments	amod
14	punishments	punishment	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 receive	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	receive	ought	all offences	identical punishments					vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent punishment=Theme

Option 3

The punishment ought to be chosen at random by the court

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 punishment	det
2	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 chosen	nsubj:pass
3	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	6 chosen	aux
4	to	to	PART	_	6 chosen	mark
5	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	6 chosen	aux:pass
6	chosen	choose	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
7	at	at	ADP	_	8 random	case
8	random	random	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 chosen	obl
9	by	by	ADP	_	11 court	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 court	det
11	court	court	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 chosen	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	ought · passive	the court	the punishment		random			vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent subject=Theme at random=Asset

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice

The punishment ought to depend upon the wealth of the offender

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 punishment	det
2	punishment	punishment	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 depend	nsubj
3	ought	ought	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 depend	aux
4	to	to	PART	_	5 depend	mark
5	depend	depend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	upon	upon	ADP	_	8 wealth	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 wealth	det
8	wealth	wealth	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 depend	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 offender	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 offender	det
11	offender	offender	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wealth	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	depend	ought	the punishment					upon the wealth of the offender	vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=Agent

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.

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