Exam question 2 · Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher

Identify the course of action most likely to secure the repair of defective equipment in a public park.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, secure, repair · To what, where: course, repair, public park, defective equipment

This is exam question 2 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	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 course	det
3	course	course	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 action	case
5	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 course	nmod
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 likely	advmod
7	likely	likely	ADV	_	1 Identify	advmod
8	to	to	PART	_	9 secure	mark
9	secure	secure	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	1 Identify	advcl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 repair	det
11	repair	repair	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 secure	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 equipment	case
13	defective	defective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 equipment	amod
14	equipment	equipment	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 repair	nmod
15	in	in	ADP	_	18 park	case
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 park	det
17	public	public	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 park	amod
18	park	park	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 secure	obl
19	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the course of action		likely property	vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent course=Theme
2	secure	to-infinitive	you not said here	the repair of defective equipment	a public park		vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition repair=Theme
3	repair			defective equipment			nom repair «act transitive»: of=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 · ← Mova's choice

Correspondence employing abusive language so as to convey urgency

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	employing	employ	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Correspondence	acl
3	abusive	abusive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 language	amod
4	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 employing	obj
5	so	so	ADV	_	8 convey	advmod
6	as	as	SCONJ	_	8 convey	mark
7	to	to	PART	_	8 convey	mark
8	convey	convey	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 employing	advcl
9	urgency	urgency	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 convey	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	gerund	Correspondence not said here	abusive language					vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Theme
2	convey	to-infinitive	Correspondence not said here	urgency					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent urgency=Topic

Option 2

The composition of a letter entirely in capital letters

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 composition	det
2	composition	composition	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 letter	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 letter	det
5	letter	letter	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 composition	nmod
6	entirely	entirely	ADV	_	5 letter	advmod
7	in	in	ADP	_	9 letters	case
8	capital	capital	ADJ	Degree=Pos	9 letters	amod
9	letters	letter	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 letter	nmod

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

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Correspondence stating the facts and requesting repair courteously

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	stating	state	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Correspondence	acl
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 facts	det
4	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 stating	obj
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	6 requesting	cc
6	requesting	request	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 stating	conj
7	repair	repair	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 requesting	obj
8	courteously	courteously	ADV	_	6 requesting	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	state speech: other	gerund	Correspondence not said here	the facts					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent fact=Topic
2	request	gerund	Correspondence not said here	repair				courteously property	vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent repair=Recipient

Option 4

The abstention from any communication with the authority concerned

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 abstention	det
2	abstention	abstention	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerned	nsubj
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 communication	case
4	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	5 communication	det
5	communication	communication	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 abstention	nmod
6	with	with	ADP	_	8 authority	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 authority	det
8	authority	authority	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 communication	nmod
9	concerned	concerned	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root

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/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/e2/