Exam question 3 · Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the alteration of style between conversation with friends and correspondence with a head teacher.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, established facts · What happens: select, establish, concern, alter · To what, where: response, alteration, style

This is exam question 3 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	Select	select	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 response	det
3	response	response	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Select	obj
4	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Select	xcomp
5	with	with	ADP	_	8 facts	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 facts	det
7	established	establish	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 facts	amod
8	facts	fact	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 consistent	obl
9	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 facts	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 alteration	det
11	alteration	alteration	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 concerning	obj
12	of	of	ADP	_	13 style	case
13	style	style	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 alteration	nmod
14	between	between	ADP	_	15 conversation	case
15	conversation	conversation	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 style	nmod
16	with	with	ADP	_	17 friends	case
17	friends	friend	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 conversation	nmod
18	and	and	CCONJ	_	19 correspondence	cc
19	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 friends	conj
20	with	with	ADP	_	23 teacher	case
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 teacher	det
22	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	23 teacher	compound
23	teacher	teacher	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 correspondence	nmod
24	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Select	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	select	imperative	you not said here	the response	consistent property	vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent response=Theme
2	establish	participle				vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot
3	concern	gerund	the established facts not said here	the alteration of style between conversation with friends and correspondence with a head teacher		vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus alteration=Experiencer
4	alter			style between conversation with friends and correspondence with a head teacher		nom alteration «event 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

It constitutes evidence of dishonesty on the part of the writer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	evidence	evidence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 dishonesty	case
5	dishonesty	dishonesty	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 evidence	nmod
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 part	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 part	det
8	part	part	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obl
9	of	of	ADP	_	11 writer	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 writer	det
11	writer	writer	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 part	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	evidence of dishonesty		the part of the writer			vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme evidence=Pivot
2	evidence			dishonesty					nom evidence «cognition transitive»: of=patient

Option 2

It is prohibited by the regulations of most schools

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	by	by	ADP	_	6 regulations	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 regulations	det
6	regulations	regulation	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	9 schools	case
8	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	9 schools	amod
9	schools	school	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 regulations	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	the regulations of most schools	It					vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme
2	regulate			most schools					nom regulation «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 3

It indicates an inability to speak the language properly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 indicates	nsubj
2	indicates	indicate	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 inability	det
4	inability	inability	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 indicates	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 speak	mark
6	speak	speak	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 inability	acl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 language	det
8	language	language	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 speak	obj
9	properly	properly	ADV	_	6 speak	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	indicate	present	It	a inability					vn indicate-78-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot inability=Topic
2	speak speech: other	to-infinitive		the language				properly property	tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

It constitutes a recognised linguistic competence

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 competence	det
4	recognised	recognise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	6 competence	amod
5	linguistic	linguistic	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 competence	compound
6	competence	competence	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a recognised linguistic competence					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme competence=Pivot
2	recognise	participle							vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer

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/e3/