Exam question 4 · Is there one proper English? The big arguments

In respect of the expression "to boldly go", which statement is most accurate?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: statement · What happens: go, be, respect · To what, where: respect, expression

This is exam question 4 of lesson 20 «Is there one proper English? The big arguments» 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	In	in	ADP	_	2 respect	case
2	respect	respect	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 accurate	obl
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 expression	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 expression	det
5	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 respect	nmod
6	"	"	PUNCT	_	5 expression	punct
7	to	to	PART	_	9 go	mark
8	boldly	boldly	ADV	Degree=Pos	9 go	advmod
9	go	go	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 expression	acl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	2 respect	punct
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 accurate	punct
12	which	which	DET	PronType=Int	13 statement	det
13	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 accurate	nsubj
14	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 accurate	cop
15	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	16 accurate	advmod
16	accurate	accurate	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
17	?	?	PUNCT	_	16 accurate	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	go in a quote	to-infinitive	which statement not said here			boldly property	vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	is	present	which statement		respect of the expression	accurate property	tree rules
3	respect			the expression			nom respect «cognition 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 is acceptable in Latin but not in English

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 acceptable	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 acceptable	cop
3	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	in	in	ADP	_	5 Latin	case
5	Latin	Latin	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 acceptable	obl
6	but	but	CCONJ	_	9 English	cc
7	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	9 English	advmod
8	in	in	ADP	_	9 English	case
9	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	5 Latin	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It			Latin but English		acceptable property	tree rules

Option 2

It is prohibited by law in the United Kingdom

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	_	5 law	case
5	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl
6	in	in	ADP	_	9 Kingdom	case
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 Kingdom	det
8	United	United	PROPN	_	9 Kingdom	flat
9	Kingdom	Kingdom	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	law	It		the United Kingdom			vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer subject=Theme

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

Most modern authorities regard it as acceptable

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	3 authorities	amod
2	modern	modern	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 authorities	amod
3	authorities	authority	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 regard	nsubj
4	regard	regard	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 regard	obj
6	as	as	ADP	_	7 acceptable	case
7	acceptable	acceptable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 regard	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	regard	present	Most modern authorities	it				as acceptable	vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP PP.value»: agent=Agent it=Theme as acceptable=Value

Option 4

It is universally condemned as a grave error

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	4 condemned	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 condemned	aux:pass
3	universally	universally	ADV	_	4 condemned	advmod
4	condemned	condemn	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	as	as	ADP	_	8 error	case
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 error	det
7	grave	grave	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 error	compound
8	error	error	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 condemned	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	condemn	present · passive		It				as a grave error; universally property	vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme as error=Attribute

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/20-is-there-one-proper-english/e4/