Exam question 2 · Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate a…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the Spanish «mil veces», the Ukrainian «сто разів» and the English «a million times»?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: Ukrainian · What happens: follow, characteris, разів · To what, where: Spanish mil veces

This is exam question 2 of lesson 53 «Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down» 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	13 veces	det
10	Spanish	Spanish	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 veces	amod
11	«	«	PUNCT	_	13 veces	punct
12	mil	mil	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 veces	compound
13	veces	vece	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obj
14	»	»	PUNCT	_	13 veces	punct
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	20 разів	punct
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 разів	det
17	Ukrainian	Ukrainian	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 разів	nsubj
18	«	«	PUNCT	_	20 разів	punct
19	сто	сто	NOUN	Number=Sing	20 разів	compound
20	разів	разів	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obl
21	»	»	PUNCT	_	20 разів	punct
22	and	and	CCONJ	_	24 English	cc
23	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	24 English	det
24	English	English	PROPN	Number=Sing	20 разів	conj
25	«	«	PUNCT	_	28 times	punct
26	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	27 million	det
27	million	million	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	28 times	nummod
28	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	24 English	appos
29	»	»	PUNCT	_	28 times	punct
30	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund				vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		the Spanish mil veces	of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules
3	разів in a quote		Ukrainian			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

Only the Ukrainian expression is a measurement

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	4 expression	advmod
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 expression	det
3	Ukrainian	ukrainian	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 expression	amod
4	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 measurement	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 measurement	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 measurement	det
7	measurement	measurement	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the Ukrainian expression	a measurement					tree rules

Option 2

They express three different quantities which may be compared

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 express	nsubj
2	express	express	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	5 quantities	nummod
4	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 quantities	amod
5	quantities	quantity	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 express	obj
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	9 compared	nsubj:pass
7	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	9 compared	aux
8	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	9 compared	aux:pass
9	compared	compare	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	5 quantities	acl:relcl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	express	present	They	three different quantities					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quantity=Theme
2	compare	may · passive		three different quantities					vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient

Option 3

Only the English expression is an exaggeration

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Only	only	ADV	_	7 exaggeration	advmod
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 expression	det
3	English	English	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 expression	amod
4	expression	expression	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 exaggeration	nsubj
5	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 exaggeration	cop
6	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 exaggeration	det
7	exaggeration	exaggeration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a	present	the English expression	a exaggeration					tree rules

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

They employ different numbers to express one meaning: many times

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 employ	nsubj
2	employ	employ	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	different	different	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 numbers	amod
4	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 employ	obj
5	to	to	PART	_	6 express	mark
6	express	express	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 employ	advcl
7	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	8 meaning	nummod
8	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 express	obj
9	:	:	PUNCT	_	11 times	punct
10	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	11 times	amod
11	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 employ	obl:unmarked

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	employ	present	They	different numbers			time		vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Theme
2	express	to-infinitive	They not said here	one meaning					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme

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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