Exam question 4 · Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher
Ascertain the meaning of the word "conscientious" as employed in a school report.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, employ, mean · To what, where: meaning, school report, word
This is exam question 4 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 | Ascertain | ascertain | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 meaning | det |
| 3 | meaning | meaning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Ascertain | obj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 word | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 word | det |
| 6 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 meaning | nmod |
| 7 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 conscientious | punct |
| 8 | conscientious | conscientious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 word | appos |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 conscientious | punct |
| 10 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 11 employed | mark |
| 11 | employed | employ | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 1 Ascertain | advcl |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 report | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 report | det |
| 14 | school | school | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 report | compound |
| 15 | report | report | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 employed | obl |
| 16 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Ascertain | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ascertain | imperative | you not said here | the meaning of the word | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic | ||||
| 2 | employ | participle | you not said here | a school report | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | mean | the word | nom meaning «communication 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
Of unusually great height compared with peers
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Of | of | ADP | _ | 4 height | case |
| 2 | unusually | unusually | ADV | _ | 3 great | advmod |
| 3 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 height | amod |
| 4 | height | height | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | compared | compare | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 height | acl |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 7 peers | case |
| 7 | peers | peer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 compared | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | compare | participle | great height not said here | with peers | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with peer=Co-Patient |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
Careful and diligent
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Careful | careful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 diligent | cc |
| 3 | diligent | diligent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 1 Careful | conj |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3
Inclined to excessive talking during lessons
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inclined | incline | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 2 | to | to | ADP | _ | 4 talking | case |
| 3 | excessive | excessive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 talking | amod |
| 4 | talking | talking | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Inclined | obl |
| 5 | during | during | ADP | _ | 6 lessons | case |
| 6 | lessons | lesson | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Inclined | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | incline | participle | during lessons | to excessive talking | vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent to talking=Theme |
Option 4
Habitually late in the submission of homework
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Habitually | habitually | ADV | _ | 2 late | advmod |
| 2 | late | late | ADV | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 submission | case |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 submission | det |
| 5 | submission | submission | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 late | obl |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 homework | case |
| 7 | homework | homework | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 submission | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | submit | homework | nom submission «communication transitive»: of=patient |
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/e4/