Exam question 4 · Everyday sayings and grown-ups' rules

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the sound perceived when a seashell is held to the ear?

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: sound · What happens: follow, characteris, perceive, hold · To what, where: seashell

This is exam question 4 of lesson 27 «Everyday sayings and grown-ups' rules» of the myths 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	1 Which	nmod
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	10 sound	det
10	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 perceived	nsubj
11	perceived	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 characterises	ccomp
12	when	when	SCONJ	_	16 held	mark
13	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	14 seashell	det
14	seashell	seashell	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 held	nsubj:pass
15	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 held	aux:pass
16	held	hold	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 perceived	ccomp
17	to	to	ADP	_	19 ear	case
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	19 ear	det
19	ear	ear	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 held	obl
20	?	?	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			accurately property	tree rules
3	perceive	past	the sound			vn see-30.1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
4	hold	present · passive		a seashell	to the ear	vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme

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 right answer

Ambient sound resonating within the shell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Ambient	ambient	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 sound	amod
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	resonating	resonate	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 sound	acl
4	within	within	ADP	_	6 shell	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 shell	det
6	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 resonating	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	resonate	gerund	Ambient sound not said here					within the shell	vn sound_existence-47.4 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

The sound of the sea retained within the shell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sound	det
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	5 sea	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 sea	det
5	sea	sea	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	nmod
6	retained	retain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 sound	acl
7	within	within	ADP	_	9 shell	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 shell	det
9	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 retained	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	retain	participle		the sound of the sea not said here				within the shell	tree rules

Option 3

The sound of the shell's former occupant

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sound	det
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	8 occupant	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 shell	det
5	shell	shell	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 occupant	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 shell	case
7	former	former	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 occupant	amod
8	occupant	occupant	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 4

The sound of the listener's blood alone

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 sound	det
2	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	of	of	ADP	_	7 blood	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 listener	det
5	listener	listener	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 blood	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 listener	case
7	blood	blood	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 sound	nmod
8	alone	alone	ADV	_	7 blood	advmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

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/myths/27-everyday-sayings-and-grown-ups-rules/e4/