Exam question 2 · Kinds of sentences: statements, questions, commands, excla…

Identify the principal reason for which the utterance "Would you mind closing the window?" does not ordinarily require the answer "yes" or "no".

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 3 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: utterance · What happens: identify, mind, close, not require · To what, where: principal reason, window, answer

This is exam question 2 of lesson 7 «Kinds of sentences: statements, questions, commands, exclamations» 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	Identify	identify	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	21 require	advcl
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 reason	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 reason	amod
4	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	for	for	ADP	_	6 which	case
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	12 mind	obl
7	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 utterance	det
8	utterance	utterance	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 mind	nsubj
9	"	"	PUNCT	_	12 mind	punct
10	Would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	12 mind	aux
11	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	12 mind	nsubj
12	mind	mind	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 reason	acl
13	closing	close	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	12 mind	xcomp
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 window	det
15	window	window	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 closing	obj
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct
17	"	"	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct
18	does	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	21 require	aux
19	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	21 require	advmod
20	ordinarily	ordinarily	ADV	_	21 require	advmod
21	require	require	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
22	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	23 answer	det
23	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	21 require	obj
24	"	"	PUNCT	_	25 yes	punct
25	yes	yes	INTJ	Polarity=Pos	23 answer	nmod
26	"	"	PUNCT	_	25 yes	punct
27	or	or	CCONJ	_	29 no	cc
28	"	"	PUNCT	_	29 no	punct
29	no	no	NOUN	_	25 yes	conj
30	"	"	PUNCT	_	29 no	punct
31	.	.	PUNCT	_	21 require	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	infinitive		the principal reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	mind in a quote	would	the utterance		for the principal reason	vn care-88.1 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
3	close in a quote	gerund	the utterance not said here	the window		vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent window=Patient
4	not require	present · do-support		the answer	ordinarily property	vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme answer=Precondition

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 addressed to no particular person

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 addressed	nsubj:pass
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 addressed	aux:pass
3	addressed	address	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 person	case
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	7 person	det
6	particular	particular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 person	amod
7	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 addressed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	address	present · passive		It				to no particular person	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination

Option 2

It is grammatically defective and therefore meaningless

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 defective	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 defective	cop
3	grammatically	grammatically	ADV	_	4 defective	advmod
4	defective	defective	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 meaningless	cc
6	therefore	therefore	ADV	_	7 meaningless	advmod
7	meaningless	meaningless	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 defective	conj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	It					defective, grammatically property	tree rules
2	be							therefore property	tree rules

Option 3 · ✓ the right answer

It functions as a courteous request for the performance of an action

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	2 functions	nsubj
2	functions	function	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	as	as	ADP	_	6 request	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 request	det
5	courteous	courteous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 request	amod
6	request	request	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 functions	obl
7	for	for	ADP	_	9 performance	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 performance	det
9	performance	performance	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 request	nmod
10	of	of	ADP	_	12 action	case
11	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	12 action	det
12	action	action	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 performance	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	function	present	It					as a courteous request for the performance of a action	vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as request=Attribute
2	perform			a action					nom performance «communication transitive»: of=patient

Option 4

It constitutes a statement concerning the weather

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	2 constitutes	nsubj
2	constitutes	constitute	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 statement	det
4	statement	statement	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 constitutes	obj
5	concerning	concern	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	4 statement	acl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 weather	det
7	weather	weather	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 concerning	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	constitute	present	It	a statement					vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme statement=Pivot
2	concern	gerund	a statement not said here	the weather					vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus weather=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/7-kinds-of-sentences/e2/