Exam question 1 · Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises formal language?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 2 · right ✓ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: formal language

This is exam question 1 of lesson 16 «Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher» of the language 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	formal	formal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 language	amod
10	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		formal language				of the following statements; accurately property	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

Language composed principally of abbreviations and symbols

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 composed	nsubj
2	composed	compose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	principally	principally	ADV	_	2 composed	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 abbreviations	case
5	abbreviations	abbreviation	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 composed	obl
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 symbols	cc
7	symbols	symbol	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 abbreviations	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compose	past	Language					of abbreviations and symbols; principally property	vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

Language that is careful, clear and courteous, appropriate to official purposes

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 careful	nsubj
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 careful	cop
4	careful	careful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Language	acl:relcl
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	6 clear	punct
6	clear	clear	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 careful	conj
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 courteous	cc
8	courteous	courteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 careful	conj
9	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 appropriate	punct
10	appropriate	appropriate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 careful	conj
11	to	to	ADP	_	13 purposes	case
12	official	official	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 purposes	amod
13	purposes	purpose	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 appropriate	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	other	roles by
1	is	present	Language	careful property	tree rules
2	be		Language not said here		tree rules
3	be		Language not said here		tree rules
4	be		Language not said here	to official purposes	tree rules

Option 3

Language reserved exclusively for persons of advanced years

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 reserved	nsubj
2	reserved	reserve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	2 reserved	advmod
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 persons	case
5	persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 reserved	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	8 years	case
7	advanced	advanced	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 years	amod
8	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 persons	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reserve	past	Language					for persons of advanced years; exclusively property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for person=Beneficiary

Option 4

Language that employs the greatest possible number of lengthy words in each sentence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	that	that	PRON	PronType=Rel	3 employs	nsubj
3	employs	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	1 Language	acl:relcl
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 number	det
5	greatest	great	ADJ	Degree=Sup	7 number	amod
6	possible	possible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 number	amod
7	number	number	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 employs	obj
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 words	case
9	lengthy	lengthy	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 words	amod
10	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 number	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 sentence	case
12	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	13 sentence	det
13	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 words	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present	Language	the greatest possible number of lengthy words in each sentence					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Theme

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/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/e1/