Exam question 1 · French compared with English

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises grammatical gender in French?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: grammatical gender, French

This is exam question 1 of lesson 35 «French compared with English» 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	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 gender	amod
10	gender	gender	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 French	case
12	French	French	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 gender	nmod
13	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		grammatical gender		French		of the following statements; accurately 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

A feature shared with English nouns in the present day

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 feature	det
2	feature	feature	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	shared	share	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 feature	acl
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 nouns	case
5	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 nouns	amod
6	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 shared	obl
7	in	in	ADP	_	10 day	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 day	det
9	present	present	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 day	amod
10	day	day	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 shared	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	share	participle		a feature not said here			day	with English nouns	tree rules

Option 2

An indication that each object denoted by a noun is, in reality, either male or female in nature

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	An	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 indication	det
2	indication	indication	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 reality	nsubj
3	that	that	SCONJ	_	10 is	mark
4	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	5 object	det
5	object	object	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 is	nsubj
6	denoted	denote	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 object	acl
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 noun	case
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 noun	det
9	noun	noun	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 denoted	obl
10	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	13 reality	cop
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 is	punct
12	in	in	ADP	_	13 reality	case
13	reality	reality	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 male	punct
15	either	either	CCONJ	_	16 male	cc:preconj
16	male	male	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 reality	amod
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 female	cc
18	female	female	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 male	conj
19	in	in	ADP	_	20 nature	case
20	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 male	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	denote	participle		each object not said here				by a noun	vn indicate-78 «NP V how S»: agent=Pivot
2	is	present	a indication			reality			tree rules

Option 3

A feature confined to the names of animals

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 feature	det
2	feature	feature	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	confined	confine	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 feature	acl
4	to	to	ADP	_	6 names	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 names	det
6	names	name	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 confined	obl
7	of	of	ADP	_	8 animals	case
8	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 names	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	confine	participle		a feature not said here		the names of animals			vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to name=Destination
2	name			animals					nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

A classification of nouns as masculine or feminine for grammatical purposes, unrelated to biological sex

The tree, 15 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 classification	det
2	classification	classification	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 unrelated	nsubj
3	of	of	ADP	_	4 nouns	case
4	nouns	noun	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 classification	nmod
5	as	as	ADP	_	6 masculine	case
6	masculine	masculine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 nouns	nmod
7	or	or	CCONJ	_	8 feminine	cc
8	feminine	feminine	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 masculine	conj
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 purposes	case
10	grammatical	grammatical	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 purposes	amod
11	purposes	purpose	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 feminine	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 unrelated	punct
13	unrelated	unrelated	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
14	to	to	ADP	_	16 sex	case
15	biological	biological	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 sex	amod
16	sex	sex	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 unrelated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	classify			nouns as masculine					nom classification «act 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.

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