Exam question 2 · How medicines work
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises a placebo?
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: placebo
This is exam question 2 of lesson 17 «How medicines work» of the medicine 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 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 placebo | det |
| 10 | placebo | placebo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 characterises | obj |
| 11 | ? | ? | 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 | a placebo | 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 medicine of exceptional potency
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 medicine | det |
| 2 | medicine | medicine | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 potency | case |
| 4 | exceptional | exceptional | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 potency | amod |
| 5 | potency | potency | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 medicine | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | medicine | exceptional potency | nom medicine «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
Option 2
An instrument used in examination
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 instrument | det |
| 2 | instrument | instrument | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 3 | used | use | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 instrument | acl |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 examination | case |
| 5 | examination | examination | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 used | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | participle | a instrument not said here | examination | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
Option 3
A vitamin supplement
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 supplement | det |
| 2 | vitamin | vitamin | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 supplement | compound |
| 3 | supplement | supplement | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
A preparation containing no active medicine, employed in trials for comparison
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 preparation | det |
| 2 | preparation | preparation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 employed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | containing | contain | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 preparation | acl |
| 4 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 6 medicine | det |
| 5 | active | active | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 medicine | amod |
| 6 | medicine | medicine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 containing | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 employed | punct |
| 8 | employed | employ | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 trials | case |
| 10 | trials | trial | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 employed | obl |
| 11 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 comparison | case |
| 12 | comparison | comparison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 trials | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | contain | gerund | a preparation not said here | no active medicine | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot medicine=Theme | ||||
| 2 | employ | participle · passive | a preparation | trials for comparison | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: subject=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/medicine/17-how-medicines-work/e2/