Exam question 4 · Kinds of sentences: statements, questions, commands, excla…

Given the notice "Dogs must be carried on the escalator", ascertain the interpretation most consistent with common sense.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: notice · What happens: give, carry, ascertain · To what, where: Dogs, escalator, interpretation

This is exam question 4 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	Given	give	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 notice	case
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 notice	det
3	notice	notice	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 carried	punct
5	Dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 carried	nsubj:pass
6	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 carried	aux
7	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	8 carried	aux:pass
8	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 notice	acl
9	on	on	ADP	_	11 escalator	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 escalator	det
11	escalator	escalator	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 carried	obl
12	"	"	PUNCT	_	8 carried	punct
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 ascertain	punct
14	ascertain	ascertain	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 notice	conj
15	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	16 interpretation	det
16	interpretation	interpretation	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 ascertain	obj
17	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	18 consistent	advmod
18	consistent	consistent	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 interpretation	amod
19	with	with	ADP	_	21 sense	case
20	common	common	ADJ	Degree=Pos	21 sense	amod
21	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 consistent	obl
22	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 notice	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	roles by
1	give	participle				vn break_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient
2	carry in a quote	must · passive	the notice not said here	Dogs	the escalator	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
3	ascertain	infinitive		the interpretation		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interpretation=Topic

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

The escalator is reserved exclusively for dogs

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 escalator	det
2	escalator	escalator	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 reserved	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 reserved	aux:pass
4	reserved	reserve	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	exclusively	exclusively	ADV	_	4 reserved	advmod
6	for	for	ADP	_	7 dogs	case
7	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 reserved	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	reserve	present · passive		the escalator				for dogs; exclusively property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for dog=Beneficiary

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Every person is required to carry a dog upon the escalator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Every	every	DET	PronType=Tot	2 person	det
2	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 required	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 required	aux:pass
4	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 carry	mark
6	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 required	xcomp
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 dog	det
8	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 carry	obj
9	upon	upon	ADP	_	11 escalator	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 escalator	det
11	escalator	escalator	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 carry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		every person					vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	carry	to-infinitive		a dog				upon the escalator	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme

Option 3

Dogs are required to carry their owners

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 required	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 required	aux:pass
3	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 carry	mark
5	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 required	xcomp
6	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 owners	nmod:poss
7	owners	owner	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 carry	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	require	present · passive		Dogs					vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
2	carry	to-infinitive		Dogs's owners					vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent owner=Theme

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Persons accompanied by a dog are required to carry it upon the escalator

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Persons	person	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 required	nsubj:pass
2	accompanied	accompany	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Persons	acl
3	by	by	ADP	_	5 dog	case
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	5 dog	det
5	dog	dog	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 accompanied	obl:agent
6	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	7 required	aux:pass
7	required	require	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
8	to	to	PART	_	9 carry	mark
9	carry	carry	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 required	xcomp
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 carry	obj
11	upon	upon	ADP	_	13 escalator	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 escalator	det
13	escalator	escalator	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 carry	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	what, whom	other	roles by
1	accompany	participle	Persons not said here		vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	require	present · passive	Persons		vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic
3	carry	to-infinitive	dog	upon the escalator	vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/language/7-kinds-of-sentences/e4/