Exam question 2 · Verbs: doing words and being words

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the word "is" in the sentence "The sky is blue"?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sky · What happens: follow, characteris, be · To what, where: word, sentence · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 3 «Verbs: doing words and being words» 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	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 word	det
10	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	"	"	PUNCT	_	16 sentence	punct
12	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 sentence	cop
13	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 is	punct
14	in	in	ADP	_	16 sentence	case
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 sentence	det
16	sentence	sentence	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 word	appos
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	21 blue	punct
18	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 sky	det
19	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 blue	nsubj
20	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 blue	cop
21	blue	blue	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 sentence	parataxis
22	"	"	PUNCT	_	21 blue	punct
23	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund					vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the word		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	is	present			the sentence		tree rules
4	is in a quote	present	the sky			blue 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 · ← Mova's choice

It is an adjective qualifying the colour

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 adjective	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 adjective	cop
3	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 adjective	det
4	adjective	adjective	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	qualifying	qualify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 adjective	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 colour	det
7	colour	colour	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 qualifying	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a adjective					tree rules
2	qualify	gerund	a adjective not said here	the colour					tree rules

Option 2

It is a noun denoting the atmosphere

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 noun	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 noun	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 noun	det
4	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 noun	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 atmosphere	det
7	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 denoting	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a noun					tree rules
2	denote	gerund	a noun not said here	the atmosphere					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot atmosphere=Topic

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It is a form of the verb "be", denoting a state rather than an action

The tree, 15 words

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 form	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 form	cop
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 form	det
4	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 verb	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 verb	det
7	verb	verb	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 form	nmod
8	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 be	punct
9	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 verb	acl
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 be	punct
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 denoting	punct
12	denoting	denote	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 form	appos
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 state	det
14	state	state	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 denoting	obj
15	rather	rather	ADV	ExtPos=CCONJ	18 action	cc
16	than	than	ADP	_	15 rather	fixed
17	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 action	det
18	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 denoting	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	It	a form				of the verb	tree rules
2	denote	gerund		a state					vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot state=Topic

Option 4

It is not a word of any recognised class

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	5 word	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 word	cop
3	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 word	advmod
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 word	det
5	word	word	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
6	of	of	ADP	_	9 class	case
7	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	9 class	det
8	recognised	recognise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	9 class	amod
9	class	class	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 word	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not is a	present	It	a word				of any recognised class	tree rules
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/3-verbs-doing-words-and-being-words/e2/